[HanCinema's News] "The Secret Life of My Secretary" Compared to Other Recent Dramas

"The Secret Life of My Secretary" is struggling to gain a solid viewership. The new SBS drama recorded ratings of only 3.2% and 3.6% on its opening day on Monday. A likely culprit is the drama's conceptual similarity to "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim", creating suspicion among viewers that the former is ripping off the latter.

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Of course, the storyline of a romance between a boss and secretary of wildly different personalities is a fairly common one. "Jugglers" from 2017 also featured a similar premise. However, both dramas suffer somewhat in the expectations department as being original productions.

This being, of course, a relative term. "The Secret Life of My Secretary" has also been compared to "The Beauty Inside - Drama" in terms of the male lead's mental dysfunction. Netizens have been critical of this creative choice, deriding the main characters as being defined largely by a mental handicap.

"What's Wrong With Secretary Kim", by contrast, had a built-in audience from the webtoon it was adapting. Additionally, as a tvN production, What's Wrong With Secretary Kim" was very on-brand. As major network dramas continue to operate in a slump, "The Secret Life of My Secretary" faces an uphill battle in terms of attracting an audience.

Written by William Schwartz

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"The Secret Life of My Secretary" is directed by Lee Gwang-yeong, written by Kim Ah-jeong, and features Kim Young-kwang, Jin Ki-joo, Kim Jae-kyung, Koo Ja-sung, Jang So-yeon, Han Ji-sun. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2019/05/06~Now airing, Mon, Tue 22:00 on SBS.