Queen of Housewives

Queen of Housewives (Korean: 내조의 여왕; also known as My Wife Is a Superwoman) is a 2009 South Korean romantic comedy television series, starring Kim Nam-joo, Oh Ji-ho, Yoon Sang-hyun, Lee Hye-young, Choi Cheol-ho, and Sunwoo Sun. It depicts the life of "naejo," housewives who devote their entire lives to their husbands' success, but with a more comedic and aggressive twist.^[1] It aired on MBC from March 16 to May 19, 2009 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.

Queen of Housewives
Promotional poster
Also known as	My Wife is a Superwoman
Hangul	내조의 여왕
Hanja	內助의 女王
RR	Naejoui yeowang
MR	Naejoŭi yŏwang
Genre	Romance Workplace comedy Drama
Written by	Park Ji-eun
Directed by	Go Dong-sun
Starring	Kim Nam-joo Oh Ji-ho Lee Hye-young Yoon Sang-hyun Choi Cheol-ho Sunwoo Sun
Music by	Park Ho-joon
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producers	Ko Dong seon Kim Seung mo
Producer	Park Min-yeop
Production location	South Korea
Production company	DRM Media
Original release
Network	MBC
Release	March 16 (2009-03-16) – May 19, 2009 (2009-05-19)
Related
Queen of Reversals

The hit drama topped the ratings chart during its run, and created new trends among married women in terms of fashion and makeup. Actress Kim Nam-joo received numerous accolades for her acting comeback after an 8-year hiatus,^[2] and the series also served as the breakout vehicle of actor Yoon Sang-hyun.^[3]

Plot

Chun Ji-ae (Kim Nam-joo) had it all... in high school. Pretty and popular, she was the school's queen bee, while awkward Yang Bong-soon (Lee Hye-young) was the exact opposite. The two were initially friends, until Ji-ae stole Bong-soon's crush, Han Joon-hyuk (Choi Cheol-ho). Fast-forward to middle-aged married life, and their roles have become reversed. Ji-ae struggles with household finances because she married Ohn Dal-soo (Oh Ji-ho), a once-promising university graduate turned unemployed pushover, while Joon-hyuk, whom Bong-soon married after Ji-ae dumped him, is now a successful executive.

Dal-soo finally gets a shot at a decent job at top company Queen's Food, where Joon-hyuk happens to be his new boss. Joon-hyuk still carries a torch for Ji-ae, and he makes it a point to make Dal-soo's internship as difficult and demeaning as possible. Meanwhile, determined to help her smart but clueless husband climb the corporate ladder, Ji-ae joins a social wives club to support him. The wives' power plays are directly correlative to their husbands' positions in the company (meaning, the higher-ranking the husband, the higher-ranking the wife), and Ji-ae sets aside her pride to curry favor and jockey for position. She immediately thrives within the wives' inner circle, but she's constantly thwarted by her ex-best friend, Bong-soon.

Then Dal-soo runs into his college friend Eun So-hyun (Sunwoo Sun), wife of Heo Tae-joon (Yoon Sang-hyun), the current president of Queen's Food. Stuck in a loveless marriage, So-hyun wants to have an affair with Dal-soo, while indolent chaebol Tae-joon gradually finds himself attracted to Ji-ae. The three couples interact in a confusing mix of romance, friendship, and workplace politics.^[4]

Cast

Main characters

• Kim Nam-joo as Chun Ji-ae
• Oh Ji-ho as Oh Dal-soo
• Lee Hye-young as Yang Bong-soon
• Yoon Sang-hyun as Heo Tae-joon
• Choi Cheol-ho as Han Joon-hyuk
• Sunwoo Sun as Eun So-hyun
• Kim Chang-wan as Kim Hong-shik
• Na Young-hee as Jang Young-sook

Supporting characters

Ji-ae and Bong-soon's high school classmates

• Park Joo-hee as Go Mi-young
• Lee Seung-ah as Kim Young-sun
• Jung Soo-young as Ji Hwa-ja
• Kim Do-yeon as Ahn Jung-sook

Queen's Food husbands and wives

• Kim Yong-hee as Ha-chang
• Choi Ye-jin as Hwang-sook (Ha-chang's wife)
• Kim Jung-hak as Department chief Yang
• Hwang Hyo-eun as Lee Seul (chief Yang's wife)
• Hwang Jae-hee as Gong Young-min (HR manager's nephew)
• Joo Min-ha as Jung Go-woon (Young-min's wife, art gallery assistant)
• Lee Mae-ri as Jung-ran

Extended cast

• Kang Soo-han as Han Hyuk-chan (Bong-soon and Joon-hyuk's son)
• Kim Sung-kyum as President Heo (Tae-joon's father)
• Yu Ji-in as Tae-joon's mother
• Kim Young-ran as Ji-ae's mother
• Baek Seung-hee as Hyang-suk
• Kim Ik-tae as jeweller
• Min Joon-hyun as Ohn Dal-soo's co-worker
• Lee Seung-ho
• Kim Seung-woo as police officer (cameo, ep 3)
• Shindong as couple in sauna (cameo, ep 11)
• Kim Shin-young as couple in sauna (cameo, ep 11)
• Kim Sung-min as Tae-joon's friend (cameo, ep 16)
• Jun Jin as job applicant (cameo, ep 20)
• Yoo Jae-suk as job applicant (cameo, ep 20)
• Park Myung-soo as job applicant (cameo, ep 20)
• Jung Hyung-don as job applicant (cameo, ep 20)

Ratings

Date	Episode	Nationwide	Seoul
2009-03-16	1	8.0%	8.7%
2009-03-17	2	10.3% (13th)	10.7% (13th)
2009-03-23	3	9.6% (15th)	10.1% (15th)
2009-03-24	4	11.2% (12th)	11.8% (12th)
2009-03-30	5	11.5% (11th)	11.8% (12th)
2009-03-31	6	12.0% (10th)	11.6% (10th)
2009-04-06	7	20.0% (2nd)	20.7% (2nd)
2008-04-07	8	21.3% (2nd)	22.0% (2nd)
2009-04-13	9	21.6% (2nd)	22.2% (2nd)
2009-04-14	10	24.1% (2nd)	25.6% (2nd)
2009-04-20	11	24.2% (2nd)	24.9% (2nd)
2009-04-21	12	24.4% (2nd)	25.6% (2nd)
2009-04-27	13	25.2% (2nd)	26.5% (2nd)
2009-04-28	14	27.4% (2nd)	29.3% (2nd)
2009-05-04	15	26.6% (1st)	28.4% (1st)
2009-05-05	16	29.2% (1st)	31.1% (1st)
2009-05-11	17	30.4% (1st)	32.2% (1st)
2009-05-12	18	30.0% (1st)	31.8% (1st)
2009-05-18	19	29.9% (1st)	31.7% (1st)
2009-05-19	20	31.7% (1st)	33.7% (1st)
Average		21.4%	22.5%

Source: TNS Media Korea

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2009	Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism[5]	Actress of the Year	Kim Nam-joo	Won
	MBC Drama Awards[6][7][8]	Top Excellence Award, Actor	Yoon Sang-hyun	Won
		Top Excellence Award, Actress	Kim Nam-joo	Won
		Excellence Award, Actor	Choi Cheol-ho	Won
		Excellence Award, Actress	Lee Hye-young	Won
		Golden Acting Award, Actor	Kim Chang-wan	Won
		Golden Acting Award, Actress	Na Young-hee	Won
		Best New Actress	Sunwoo Sun	Nominated
		Best Writer	Park Ji-eun	Won
2010	Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Drama	Queen of Housewives	Nominated
		Best Director	Go Dong-sun	Won
		Best Actor	Yoon Sang-hyun	Nominated
		Best Actress	Kim Nam-joo	Won
		Best Screenplay	Park Ji-eun	Nominated
	CETV Awards[9][10]	Grand Prize	Kim Nam-joo	Won
		Top 10 Asian Stars		Won

International broadcast

• Philippines: IBC, title "My Wife is a Superwoman"^{[citation needed]}