I disagree with "Cindrella and the Four Knights". It had so many flaws with the first being Jung Il Woo's frizzy hair and grumpy face for the first 8 episodes or so. Plus, Ahn Jae Hyun played his role so well that half the audience felt his chemistry with Park So Dam was better but the drama decided to pair him up with So Na Eun who was an annoying SFL. Also, the drama lost steam after ep 10 and the SFL's scenes became untolerable, especially the one where she pretends to be unconscious in a swimming pool.

A big yes to "My secret romance". Though it was cheesy, Sung Hoon was hot and his chemistry with the FL was sizzling which made the whole drama a guilty pleasure.

All great recommendations for cheesiness. It’s a dramaland staple. I remember cringing my way through most of them (why, oh why, did I choose to watch - and finish - My Secret Romance is a mystery to this day). So I’ll try my best to give five different recs. They’re not necessarily good, nor do I necessarily like them, but I think they fit the criteria.

1. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?: It’s yet another chaebol/secretary romance with the theatrics turned up to a eleven. Park Seo-joon being a drama queen; Park Min-young as a girlboss with an exquisite wardrobe; childhood trauma; hidden identities; an uncomfortably pushy second lead; Kang Ki-young as the best character: this drama has it all (to irritate me) to make for a great sleepover binge with friends.

2. Shopping King Louie: It’s oh-so cringy, but unlike basically all my other recommendations, it’s actually GOOD. Featuring amnesiac chaebols, poor plucky candies, and plenty of lighthearted comedy, this is cringe and cheesiness at its finest. Also it has Seo In-gook and Nam Ji-hyun as the leads and what more can someone ask for?

3. The Heirs: Full disclosure - I hate this drama with the force of a thousand exploding supernovae. I truly, utterly despise every aspect of this show from the depths of my cold black heart. HOWEVER, I think this could work as a cheesy (albeit, problematic) romp for folks who can overlook Kim Eun-sook’s foolishness and penchant for casting unconvincing 30-somethings as high schoolers.

4. True Beauty: I know it deals with some heavier topics of beauty standards and bullying. But with that given caveat, I’ll say that the rest of the drama is pure high school romance cheesiness. Featuring: TWO hot guys unabashedly in love with the FL (of both the bad boy and good boy varieties!), FL having the most horrible life ever, friends turned enemies, dramatic makeovers, embarrassing family drama, and a certain dance sequence in leopard print boxers.

5. 1% of Everything: Honestly, I barely remember anything from this drama except that it got so cheesy during times that I had to pause sometimes to stop being overwhelmed with cringe. So there’s that. Oh, and it’s another bratty chaebol overcoming his issues with the love of a good working-class woman. That’s a requirement in this setting.

I tried my best with these.

The only one of these I've sort-of seen is My Secret Romance, which I found enjoyable only by FFing so much that I couldn't actually keep track of the plot; I suspect I didn't miss much. It does indeed have some delicious Sung Hoon moments (swimming!) but he's also a stereotypical asshat boss and has one of the weirdest ML secret trauma/disabilities ever, which facilitates his abuse of the FL. @emsel is right about the reasons it's a guilty pleasure, though.

Otherwise, I'm going to take this and the comments as a "what NOT to watch" list 😆 and that's a valuable service, too. I like my cheese sharp, flavorful, and as an accent, not a main course.

Oh yes, I hated myself for watching MY SECRET ROMANCE to the end. The second half was boring and I cringed so hard sometimes.
But I liked the plot idea and Sung Hoon was just too good looking.

As for BOYS OVER FLOWERS, I didn't get past the second episode. The hairstyles were just too bad.

I agree with Secret Romance! It was so fun and cheap in the same time. But Song Ji-Eun and Sung-Hoon had a great chemistry.

For me, An Empress’s Dignity was not cheesy but completely makjang! This drama was so crazy...

Around the time of the US election of 2016, I had been watching Orange is the New Black (US Drama set a women's prison). The politics of the country had become so dark and the entertainment as well. While Orange was a great drama, it left me drained and stressed just like US Politics. It was at the time that I discovered K-dramas. And, a world of cheesiness that I had thought had disappeared from entertainment was opened up to me! So, I embrace cheesiness. And, I hope that k-dramas will always retain that aspect in at least some of the dramas as it is one of the reasons k-dramas are special (at least to me). Cinderella and the Four Knights is great fun, completely diverting and silly. Boys Over Flowers taught me the definition of "second lead syndrome." Now I can't wait to hit play on the listed dramas. There is a place for thought provoking and challenging entertainment, but there is also a place for cheese. I'm so thankful for the cheese in k-dramas!

Cheesy romance is not really my thing most of the time, but I do enjoy it once in a while. Makes for a nice fluffy weekend binge.

I agree with My Secret Romance, that is at the top of the list for me. And yes, I did finish it. And yes, I liked it... for the most part. I am guilty of fast-forwarding some of the stuff in the last few episodes. But you know all along that they will inevitably work it out and end up together, so the end is certainly no shocker. It was fun to watch.

I also agree with the general assessment of Cinderella and the Four Knights - which I also watched all the way through even when stuff got super cringey. I actually hated the SFL, she made my skin crawl the whole series... and I was kind of hoping the FL would choose the singer guy over the other two, but I guess the bad boy does usually win in these kinds of situations. The last episode of this one, where everybody is running around tying up the loose ends, is especially cheesy - Chairman Haraboji on his knees with a bouquet of flowers and all. I've said before, the best part of this one was the legos in the opening sequence...

Another one I found incredibly cheesy was Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol. Over the top cringe all the way through. I like some of the actors in this one, but the story was eye-rollingly horrible and the sugar level was off the charts in most of the scenes. Runaway chaebol, rich girl loses it all and has to cope, secrets about age, faking one's death, a year of pining over a lost love, having him walk back in and taking him back without a question, yappy fluffy dog... the trope river runs deep in this one.

I'm always down for a bit of cheese. And also down for occasionally letting it become my whole meal.

I have been going back and forth trying to decide if I should watch Boys Before Flowers. On the one hand - totally classic, a bit genre-defining, taste of old-school dramas from before I knew about them. On the other - almost everything else? Haha, but maybe I shouldn't judge before I watch.

Some of these others sound pretty delicious in their ridiculousness, but I would especially love to see Scholar Who Walks the Night. Lee Soo-hyuk seems like he was born to play a vampire, perched up there in that photo, and I'm always here for Lee Jun-ki getting his dramatics on.

I have a special relationship with "My Secret Romance". Apologies to everyone who loves this drama. It was one of the first kdramas I watched (luckily, not the first, because it would be the last) and I absolutely hated it. The rudeness, the grabbing, the heroine without agency, the cobra-strike-like kissing, the flashbacks, entitled wanna be girlfriends... I was cringing so much I could not enjoy a moment of it. Funnily, that is one of the rare dramas that I re-watched in full. After watching many other dramas, I wanted to check if it was really that bad or if I have just not been ready for it. I bore it better the second time, but it was still not my thing. For me Something About 1% does it instead. Same director, still cheesy, still arrogant male lead ;) yet one of my favourites.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH SECRETARY KIM ended up being way cheesier than I thought it would be. In fact, there were a few places I literally had to pause watching because I was cringing so hard it hurt. Of course, the premise from the start--that a woman needs to quit her job because she wants to get married, and that her boss (and the writers) assume that means she must ultimately want to marry said boss--was kindof icky, but the show gets away with that and all the cheesiness that follows because the main actors just completely give into it. And they had some excellent kiss scenes. So I do have to applaud them for all that.

DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN: It's not just the romance that's super cheesy in this one (I still cringe at the mere memory of that resurrection scene after the FL spends an entire year thinking the ML is dead), but the intense nationalism, rah-rah military tone, and the extreme veneration of doctors as saintly geniuses are pretty cringey, too. And yet, I slurped this one up. Everyone is just so pretty, and the second leads have a genuinely compelling story. Plus, the one-crisis-after-another plot is very addictive.

I also thought that TRUE BEAUTY and EXTRAORDINARY YOU tried very hard *not* to be cheesy, but still ultimately ended up resting on nothing but tropes.

Finally, BUSINESS PROPOSAL is extremely cheesy by design, but because that's baked into the plot and styling, it's very fun almost all of the way through.

I have to disagree about Boys over Flowers. That drama is a study in abuse and gaslighting. 100% on My secret Romance though. It was so ridiculous, lol. An Empress's Dignity is up there too.

If you want cheesy, I highly recommend Shining Inheritance (you have to get through the first few episodes of unrelentingly terrible things happening to the heroine). The bridge kiss in that is one of the cheesiest things I have ever seen (a bridge! At sunrise! With sweeping music!), and yet I loved it.

Also; 50ish episode family dramas are an excellent source of cheese. My Father Is Strange and Once Again are both good fun.

Jang Nara has been great in many things but never better than in AN EMPRESS'S DIGNITY.

I think most kim eunsook's dramas are cheesy and could be on any list lol

I had a lot of fun watching My ID Gangnam Beauty.

I believe Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and Oh My Venus are also pretty cheesy. And in my standard, i can count Doctors as a cheesy drama...
I only watched few cheesy dramas but why does it feel like i have watched a ton of them?
Do cheesy dramas give that kind of effect to you?😂

I'll join the chorus in favor of My Secret Romance's cheesy goodness - it's like a fondue pot of cliche, strange plot points and cringe, yet oh, so satisfying. I'll also throw in Oh My Venus as a cheese board that includes fat suits, random English language phrases, secret chaebol and year-long disappearances among it's crazy, yet also kind of endearing, mix.

I just loved Boys Over Flowers for all the reasons @missvictrix mentioned, the best one being the perm that will never be forgotten! they did the cheese so well!
another one is The Scholar Who Walks The Night. totally agree with @mistyisles about Lee Jun-ki! He is just awesome in everything and i loved watching this one. Also throw Lee Soo Hyuk in it and whats not to love? Cheese is so good to eat! and i love saeguks a lot so it was a winner for me.
don't get me started on An Empress's Dignity. just plain loved it! also agree with @quirkycase. her comments are great. sit back and just enjoy the goodness in front of you. And yes Choi Jin-hyuk did get shafted in his role. Just where is he? i need him back on my screen soon too. Shin Sung-rok rules!

If by cheesy you mean you can turn off your brain and not care if it doesn't make sense, then VAGABOND is that drama for me right now. Does it take itself seriously? Absolutely! Do I take it seriously? No.
But gosh my Lee Seung Gi fan heart is happy. And I kind of adore Suzy even if her range of acting is limited.

SHOPPING WANG LOUIE
SHOPPING WANG LOUIE
SHOPPING WANG LOUIE
(Just look at my profile picture, It screams "cheese but good". Watch this show if you love yourself)

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
Fight For My Way
You Are My Spring
Coffee Prince

Boys Over Flowers was my gateway drama and I've watched it SIX times. I love the old school hijinks, childish teasing that we used to think were romantic; evil mom, the crazy but loving family, the unsupervised teenagers in matching luxury cars, the slow motion formation walk, all of it!

I think that's why I can tolerate the cheese and the mixed-up storylines of modern dramas and end up liking shows that other beanies don't. Definitely gives me a different perspective on how other cultures consume entertainment and appreciating a different kind of very addictive art.

All together now: ALLLLLMOOOST PAAARADIIIIIIISE

I wouldn’t say the drama was cheesy but if season two of Extraordinary Attorney Woo happens, our restaurant trio better be back too

I absolutely loved their utter bewilderment about dating haha
Especially their assertion that Hairy’s failure at his date with Sunshine was to do with his lack of lawyer puns 🤣🤣🤣
I need more of this
More food & lawyer puns pls!

My Secret Romance seems so cliched and a rehash of the Cinderella plot, but I have to admit that I totally enjoyed the drama. It was very cute and Song Ji-eun is very cute.

Really enjoyed this thread. Let’s admit it that everyone does need some cheese to make our lives better.

Sung Hoon has indeed become the cheesy king these few years with his look and antics. But my favorite is his pairing with Shin Hye-sun (before she hit it big time) in the weekender Five Children. So cheesy, so adorable and so fun. When I have nothing better to do and need a cheesy fix, I’ll go to YT to watch their scenes. Yes, you don’t need to watch all 50 or 60 episodes. Some kind soul fans put up a series of the-two-only scenes from beginning till ending.

I’ve always wondered if i should consider myself lucky or uninformed for not ever watching Boys Before Flowers? It’s in every other drama discussion ever! An Empress Dignity is beyond cheesy, it’s makjang on crack meets soju bomb - not that i’ve never had any 🤣

Hometown Cha-cha-cha is basically a Hallmark movie stretched out over 16 hours so I think it fits the bill.

If we're going back to Boys Over Flower era, I'll recommend You're Beautiful. The elements that make it cheesy are the FL's orphanage background, the cross-dressing trope, the now very dated make-up, and hairstyle, and the over-the-top a little cruel ML (Jang Keun-Suk) competing with the nice SL, to name a few. Still very entertaining.

The Secret Life of My Secretary is pretty great as well. Similar to the more recent Business Proposal.

Cinderella was adorable and made me a Jung Il woo fan for life. I really had fun binging this last year. Unbelievably, I haven’t seen any of the others (nor am so really compelled to). I’m surprised The Last Empress made this list from what I read in recaps. I’m all for cheesiness, though, and so the ones that I’ve seen which would probably fit are:

The secret life of my secretary (all hail the fish cult)
Business Proposal
1% of Something/anything
Her Private Life
Fated to Love You (lots of melodrama, but there were several scenes that were OTT cheese—the first night she sleeps in his house for instance).
Weightlifting Kim Bok Ju
Shooting Stars