Premiere Watch: Family by Choice

29 October 9, 2024October 8, 2024

Premiere Watch: Family by Choice

by missvictrix

Time slot: Wednesdays
Broadcaster: JTBC
Genre: Family, youth, healing, romance
Episode count: 16
Global streamer: Viki/Viu

Reasons to watch: Who doesn’t love a found family, especially in dramaland? In our remake of the Chinese drama Go Ahead, two fathers (the wonderful Choi Won-young and Choi Moo-sung) adopted three not-siblings and raised them as family. Now that they’re getting older, though, Hwang In-yup, Bae Hyun-sung, and Jung Chae-yeon must now deal with ~feelings~. (I’m on board.)

TL;DR: If you’re craving some puppy cuteness with a side of angst served on top of found family with some rainbow sprinkles, this might just be your drama

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Tags: Family by Choice, Premiere Watch

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1 FormAnOrderlyQueue

October 9, 2024 at 5:29 AM

Ready for this one! Liked the first half of the Chinese Go Ahead loads (mainly cos of the dads), but lost my enthusiasm in the second half because it felt like it went on for-ev-er. Hoping a 16 ep can solve that problem!

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2 Dorotka

October 9, 2024 at 6:30 AM

I'm here for the Dads. 😍

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3 Nefret

October 9, 2024 at 6:47 AM

I'm currently watching MEET YOURSELF for the second time and then had GO AHEAD on my watch-list, which is by the same writers. It's actually quite good that I haven't had time for it yet, so I can watch FAMILY BY CHOICE without making comparisons.

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jillian

October 9, 2024 at 8:42 AM

I love Meet Yourself. If its from the same writer then I may just love this remake too.

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4 jillian

October 9, 2024 at 8:41 AM

I havent watched the original so going into this with zero comparison and just love for the cast.

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jillian

October 10, 2024 at 3:47 PM

I already saw the first two eps and those kids are soo adorable!!!

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5 jerrykuvira

October 9, 2024 at 9:31 AM

I'm very hesitant to watch this one. My only draw in is Choi Won-young and Choi Moo-sung but I doubt they'll have enough screentime to keep me watching.

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6 Kurama

October 9, 2024 at 1:36 PM

Oh, 2 episodes on the Wednesday, it's original.

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7 Unaspirated

October 9, 2024 at 2:06 PM

I see Hwang In-yeob is resisting the oversized trousers trend all by his lonesome. Fighting!

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hacja

October 9, 2024 at 8:02 PM

Yes, but does he have socks?

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bong-soo

October 9, 2024 at 8:59 PM

Can’t tell about the socks but he certainly has enough buttons on his jacket.

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Healer’s

October 10, 2024 at 1:16 AM

He should have gone with the flow, he would look great in them!!

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Unaspirated

October 10, 2024 at 6:02 AM

I don't mind a wide-legged trouser, but the trend of oversizing absolutely everything can end whenever it likes. People just end up looking like they are wearing other peoples' clothes. I'm sure he could have pulled them off brilliantly (it's Hwang In-yeob after all!), but I like his more fitted look better.

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8 Meredith P

October 9, 2024 at 8:04 PM

I’m not a huge fan of cdramas (too long, boring, immature FLs, etc.) but I loved Go Ahead, particularly the first half. I’m looking forward to the Kdrama remake, although I’m not one to compare. They are distinct entities. I enjoyed the first episode very much. And our little girl from Love Next Door is in it!

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9 9TailedVixen (formerly 9TailedFox)

October 9, 2024 at 10:08 PM

I watched the first episode yesterday out of curiosity and if it is an indication of what we can expect, I'm in!

It was both adorable and heartbreaking. The portrayal of fathers who are nurturing and don't have toxic masculine behaviour is spot-on. I hope men and boys watching this drama will learn from it.

There is just one niggle for me - I know that the misogynistic "mothers who abandon their children" trope is part of the plotline to get us to the basic set-up of this found/chosen family of 2 single dads and their kids but it just rubs me the wrong way. This is a remake so they could have found another way to put this lovely family together.

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

October 9, 2024 at 10:32 PM

Spot on!! "... adorable and heartbreaking" are two words I never thought could go together but here it fits perfectly. No spoilers but the mothers have different character arcs.

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9TailedVixen (formerly 9TailedFox)

October 9, 2024 at 10:36 PM

I like the hairstylist's son. He's such a sweet and sunny dude.

And the daughter's dad - oh my! If I came across a man of such good, steady, kind, and calm character, I'd be head over heels.

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

October 9, 2024 at 11:04 PM

The hairdresser's boy is a total sweetie as is the little girl. The Police Officer's little boy doesn't deserve the guilt tripping being forced upon him. Thank God for noodle Dad because of him he may have a good life.

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9TailedVixen (formerly 9TailedFox)

October 9, 2024 at 11:24 PM

So are we referring to them as Noodle Dad and Police Dad from now on?

🌸 Seeker 🌸

October 9, 2024 at 11:37 PM

We can also refer to them as Eomma (Noodle) Dad and Appa (Policeman) Dad. 🤣🤣🤣

🌸 Seeker 🌸

October 9, 2024 at 11:38 PM

Noodle Dad was totally nagging Police Dad like any self-respecting wife. 🙈

9TailedVixen (formerly 9TailedFox)

October 10, 2024 at 12:45 AM

That tantrum-at-the-dinner-table scene was hilarious!

And I will tell you this - my uncle whom I talked about below also did the same thing as Noodle Dad: if any of the kids were having a tantrum, they can go have a tantrum and be ignored until they are done with their tantrum and are ready to sit back at the table/play area/piano etc to resume doing whatever everyone's doing with no fuss.

It actually WORKS! LMAO!

🌸 Seeker 🌸

October 10, 2024 at 3:38 AM

Great parenting tip for sure. 😂👍🏻

9TailedVixen (formerly 9TailedFox)

October 9, 2024 at 10:41 PM

Actually, it suddenly occurred to me who the little girl's dad reminds me of - one of my uncles by marriage.

When I was growing up, my sister and I would be packed off to my aunt and her husband (the aforementioned uncle) and our two cousins for the long school holidays.

My uncle was and still is exactly like the daughter's dad - steady, calm, huge sense of humour, can adult like a boss (cooking, cleaning, doing ironing etc), and wrangle 4 - 7 rambunctious kids of varying personalities SINGLE-HANDEDLY.

I'm really glad to see a drama center on this type of father figure. We don't have enough of them to go around. If we did, there would be a lot more secure children in this world.

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

October 9, 2024 at 11:06 PM

Wow!! If such a man exists IRL he's a treasure. Absolutely if we had more such men raising kids we would have a much better world.

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9TailedVixen (formerly 9TailedFox)

October 9, 2024 at 11:28 PM

He does and he is my uncle. The BEST uncle EVER!

Honestly, in a culture where parents and elders just automatically go for the "screaming and waving the cane about" tactic for raising kids, he's always been the outlier because he (and my aunt) both believe in talking to the kids first.

Teaching kids emotional regulation and being able to talk about things instead of having arguments/fights are a GOOD thing.

Noodle Dad in this drama does exactly that as well.