The King and I is a South Korean historical series that aired on SBS from August 27, 2007 to April 1, 2008 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55. Starring Oh Man-seok, Koo Hye-sun, and Go Joo-won, the series was moderately successful, with its ratings peak at 25%.

Plot

The King and I revolves around the life of Kim Cheo-sun, considered the best eunuch attendant who lived during the Joseon Dynasty. Cheo-sun secretly loves his childhood friend So-hwa, but he cannot confess his love because of their difference in social class. Eventually, when So-hwa becomes betrothed to King Seongjong, he castrates himself and enters the palace as an eunuch, determined to watch over and protect her. Initially the King's concubine, So-hwa is later elevated to the rank of Queen. But she becomes a pawn of the intense strife among warring political factions, and is stripped of her title and cast out of the palace in disgrace. Despite Cheo-sun's attempts to help her, she is sentenced to death. Cheo-sun carries out his orders by handing her the bowl of poison and he watches as the woman he loved all his life dies before his eyes. After her death, he looks after her son, Prince Yeonsan.

Cast

Main characters

Supporting characters

Extended cast

Production

Park Sang-min was originally cast as King Seongjong, but had to back out. He was replaced by Go Joo-won. Yeo Woon-kye was supposed to portray So-gwi but had to quit for health reasons, even though she had already filmed a few episodes. Her replacement was Kim Soo-mi. Reportedly enraged because the scripts were routinely turned in late, resulting in exhaustion for the actors in the cast, Jeon In-hwa's husband Yoo Dong-geun assaulted two producers on set on December 29, 2007. He later apologized for the incident.

Episode ratings

The King and I performed moderately well, getting ratings in the 20%–25% range and ranking in the top 10. However, in late January 2008, due to competition from MBC's Yi San, ratings fell to the mid-tens, barely cracking the Top 20 in Korea. SBS first extended the episodes from the originally planned 50 to 67, then back to 61 because of bad ratings, and finally to 63.

Ratings

Awards