“Awfully Lawful” Plagiarizes Korean Drama?
Starring Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Johnson Lee (李思捷), Pal Sinn (單立文), and Raymond Cho (曹永廉), TVB’s Awfully Lawful <熟男有惑> premiered to good ratings, with an average of 29 rating points and a peak at 30 points. After a period of declining ratings for TVB, the cast and crew of Awfully Lawful have all the means for a celebration.
Though the legal comedy drama is warmly welcomed by viewers, many netizens found the storyline to Awfully Lawful eerily familiar. Several netizens from TVB’s discussion forums shared that the plot and characters of Awfully Lawful have a strong resemblance to Korean drama A Gentleman’s Dignity, which starred Jang Dong Gun and Kim Ha Neul.
Touted as the male version of Sex and the City, A Gentleman’s Dignity aired last year in South Korea to critical acclaim. The 20-episode romantic comedy starred Jang Dong Gun as a confident ladies’ man who owns a successful architectural firm with his best friend, portrayed by Kim Soo Ro. Jang Dong Gun surprisingly falls for a high school teacher portrayed by Kim Ha Neul, and attempts to court her throughout the series.
Netizens commented that the four male leads in Awfully Lawful resemble the four main characters in A Gentleman’s Dignity. Like the Korean drama, Awfully Lawful tells the love lives of four middle-aged friends who are rich and successful urban professional. In A Gentleman’s Dignity, the four friends are highly successful architects and businessmen. In Awfully Lawful, the four friends are lawyers.
Viewers found Roger Kwok’s character – the cold and biting Solo – resembles Jang Dong Gun’s role Kim Do Jin. Sharon Chan’s character Kay, the love interest of Solo, also resembles Kim Ha Neul’s character Seo Yi Soo. In A Gentleman’s Dignity, Do Jin falls in love with Yi Soo despite having a reputation as a ladies’ man. In Awfully Lawful, Solo falls in love with Kay although he had never believed in long-term relationships.
A netizen said, “Does TVB think the audience is blind? We can forgive the fact that both dramas have four male leads as the main characters, but do they have to dress similarly too? Even their hairstyles are copied! Smaller plot details are copied as well – they have a car with a name, [TVB] also have a name; they hung a scented bag in their car, [TVB] also hangs one; they have a character as a lawyer, so does [TVB]; even the main leads’ tastes in music are similar! One similarity can be a coincidence, but if you add all those similarities together [it’s called plagiarism]!”
In a phone interview, Sharon said, “I have watched A Gentleman’s Dignity before, but I feel that the two dramas are different. Maybe the style and image [of Awfully Lawful] resembles a Korean drama, but I don’t think it is plagiarized.”
Awfully Lawful’s producer, Lam Chi Wah (林志華), said, “Maybe it’s because Hong Kong viewers like to watch Korean dramas, but there are many television series out there that resemble the characters and story [of Awfully Lawful].”
Source: ihktv.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
“A Gentleman’s Dignity,”??
Not a good series to plagarise!
Characters are similar but the storyline is pretty different. Though Johnson-Selena lovine does really resemble A Gentlemans Dignity.
I don’t understand hOW this is the same? I watched A gentleman’s dignity with English Subtitles last year… just because they had four guys it doesn’t mean they copied it.
i agree!
The structure may be the same. If fans find similarities, it is I suppose you can it inspired by but some will see as plagarism. It is what it is. It is not a remake so not everything is the same.
If this follows Gentleman’s Dignity, then it must be pretty cliche.
agrre
Agree. The foundation is the same: 4 middle aged guys who are friends has successful career but who struggle in the love area.
But the execution and details are different.
I find Gentlemen dignity more detailed more charming. In AL you find the scheming and power struggle very evident, which is typical HK.
But I still enjoy AL so far.
The characters are similar . The car have a name , hanging salted fish in the car is definitely plagiarism !!!
And the johnson Selena couple resembled the other male lead portrayed by lee Jong hyuk who is also married to a very rich and controlling wife. That character also always thinks about young, pretty ladies.
lol, just by the description, it hardly sounds like plagiarism. It’s just similiar in that this is a series about 4 guys.
Anyways, I watched up to episode 3 and I like it so far. I think Selena’s character is really cute.
These HK viewers have nothing better to do, there so many movie and show that have male middle-aged friends/characters.
i haven’t watched the korean drama to comment if tvb plagiarized it, but a part of me can’t help to think that it wouldn’t suprise me in the least if they did. with tvb running out of fresh ideas and story lines, turning to korean culture seems very plausible to me. after all, singers have been doing it for a long time already.
anyone know where i can watch this series? thank u much
Ya… I always have this thought, this series are so much like the Korean Drama ‘s Gentleman Dignity. I also think that Solo character is so much like Kim Do Jin character in that movie….
If it is plagiarized, Roger Kwok’s character will have a grown up son knocking on his door!
Everyone copies these days, but when you borrow or copy, don’t make it so obvious so that you do not get caught red handed.
For ppl that dont watch K series, this is a very good series. I could careless about K series.
Ppl copy reality shows all the time, don’t see what’s wrong with it.
agree…i never watch K series…i enjoy this drama so far 🙂
I’m with u. I dont watch k drama, so i dont see the hoo ha..
I watched Gentleman’s Dignity and loved it and couldn’t wait for Hong Kong to make a similar one. Actually really excited to watch it now!
Every time when a drama is good, people automatically think they’re copying Koreans, but when a drama sucks, they would say shit like “why can’t it be more like korean?”.
Seriously, when will people stop accusing others for trying to be korean? Always sucking up to one race.
But other than that, I do love korean dramas.
As well as tvb dramas! (Forgot to add it in!!)
I thought if it was copying anything it was modified take on 4 guy friends like in Ghetto Justice.
Kay character had an affair with a married man and went insane. She is nothing like main lead in AGD. I think solo and Kay will be real interesting to see how they overcome past and preset issues.
It is almost same….no need agrue …..