20 March (2010-03-20) – 7 November 2010 (2010-11-07)
Life Is Beautiful (Korean: 인생은 아름다워; Hanja: 人生은 아름다워; RR: Insaengeun Areumdawo) is a 2010 South Korean television series starring Song Chang-eui, Lee Sang-woo, Lee Sang-yoon and Nam Sang-mi. It aired on SBS TV from March 20 to November 7, 2010 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:45 for 63 episodes.
Aside from scoring high ratings that were in the mid-twenty range during its run, the series is notable for its sensitive portrayal of a loving, openly gay couple in a Korean drama on primetime network television.[1][2][3][4][5] Although the approach to homosexual themes is quite sympathetic, it has been argued that "major changes in the last episodes of 'Life is Beautiful' were made due to the strong opposition towards the issue," and that there are "no kissing scenes between the main actors in 'Life is Beautiful' in the midst of endless kissing scenes in other K-dramas that depict heterosexual couples."[6]
Plot
Set in Jeju, the drama revolves around a loving, multi-generation family led by the parents Yang Byung-tae (Kim Yeong-cheol) and Kim Min-jae (Kim Hae-sook), and their four children Tae-sub (Song Chang-eui), Ji-hye (Woo Hee-jin), Ho-sub (Lee Sang-yoon) and Cho-rong (Nam Gyu-ri), as well as assorted grandparents and uncles. The story follows the family's everyday lives and conflicts, including oldest daughter Ji-hye's marital problems with her husband Soo-il (Lee Min-woo); younger son Ho-sub's pursuit of his mother's assistant, Yeon-joo (Nam Sang-mi); and oldest son Tae-sub's romantic pairing with divorced professor Kyung-soo (Lee Sang-woo), whose homosexual relationship their families react to while addressing issues of personal, social, and familial acceptance, leading to, finally, love and understanding.[7][8]
