8 American Shows That Feel Like K-Dramas, Ranked

8 American Shows That Feel Like K-Dramas, Ranked Dae singing onstage in the Season 2 finale of XO, KittyImage via Netflix By  Anja Djuricic Published 34 minutes ago Anja Djuricic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1992. Her first interest in film started very early, as she learned to speak English by watching Disney animated movies (and many, many reruns). Anja soon became inspired to learn more foreign languages to understand more movies, so she entered the Japanese language and literature Bachelor Studies at the University of Belgrade. Anja is also one of the founders of the DJ duo Vazda Garant, specializing in underground electronic music influenced by various electronic genres. Anja loves to do puzzles in her spare time, pet cats wherever she meets them, and play The Sims. Anja's Letterboxd four includes Memories of Murder, Parasite, Nope, and The Road to El Dorado. Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

K-dramas have become global comfort television because they commit to emotions of all kinds. They’re unafraid to be soapy and sappy, romantic and dramatic, and funny and heartfelt at the same time. Fans of the best K-dramas of all time are typically fans of sweeping romances, slow-burn chemistry, loyalty between friends, and unusual destiny-level twists. There is a type of glossy sincerity in K-dramas that many American shows just can’t achieve in the same way.

Still, every once in a while, an American series taps into the same kind of emotional current. Whether by accident or intentionally, shows like these feel like K-dramas and elicit the same sort of emotion from viewers. If you’ve ever finished a K-drama and thought, "Which American show could scratch the same itch?" these eight should do the trick.

8 'XO, Kitty' (2023–Present)

Kitty Song Covey smiling and laughing in the Season 2 finale of XO, Kitty.Image via Netflix

XO, Kitty feels like a K-drama because it basically is one, except in English. It’s the spin-off to Jenny Han's To All the Boys universe, and it’s a perfect fusion of Korean rom-com energy and American young adult charm. Set in Seoul, XO, Kitty is packed with K-drama standards, from love triangles and swoony slow-motion reveals to academic rivalries and dramatic misunderstandings. It’s a sweet and genuine drama that embraces big emotions rather than turning away from them.

XO, Kitty follows Kitty Song-Covey, the younger sister of Lara Jean (Lana Condor), who moves to Seoul after getting into a prestigious high school there. In the third To All the Boys film, Lara Jean, Kitty, and their family visit Seoul, and Kitty meets and maintains a long-distance relationship with Dae (Choi Min-young). When she gets there, she meets her new classmates and looks for her distant mother. XO, Kitty is kind of the closest you’ll get to a K-drama without having to use subtitles. It’s adorable and very easy to binge-watch; some of its K-drama cousins would be Crash Course in Romance and True Beauty.

7 'This Is Us' (2016–2022)

This Is Us was a nationwide tearjerker, and it’s an emotional roller coaster that only a K-drama could come close to. This Is Us thrives on generational storytelling and strong characterization, using fated coincidences, long character arcs rather than immediate satisfaction, and cathartic endings that could make you cry as its driving forces. Like so many Korean family dramas, This Is Us has a combination of genuineness and melodrama, but it never feels like it’s trying to manipulate you into a certain emotion; most of it is just deeply human and represents the pinnacle of comfort TV.

This Is Us follows the Pearson family, starting with the parents, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore). Their children include twins Kate and Kevin (Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley) and their adopted son, Randall (Sterling K. Brown). The show follows them as a family, resolving the collective grief caused by a tragedy and following everyone's individual character arc, with flashbacks to Jack and Rebecca's relationship, too. The show blends comedy, romance, and drama and is a genuine family story with lots of interesting plot twists. If you liked Reply 1988 or Our Blues, you'll like This Is Us because it feels like the very thing that K-dramas invented — a comfort watch.

6 'Gossip Girl' (2007–2012 and 2021–2023)

Another favorite theme among K-drama viewers is the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but more notably, the true faces of their perfectly manicured lives and the secrets that hide behind polished looks and high-end fashion. In Gossip Girl, both the original and the reboot, NYC's Upper East Side might as well be Seoul's Gangnam, with all the wealth, scandals, and social hierarchy. Gossip Girl is pure teen melodrama, boasting secret relationships, public humiliation, dramatic reveals, fashion and money as armor, and love triangles often fueled by status politics.

Gossip Girl is set in an Upper East Side high school for the elite and follows its various socialite students. From Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass to Serena van der Woodsen, the characters are all flawed and borderline villainous; it’s not until a lower-class student starts to interfere with their lives that their family secrets and private lives start coming out in front of the whole school. Swap New York for Seoul, and switch the dynamic soundtrack to melodramatic Korean ballads, and you get Boys Over Flowers, The Heirs, or even Sky Castle, which is a little more like a thriller than a melodrama.

5 'Suits' (2011–2019)

The fact that Suits has a Korean remake is evidence enough that it is a show that feels like a K-drama. Writers of Korean Suits saw the American original and thought, "This would be a perfect show for our market," and it was. The hyper-stylized office setting, sharply dressed characters communicating through quick-witted banter, mentor/protégé bonds, and slow-burning, emotionally loaded romances are all qualities that typical K-dramas usually boast.

Suits follows a prestigious New York-based law firm, where Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), a college dropout with an exceptional talent for law, gets a job working with famous attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). Though Adams and Macht are considered the leads, Suits is an ensemble effort, and we keenly follow their character arcs throughout the series. With themes of loyalty, ambition, and found family, we notice all the hallmarks of a great K-drama. Combine that with glossy production and relationships ruling over plot mechanics, and this show is very much like an office romance K-drama. The show's K-drama cousins are, of course, Suits, but you can also try Misaeng and Romance Is a Bonus Book.

4 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' (2013–2018)

Dirk Blocker, Terry Crews, and Melissa Fumero in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013)Image via FOX

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a typical American sitcom, but it also has the ideal formula for a perfect K-drama. Underneath all of its jokes and gags, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a show about warmth and loyalty. A mismatched group of people slowly becomes found family to each other, moving together through hardship and joy — if that’s not textbook K-drama, I don’t know what is. With its tender and slow-burning romantic arcs, unusual but beautiful friendships, and just enough work drama to make the setting function, Brooklyn Nine-Nine shows emotional maturity and growth throughout the series. It’s a wholesome comfort watch that unexpectedly fits the bill as a K-drama-esque series.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows the police officers of Brooklyn’s 99th precinct. The show depicts the cases they work on, but more than anything, it depicts the relationships between the main characters. Each of these characters experiences personal emotional growth, often through the assistance of their peers. If you like shows like Hospital Playlist, Welcome to Waikiki, or any other workplace comedy from the K-drama landscape, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has the hallmarks of one just like it.

3 'The Good Doctor' (2017–2024)

The Good Doctor is another series with a K-drama counterpart, except the American version is a remake of the Korean version. Yes, you read that right; The Good Doctor literally started as a K-drama. The American adaptation kept the original show's emotional structure, depicting a brilliant but socially outcast doctor trying to navigate workplace dynamics, prejudice, trauma, and the need for connection. Every episode has a mix of medical cases and emotional arcs, maintaining a consistently gentle and genuine tone throughout.

The Good Doctor follows Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy, a talented surgeon with autism and savant syndrome. Shaun is a brilliant medical expert, but is deemed unfit for practice by his peers due to difficulties with emotional regulation and behaving according to societal standards. If you watched the K-drama The Good Doctor, you should give the American version a chance, as they’re similar yet boast distinct cultural feels of the countries they were made in. Another example of a social outcast thriving in the workplace is The Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which also contains representation of neurodivergent individuals.

2 'iZombie' (2015–2019)

Liv eating brains from a dish using a sauce bottle in 'iZombie.'Image Via Prime Video

With a steady rise of zombie-themed K-dramas, we’ve seen a more commercial revival of the zombie genre. Since George A. Romero and Night of the Living Dead, the world's been filled with stories that have continued to shape the zombie horror landscape. The first Korean series that introduced zombies into the mix was Kingdom, a period drama zombie horror. Korean filmmakers, too, are no strangers to exceptional zombie content — Train to Busan is one of the best zombie horror films of all time, after all. However, while it’s rare to see a show that uses zombie tropes in a comedic or emotional way, both Korean and American creators have taken the chance to give the trope a more gentle twist, so to speak.

iZombie is an American horror comedy that vibes just like a modern-set zombie K-drama. It was based on the DC comic book series of the same name, and it is quirky, emotional, and character-driven, which is what essentially makes it K-drama-like. The supernatural hook is very common in many Korean shows, but, just like in iZombie, it’s not the crucial aspect of the plot; the heart of the show is the protagonist Liv's (Rose McIver) struggle with identity, meaning, and friendship. With a hilarious balance of humor and melodrama, iZombie feels like a Korean show; some with a similar premise would be Oh My Ghost, Bring It On, Ghost, and My Love From the Star.

1 'Virgin River' (2019–Present)

If Hallmark and KBS had a baby, it would be Virgin River. The signature warmth of a Hallmark movie blends with the melodrama typical of a Korean show, and they meet in a beautiful place where community, friendship, and romance overcome all odds. Virgin River was built on one of K-dramas' signature formulas, which is escaping the trauma and burnout of the big city by moving to a picturesque small town, not expecting to experience emotional healing and the real sense of community. Oh, and meeting the love of your life there, too.

Virgin River follows nurse Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge), who, amid heavy trauma, decides to leave Los Angeles to become a nurse in Virgin River, a small town in Northern California. As soon as she arrives, she meets veteran and bar owner Jack (Martin Henderson), and they develop a slow-burn romance built on friendship. Aside from their relationship, Mel overcomes her trauma and finds the space to heal. With eight installments slated and Season 7 coming (hopefully) soon, Virgin River is now Netflix's longest-running show. It leans into drama headfirst with medical emergencies and career-driven decisions colliding with secret plot twists, fate-driven reunions, and messy love triangles. The closest to Virgin River in the K-drama landscape would be Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Welcome to Samdal-ri, and It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.

Like Follow Followed Virgin River TV-14 Drama Romance Release Date December 6, 2019 Network Netflix Showrunner Patrick Sean Smith Directors Martin Wood, Andy Mikita, Gail Harvey, Monika Mitchell, Tim Matheson, Jann Turner, Felipe Rodriguez, Nimisha Mukerji, Jem Garrard

Cast

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• Alexandra Breckenridge Melinda Monroe
• Martin Henderson Jack Sheridan

Genres Drama, Romance Powered by Expand Collapse

• TV
• South Korea
• XO, Kitty

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