South Korea · Drama · 1998
Six Siblings
Binge Brief
- A 100-episode MBC family drama that ran from 4 February 1998 to 17 December 1999.
- Jang Mi Hee plays a widowed mother in 1960s Yeongdeungpo who turns street seller to keep six children fed.
- Song Hye Kyo appears as Choi Eun Sil, the eldest son's first love, two years before Autumn in My Heart.
- It began as a 16-episode midweek drama and was moved to Friday evenings in April 1998 once it found an audience.
Synopsis
Choi Yong Soon loses her husband and is left with six children to feed. It is the 1960s, the family lives in Yeongdeungpo, the factory district of Seoul, and she knows nothing about trade. She starts selling in the street anyway, rice cakes and street food, because it is the only way to keep six children fed.
Jang Mi Hee plays the mother. The six children, from the eldest down, are Chang Hee, Sook Hee, Joon Hee, Doo Hee, Mal Soon and Nam Hee. Oh Tae Kyung plays Chang Hee, the eldest son. Noh Hyung Wook and Lee Chan Ho play Joon Hee and Doo Hee.
Song Hye Kyo has a supporting part as Choi Eun Sil, Chang Hee's first love. Her father works on a US Army base, which makes hers the one comfortable household in the neighborhood. Korean Wikipedia groups the role with the bit parts she played before Autumn in My Heart made her a lead in 2000.
MBC started the drama on 4 February 1998, in the middle of the financial crisis, as a Wednesday and Thursday night series planned for 16 episodes. Viewers took to it, and from 17 April 1998 it moved to Friday evenings as a long-running serial. It ended on 17 December 1999 after 100 episodes. Korean Wikipedia puts part of its pull down to the timing: a family scraping through hard years in the 1960s landed with an audience going through hard years of its own.
Six Siblings cast
Interesting facts
The mother's street cry, "Ttok saseyo!" (rice cakes for sale), became a catchphrase in Korea.
The ending theme, "Jageun Sae Iyagi" (A Little Bird's Story), puts Korean words to "Tum Balalaika", a Yiddish folk song.
The drama was later shown in Taiwan, and Hong Kong's ATV began airing it on 1 January 2008 under the title 總有艷陽天.
Frequently asked questions
How many episodes does Six Siblings have?
100. MBC broadcast it between 4 February 1998 and 17 December 1999, first on Wednesday and Thursday nights and then, from 17 April 1998, on Friday evenings.
Who does Song Hye Kyo play in Six Siblings?
Choi Eun Sil, the first love of the eldest son, Chang Hee. It is a supporting role. MyDramaList credits it as support, and Korean Wikipedia lists it among the small parts she took before 2000.
Who is in the cast of Six Siblings?
Jang Mi Hee leads as the mother, Choi Yong Soon. Oh Tae Kyung, Noh Hyung Wook and Lee Chan Ho play her sons Chang Hee, Joon Hee and Doo Hee, and Kim Jung Hyun, Yoon Mi Ra, Baek Il Seob and Kang Ki Hwa are in the supporting cast.
When and where is Six Siblings set?
In Seoul in the 1960s, in the Yeongdeungpo factory district, where the widowed Choi Yong Soon raises her children.
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