Cha-cha-cha la Malul Mării

Its not the story, its the vibe that is similar in both.............................................

There are so many common features on the two TV shows:

1. Sweet scenes, lots of
2. Make you fall in love
3. There is no bad guy but just relaxing
4. Feel good and laughing
5. Fate
6. Both male leads have trauma in the past
7. Family and friendship
8. Stories of second leads are also sweet
9. Man leads are very charming
10. Super expensive sport cars (haha)
11. The clothing...
12. (more...)

There are also some minor differences:

1. The storylines of Secretary Kim are much simpler than Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha's.
2. One is in the big city and the other is in a small seaside village.
3. One is with the finance magnate and the other is not.
4. One may make you laugh and cry and the other will only make you laugh.

When I watched hometown cha cha cha this drama reminds me. The male leads have some similarity...It is also in country side...there's also an interaction when they were kids..

* These two are Kim Seon Ho’s representative works
* Beautiful music
* Similar shooting/production technique
* Both are the growth story
* Both feature 'Halmeoni'
* Both may make you cry
* Both feature hand-written diaries/letters
* Poetic
* Remarkable golden words
* (More...)

In addition to the above, someone might treat Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha as Season#2 of Kim Seon Ho's story. There are many fan-made pictures of the 2 TV shows to relate Han Ji-pyeong and Hong Banjang's past. And this situation adds a lot of entertainment.

What these two dramas have in common is, essentially, the presence of a strong female lead. In both cases we have an exeptional, attractive female figure that is going to change her life drastically (even though in different ways and due to different past events). Additionally, in both cases, there is a healty relationship. I'm talking about extremely green flags: the male leads support and stay by 'her' side. Finally, deeper themes are also developed in the two series: some characters are psychologically and emotionally well presented and analyzed (in particular Jung Soo Min and Hong Doo Shik).

Both shows involve the FL returning to where she grew up after a fumble in life and falling in love with the ML who is loved by everyone in the town, while going on a journey of personal growth. Both shows involve comforting vibes with a touch of dark that highlights the comedy and advances the romantic story.

JBL is more melo and sad, while HCCC is way more of a romcom. But the way the MLs in both shows help and care for people in their communities and FLs in both shows get curious about the MLs and want to know more about them seem very similar. It's also cool that both shows give a glimpse of the FLs' jobs and show us how passionate and skilled they are.

Both dramas have a ML that lives in a small town at the sea and is the all-round guy that shows up and works everywhere. He always tries to make a little money.
The FL is a city girl with an interesting profession who goes to the small town to find healing and she bickers with the ML upon arrival.
They keep running into each other and despite their initial bickering, they also support each other.
Both dramas have many supporting characters that live in the small town.
Different is 'Small Town Stories' also has family plot and unless they’re at the outskirts of the city or by the sea, the area is bigger than HTCCC since it takes place in Weihai, China which has a population of 1.4 million

So these are completely different genres; Octogenarians isn’t even a romance to begin with. But the warm atmosphere, healing qualities and the stories of different elders depicted reminded me of each other. Also Guo San Shuang is a dead ringer for Hong Du Shik, which should count for something.