- David Schmalz
- Aug 17, 2023
The set of Season 3 of the TV show Unexpected Business in what is normally the Asian Market and next-door El Salvadoreño Pupuseria in Marina during nine days of filming, from Aug. 9-17.
DANIEL DREIFUSS
What, exactly, is real? It’s a seemingly simple question, but philosophers have been thinking on it for millennia. That’s because there’s no right answer.
So what, exactly, makes for a good “reality” TV show? That’s also unclear, but the market is a reliable test. And since 2021, the show Unexpected Business has been wildly popular in South Korea in its first two seasons, and for Season 3, producer Ryu Ho-jin decided to film the show in America.
And he and his team chose to do that at the Asian Market on Del Monte Boulevard in Marina, where filming started on Aug. 9.
The concept of the show is that two famous Korean actors – Cha Tae-hyun and Jo In-sung – take over running a rural market and restaurant for just over a week, and other Korean celebrities make cameos throughout that time to help them run the business and do a job that regular people – not celebrities – do everyday.
The Asian Market, while popular, is not normally a busy place, but during filming, it is abuzz. For production, the wall separating the market from the adjacent El Salvadoreño Pupuseria was knocked down, and there is now a restaurant kitchen where celebs are preparing and serving Korean food. Cameras and microphones are everywhere in the store.
Ho-jin and the show’s U.S.-based producer, Gil Lee, sat down for an interview on Aug. 13 in the back of the building, which is bustling with crew members – in a control room, they sit and watch more than two dozen screens that provide live feeds from the action in the store.
Ho-jin, with Lee translating at times, explains the show and how, in its third season, they chose to film it in Marina. Ho-jin says after two seasons of filming in rural South Korea, it was time to mix it up, so he looked to the U.S.
They considered various locations across the country – Ho-jin, Lee and others scouted them earlier this year – but what jumped out to them was the density of Asian markets in the area, and that they are privately owned. The presence of the former Fort Ord also played a role – the 7th Infantry Division of the Army trained at Fort Ord, and not only fought in the Korean War, but was stationed in South Korea for years after the war ended.
There’s also a robust Korean American community in Marina, and Ho-jin says he wanted his cast members to feel a sense of what it’s like to be an immigrant. He hopes the third season will be released by the end of the year, but expects the editing process to take two to three times longer than usual, on account of having to translate the English spoken into the mics situated throughout the market. While eating dinner at the makeshift restaurant later that evening, In-sung and actress Kim Ah-joong are heading the operation. The spicy ramen with snow crab is delicious, and the cold soybean noodle soup (kongguksu) is… different, though fun to try. Apparently, it’s meant for hot, humid weather, the opposite of Marina’s climate.