Daddy Dearest (2016 TV series)


Daddy Dearest is a 2016 Hong Kong modern family comedy television drama produced by :zh:潘嘉德|Poon Ka-tak for TVB, starring Johnson Lee, Jason Chan Chi-san and Mandy Wong as the main leads. It premiered on August 1, 2016, airing every Monday to Friday on Hong Kong's TVB Jade, Malaysia's Astro On Demand and Australia's TVBJ channels during its 8:30-9:30 pm timeslot, concluding August 26, 2016 with a total of 20 episodes.

Synopsis

Ku Tse-keung is an absentee father who boasts to his son, Ku Tui-nam, his busy life because of his important business meetings and huge deal making. However, Tse-keung is really just an ordinary real-estate agent who cares more about work than spending time with his son. His work is so important to him that he would rather cancel his parental visits with Tui-nam and use his personal time to socialize with his boss. Tse-keung's inability to keep promises to his son has left him in a strained relationship with his ex-wife and her fiancé who have to make excuses to spare Tui-nam from disappointment. When his ex-wife leaves Hong Kong to get married and go on a honeymoon, Tui-nam is left in Tse-keung's care for an extended period of time. Jealous that his son is growing closer to his new step-father, Tse-keung takes the task of being a responsible father seriously. However, not being used to taking care of his son has left Tse-keung often overlooking his son's needs and feelings.
After seeing his client Ophelia Chu Lei-fa, who is a teacher at a learning center, teach Tui-nam how to do homework, Tse-keung decides to enroll Tui-nam in Ophelia's learning center instead of having Tui-nam tag along with him to work. When Ophelia and her landlord find out Tse-keung had doctored their rental lease in order to complete a sale, they file a complaint against Tse-keung. Due to his underhanded actions to complete a sale Tse-keung's real-estate license is suspended for 6 months. While under suspension, Tse-keung notices Ophelia's learning center struggling because she is too nice to her students by refusing to charge extra for overtime and collect tuition when a student cannot pay. After a teaching staff quits and threatens to take the learning centre's students with her, Ophelia asks Tse-keung, who is business minded, to advise her on how to save the learning center. Tse-keung instead suggests he become a business partner at her learning center. In exchange Ophelia advises Tse-keung on how to be a caring parent to Tui-nam, who she notices is often neglected due to his independence.
Marius Seung Nim-shu is also an absentee father, but unlike Tse-keung, his long business trips take him away from his family. As an architect, his career takes him away from his family for months. However, he is always thinking of his family and can't wait to get back to them. Even though he is a loving dad to his kids, Marius's hectic work life causes him to miss out on important events in his children's life and getting both his daughter, Seung Yee, and son, Seung Yi, birthdays mixed up. After being lectured by his academic minded father, Marius becomes concerned for his son's academics. Marius requests time-off from work, but his boss depends on him and refuses to allow him any time-off, even suggesting Marius take his entire family with him on his next business trip. Feeling his son is more important, Marius quits his job and decides that for the next 6 months he will concentrate solely on finding the right school for his son.
Tse-keung and Marius first meet when the two fight for the same robotic toy for their sons. The two meet again when Marius joins Ophelia's learning center as a part-time tutor in order to help his son.

Cast

Ku family

International broadcast

Awards and nominations