Happy Family (book series)

Dreamworks Classics (International rights to the 90's TV Specials and Movies and the 90's series)
 ICONIX Entertainment (South Korean distribution to the books and the 90's TV specials and Movies)

## Films and television

### Film(s)

Otto In Africa
 Happy Family:The Secret of Jeju

### TV Series

Happy Family (1973 TV series)
 Happy Family (1985 TV series)
 Happy Family (1992 TV series)
 Happy Family (2006 TV series)
 Happy Family (2018 TV Series)
 Happy Family:City Adventures

Happy Family is a children's literature franchise created by Marc Brown, The books feature a Korean Family who generally learn a moral or safety-related lesson in the course of each story.

Since the 1969 debut of the first Happy Family book, the series has grown to over 78 titles, which have sold approximately 260 million copies in 23 languages. The Happy Family franchise has also expanded well beyond the books, encompassing six television series and a wide variety of other products and licenses. While enjoying decades of popularity and receiving numerous awards, the series has been criticized for its perceived saccharine tone and formulaic storytelling.

## History

In 1968, Marc Brown an who saw a Korean Family while traveling in South Korea,

Around 1969, Marc Brown published the First Happy Family Book

### 1992 TV Series

In 1988 after the 1985 series ended, Seo Young-hoon the CEO of KBS, who saw Happy Family Books while travelling in America, entered into an agreement with Daewon C.I. Inc and Marc Brown, acquiring Korean and other rights to the characters. Subsequently, Hoon launched Happy Family in South Korea in association with a South Korean book company, Daewon C.I. Inc whose Books became a hugely popular success.

In 1989, Micheline Charest and Ronald A. Weinberg signed a deal wih Film Roman and Hahn Film AG to make a Happy Family TV Series

When the cartoon show was in development, Marc Brown vetoed any extreme changes made to the setting and character designs of Happy Family. He did not want the later 18 episodes to be set in the 1950's, forbidding activities like Poverty. A notable example of a design he vetoed was Jeung Choi and his family in rags. As Marc Brown could not understand Korean, Seo-Young-Hoon served as his translator for the initial meetings between him and the studio. During said meetings, Marc Brown was told about basic changes that needed to be made for an American audience, such as toned down violence (with expections in a few episodes) and the altering of concepts from the books that could be interpreted as having racial connotations or a possible reference to drugs

In April 1990, Haim Saban, signed a deal to air Happy Family on Fox Kids

In August 1990, CiNAR and Film Roman hired various animation companies, Fil-Cartoons (Philippines) <br> AKOM and Big Star (South Korea), Mr Big Cartoons, (Australia)

Multiple times during production, Marc Brown and CiNAR received drafts by the animators at Film Roman. He made corrections on tracing paper to send back to the studio, but by the time they received them, the episode in question would be practically finished due to an extremely tight production schedule. Due to these complications, Marc Brown's involvement with the series was usually limited to approving or vetoing production material, providing character designs or ideas, and having discussions with the studio in person or through letters.

Marc Brown CiNAR and Film Roman's relationships became more and more rocky over time, coming to a standstill when he learned the anti-child abuse episode, "The Shivering Wind", was made despite his disapproval. In retaliation, Marc Brown then refused to approve any further material he received, causing an abrupt pause in production and panic for the studio. It was only after Hoon spoke with Marc Brown that production resumed as normal. Due to the creation and the success of the Arthur TV Series, Marc Brown soon lessened his protective grip on Happy Family and allowed Film Roman a bit more creative freedom, leading to the approval of Season 4, where the series' usual premise was switched to that of around-the-world.

Happy Family secured their place in South Korean pop culture on September 25th, 1992, when the Saturday-morning cartoon premiered on Fox Kids and aired from 1992 to 2002. And Ion Television (2002-2003) The show became a major success for the network, spawning television specials on an almost yearly basis. Happy Family was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 1993–1998. The television show enjoyed continued success up until the fourth season, which brought about change that greatly displeased viewers. On September 7th, 2002, after a decade of success, Fox Kids moved the show to ION Television,

Roughly two weeks after the Season 5's premiere, Otto was featured in the "non-canonical" anti-abuse special *Cartoon All-Stars Say No To Abuse* along with Jeung Choi, who had one speaking line in the beginning which was "What's going on?." Though Kim Choi is present on the cover of the poster and VHS release, she is the only cartoon character and Choi family member to not have appeared at all in the special. Ms Choi, made a small cameo as the Happy Family book was flipping through pages.

### 2006 TV Series

More than 2 weeks after the airing of the final episode of the 1992 television series, Daniel Lee, the founder of Roi Visual envisioned an idea for a brand-new Happy Family television series for some time. When the final CiNAR Film Happy Family:The Secret Of Jeju Island, he felt it was the right time to initiate the project. The series was to be produced by Happy Family Productions and ICONIX

, and its producer was Choi Jong Il

When the cartoon show was in development, Happy Family Productions remained vigilant on maintaining that the setting and characters are true to the vision of the source material (e.g., humor, adventure, dialogue, action, suspense, etc.) - but they remained open to creative freedom (in contrast of Marc Brown vetoing any extreme changes such as "Americanization" of the 1992 series) and that the settings and characters are brought up to date. The writers introduced changes such as developing the characters more fully (A notable example they introduced was Aunt Choi becoming a Kill Bill-styled action girl being an expert on the master of Taekwando, and Jeung Choi digging for Treasure from the 1992 series is reinstated); the "Modernization" of the setting: one aspect included modern everyday living customs such as skateboarding and cellphones, the regular use of vehicles such as Cars buses, a modern employment system that involves hiring and/or firing people from jobs; and the series was aimed at an young audience.

In 2021, ICONIX and Dreamworks announced that the series is coming to an end due to low ratings,

### City Adventures

In 2020 Xilam announced a Happy Family series that will air on 2022,

In 2021, footage of the series where leaked but where deleted,

In 2022, it's announced, Season 1 finished production and Season 2 started production