''Better Late Than Never'' is an American

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

travel show which aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and was produced by

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is ...

(under its Universal Television Alternative name), in association with Storyline Entertainment. The series is an adaptation of the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n '' Grandpas Over Flowers'' series. The cast includes four "seasoned" North American celebrities

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character acto ...

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

, and Terry Bradshaw, accompanied by younger comedian Jeff Dye, as they travel overseas, experiencing new cultures and checking off their bucket lists. The series started productions in August 2015 and premiered August 23, 2016. On September 22, 2016, NBC renewed the series for a second season, set in various

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an countries, which premiered on January 1, 2018. A special preview aired on December 11, 2017. On July 16, 2018, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Production

In late 2014, NBC bought the

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

rights for the South Korean series ''Grandpas Over Flowers'' from

CJ E&M CJ ENM Entertainment Division (), formerly known as CJ E&M, is a South Korean entertainment and mass media division (formerly company) of CJ ENM. In July 2018, the company merged with the parent company's subsidiary CJ O Shopping, with the latte ...

. The original show was one of the first successful programs for cable tvN and had two spin-off shows. It premiered in 2013, reached a high local rating of 12.5 percent, and became popular in other Asian countries, with the combination of veteran actors in their seventies and a popular young actor attracting a wide demographic range of viewers for a reality show. The show was produced by cast member Winkler, along with Jason Ehrlich, producer of '' The Bachelor'' and '' The Bachelorette'', Tim Crescenti, of '' I Survived a Japanese Game Show'' and Storyline Entertainment's two producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, of '' The Bucket List''. Plans for the series were announced in June 2015. Productions started in Japan in August, and on August 12, 2015, the cast was interviewed by comedian Bibiru Ōki on Japan's

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

talk show ''PON!'', and filmed for the NBC show with the Japanese cast. Also in August, the cast visited South Korea, arriving in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

on August 20 for a three-day trip, including a visit to COEX for filming with cameo guests,

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Girls' Generation Girls' Generation (), also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piec ...

, and trips to Hwaseong Fortress, Caribbean Bay, Itaewon, and the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone () is a heavily militarized strip of land running across the Korea, Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in half. It wa ...

. Japan, including

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, was the first stop for the show, with more trips to include Seoul,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

and

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

. According to NBC, the five cast members would rely on each other for support and encouragement and demonstrate that friendship is the ultimate gift. While filming the show in Southeast Asia, Shatner, at age 84, became interested in

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

after spending time with a Buddhist monk. He said, "The disaster of death is encroaching so I'm more and more aware of how beautiful it is to be alive."

Cast

The cast included actor, producer, writer and director Henry Winkler, best known for his character The Fonz from the series ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

''; actor, director and writer William Shatner who starred as, among other roles, Capt. James T. Kirk in ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

''; four-time

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

-winning quarterback and current football broadcaster Terry Bradshaw; and former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman. Like the original show, the older cast was accompanied by a younger cast member, comedian Jeff Dye, from NBC's ''

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' is an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, and again in 2014 and 2015. Each season a comedian from an initially large group of hopefuls was picked as ...

'', who took on the equivalent role as

Lee Seo-jin Lee Seo-jin (born January 30, 1971) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for the reality shows '' Three Meals a Day'' and '' Grandpa Over Flowers''. As an actor, he came to prominence with his leading roles in television series '' Damo'' ( ...

’s, as "bag carrier and human navigator." *

* Terry Bradshaw * Jeff Dye

Episodes

Season 1 (2016): Asia

Season 2 (2017–18): Europe

Reception and impact

This is the first time a South Korean local variety program was adapted by a North American national broadcast network. During production time, the show's sponsors,

Korea Tourism Organization The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO; ) is an organization of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is commissioned to promote the country's tourism industry. The KTO was established in 1962 ...

, anticipated the advertising effect of the airing of the Korea episode on NBC

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

to amount to as much as 11 billion won ($9.2 million dollars).

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 5020352 2016 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings 2010s American reality television series NBC reality television shows American travel television series Celebrity reality television series American television series based on South Korean television series Television series by Universal Television Television series produced in Seoul Television series about old age