There are some Korean shows that don't do that and have more realistic/older characters, e.g. "My Mister" and "Liberation Notes". It's a bit of a niche but ther

There are some Korean shows that don't do that and have more realistic/older characters, e.g. "My Mister" and "Liberation Notes". It's a bit of a niche but there's good work in that area too. Since virtually all Korean dramas are in mini-series format, the right way to do it is to basically wait until the year's awards season, see which dramas of the 200+ the industry produces annually made the cut, then pick the 2-3 you find interesting and watch those.