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  • Actor-Inspired Element: "Best Before" originally had Umma prepare kimchi for the potluck, until Jean Yoon informed the writers that it would only cause food poisoning if the cook committed the grave offense of deliberately poisoning it. In the final script, Umma prepares galbijjim instead as per Jean Yoon's suggestion.
  • Creator Backlash:
    • Between Seasons 4 and 5, the official social media accounts made a post asking fans what they thought about Janet and Gerald's dynamic (specifically whether they like the romantic angle that was brought up in the Season 4 finale). Simu Liu (Jung) responded with ":/", implying he wasn't fond of the two together and also disapproved of the sudden sexual tension like many fans did.
    • Many of the actors were upset when the producers abruptly decided to end the show despite being contracted for one more season, and didn't even have the decency to tell them before making the public announcement. Simu Liu in particular made a scathing statement that the show and the fans deserved better, and even warned that the now-series finale wouldn't feature any closure to Jung's strained relationship with his father.
    • After the show finished airing, both Simu Liu and Jean Yoon (Umma) described how the show steadily became less diverse behind the scenes, citing the departure of creator Ins Choi (who apparently never used his position to bring in any Korean writers who could replace him) and an increase of racist storylines without any writers coming to the cast for feedback.
  • Dawson Casting: Andrea Bang was 26 when playing the college-aged Janet. It's funnier in hindsight when you find out that she and Simu Liu, who played her older brother Jung, are the same age.
  • Defictionalization: The interior of the Kim's Convenience store is a set, but establishing shots of the exterior of the store and alley beside are actually of a real-life Toronto convenience store (the sets are also based on the interior of the real store). The store had already been around for 30 years under the name Mimi Variety, with the usual sign replaced by the iconic Kim's Convenience sign while filming for the show's first season. When the popularity of the show really took off, the store began leaving the Kim's Convenience sign up full-time and the store was eventually renamed permanently to Kim's Convenience.
  • Fake Nationality: Many members of the cast, while still Canadian, are fake Koreans:
    • Andrew Phung (Kimchee) is of Vietnamese descent.
    • Simu Liu (Jung) is Chinese.
    • Hiro Kanagawa (Pastor Choi) is Japanese.
  • In Memoriam: The Season 3 episode "New Appa-liance" is dedicated to Geralyn Wraith, who was the show's key makeup artist for Seasons 1-2 before she passed away from illness.
  • Irony as She Is Cast: Jimmy Yi is a pastor in real life as well as an actor. In the show he plays the Kims' fellow parishioner Jimmy Young, who is a walking anti-model for Christians due to his sleezy ways and is frequently called out in-series for being annoying.
  • Newbie Boom: The show's American fanbase grew after Marvel Studios cast Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, encouraging Marvel fans to look up some of his performances preceding Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
  • No Stunt Double: Simu Liu (Jung) is an experienced stuntman. One episode has Kimchee playfully wrestling Jung and flipping him over, which was filmed without a need for a stunt double for the latter (although they did have one on set just in case).
  • Remake Cameo: Jimmy Yi took over for Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Mr. Kim in the stage play from 2018. He joined the television adaptation in Season 3 (2019) as the side character Jimmy Young.
  • Role Reprise: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Appa) and Jean Yoon (Umma) reprise their roles from the Toronto Fringe Festival and Soulpepper Theatre versions of the play.
  • Self-Adaptation: Playwright Ins Choi was heavily involved in the show's development and wrote or co-wrote several episodes in the first seasons, including the pilot ("Gay Discount") and the Season 1 finale ("Family Singing Contest").
  • Star-Making Role:
    • Definitely for Simu Liu. While he had been working as a bit-part actor and stuntman mostly confined to television work aside from Pacific Rim, his role as Jung Kim was his big acting break and helped him land larger roles, such as the title character of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
    • To a lesser extent, this is true for Andrea Bang as well. A relatively young and unknown actress beforehand, Bang's performance as Janet led to her landing lead roles in Luce (2018) and Fresh (2022), both of which were sleeper hits upon their release.
  • Stunt Double: An episode in Season 3 has Kimchee faking an injury, only to get injured for real when he falls on the floor because Jung took away his crutches. A stunt double helped with the spectacular fall for the non-closeup shot, which can be noticeable if one closely watches the scene or pauses at the right time.
  • Throw It In!: During one performance of the stage play in 2012, the lights went out due to a brief power outage during a scene with Appa (played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and Janet (played by Esther Jun). The two actors went along with it, with Janet and Appa talking about who pays for the hydro bills and the latter going to the back of the store to "fix" the fuse box (aka hit it) until the power came back on. He proudly announced "See! Appa fix!" before he and Janet went back to where they left off.
  • Write What You Know: Ins Choi's Korean-Canadian immigrant family life and his experiences with convenience stores were very much the inspirations behind the series, hence the main focus of the story.

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