A reality show within a scripted show is a potential goldmine of craziness, scandalous behavior, unexpected betrayals, unlikely alliances and revealing both physical parts and intangible sides to the cast. And “Love is for Suckers” when it peels itself away from the generic main-character-romance drama, acquits itself rather well. “Rather” though is an important qualification because there’s some frustratingly obvious ways that this production could have been a memorable one.

The main issue is how the storyline and tone are balanced. It’s very much a show centered on the two main characters - Lee Da Hee’s reality show producer Yu Reum and Choi Si Won’s neurologist/reality show participant Jae Hoon. They’re best friends and neighbors that, of course, have the occasional surfacing of romantic tension that’s been blocked by Jae Hoon’s all-encompassing job and Yu Reum’s previous serious relationships.

They end up on opposite sides of the camera in a reality dating show with Jae Hoon expected to romance one of the female cast members and Yu Reum expected to make compelling reality television. That both of these don’t sync up with a potential girlfriend-boyfriend relationship between the two main characters is the primary narrative. It’s not altogether unentertaining but how it unfolds ultimately is unfulfilling.

Chief among them is that Choi Si Won is a natural at light and comic and boisterous, but is out of his depth with a more serious role. And there’s a good stretch focused on the character’s tortured past that he hasn’t moved past and it’s not a convincing portrayal.

It’s also a hard sell that Yu Reum is a diligent worker, an ally to her colleagues, stands up and takes responsibility when she makes a mistake, is honest and kind, a respectful daughter, fearless in the face of danger, able to eat spicy food, etc. but is somehow struggling at both work and her personal life. Together, the two are just not a lot of fun, don’t really seem to match each other at all and neither is sympathetic enough that the melodrama lands emotionally.

Meanwhile, there’s some tremendous characters beyond the main two. Jo Soo Hyang is electric as Yu Reum’s superior Kang Chae Ri. She’s a modern, unapologetic, strong female that is flawed and damaged and reckless that is both maddening and endearing. Park Yeon Woo also hits all the right notes as an insecure celebrity chef. Lee Juyeon’s Han Ji Yun is a more one dimensional character as the art professor pining for Jae Hoon’s attention, but it’s a warm and touching performance. As is the married and co-restauranteurs couple played by Min Jin Woong and Noh Susanna hoping to conceive. But each part of this ensemble gets short screentime so that Jae Hoon can break out a head-tilted pouty face at an unendingly despondent Yu Reum about a dozen times per episode. Had the whole thing been reengineered to spread the spotlight around more and tilt the main pair’s romance to a lighter, more comedic style, perhaps that would have really pulled in an audience.

Other minor complaints - Lee Dae Hwi’s Sang Woo is a bland character that rarely is necessary to advance any narrative, whether primary or secondary, forward and the performance is uncomfortably stilted. There’s a smattering of subplots between the reality show cast members and some of them are well-acted and show promise, but as soon as one episode sets up a potentially compelling direction, it will be forgotten and ignored thereafter. An eating disorder? Appears and vanishes. A mental illness? Forgotten once it triggers a laughably poor cliffhanger at the end of an episode.

And a minor detail, but impossible to miss - Lee Da Hee was styled and wardrobed to near perfection in her most notable recent work “Search: WWW” and the contrast with how poorly she is outfitted on this show is gargantuan.

“Love is for Suckers” has some nice pieces but they don’t fit together very well. Not really recommended.