Utterly and completely agrees with every single word you said. Is the drama really what it was suppose to be when extented and/or cut short!?!?!?!?!? Question for you...what drama came out with the pre-ordered episodes, did well in rating, stayed on coursed to the end and satified your tastes buds?

Thanks, javabeans. This is very informative.

Regarding Brilliant Legacy, although the series was extended it didn't feel like it. It wasn't dragged and the suspense got held up to the very last minute. In that case, you could hardly know it had been extended if you hadn't read it somewhere. But I agree with you on the rest, either cut or extended, I don't like these adjustments. Personally, Sageuks which get extended bother me... They're already long enough, it's annoying to know I'll have to follow 10 to 20 additional episodes to get to the end...that's just me though. For comedies however, extensions are always deadly ( apart for BL)... For Coffee Prince, passed the 14th episode It got reaaaaaalllllllllly slow.
I rewatched the drama twice and always stopped at episode 15. A Korean friend of mine told me the series was originally planned to be 14 episodes long and not 16... Knowing that, it isn't surprising I felt so bored with the end of the series.

what about "story of a man"? didn't that do well?? or were the ratings not good? i loved the show and it wasn't extended, right?

hey, what about kim sam soon? that was crazy popular but only ended at its original run of 16 episodes

I agree with you LaPlume. Until this article mentioned it, I had completely forgotten Brilliant Legacy had an extension. I almost shudder to think how they would have gotten the series wrapped up without it. Even going into the last 3 or 4 episodes I didn't think they would pull it off.

On the other hand, Coffee Prince was killed by the extra episode. There was a wonderful pace to the series, but the last two episodes draaaaaaged and were, if I'm honest, boring.

I have to give a round of applause to the Tamna the island crew for doing the best they can to give us an ending that's as true to their original intent as they can get. I expected a complete mess that wasn't the least coherent but have been pleasantly surprised by their editing.

It's a shame for anyone to have dismissed this show based on the first couple of episodes. The acting by the complete cast (Well..not so much William) is top notch. The writers are experts at giving us these beautiful emotional scenes that touch me with their power and simplicity.

It's a shame what's been done to this drama but i'm glad they seem to be going out with their heads held high!

^ completely agree with javabeans' article AND with Jenn above.
I'm loving Tamna, even though the first couple episodes were dodgy...
Hwang Chan Bin's acting even more so, but I'll let him off because its his first" drama, and the rest of the actors are good.

I think My Girl was one that was popular but not extended too? And Full House?

I think this article is talking about recent dramas. My Girl, Samsoon and Full House are all like 4 - 5 years old. I've noticed most of these situations with constant extensions are in the past 2 years.

I didn't even realize that Queen of Housewives had an extension. I always thought that the last few episodes were the downturn of the drama and even the end was so weak that it affected all the fun I had while watching the first 2/3 of the drama.

hey all,
im sometimes not a fan the extension of the series because sometimes, it just feels wierd, i recently watched queen of housewives, great story until i reached ep 16 when all hell breaks loose, i still haven't watched the end cos it got slow, boring and no real action, yes it is popular but if it slow to watch that you are playing online poker while watching tv, then it is a problem

i also had the chance to watch that fool/accidental couple, great and quirky story, something to watch without being to fussed about the story and simple enough ending, but maybe an extension by 2 eps for this one would have been better, the last 30 mins of the series were to choppy, with this and that finally revealing itself.

now im on to watch the slingshot, aka the story of a man, im only up to ep6 and i want more of it, but feels wierd with itsplanning of the story, feels like im watching the time between dog and wolf

well my verdict is that if it goes bad, well just let it pan out, if it is good, well dont increase to much eps until it drags out b4 it becomes boring

i sometimes wish in korean dramas that they are able to make a second series off the hit show like the american one do, like scrubs, gray's anatomy, prison break etc. but i guess it just doesn't work

The only time I supported cuttng a show was Princess Ja Myung Go. Just no way SBS could realistically support a 50-episode sageuk that was doing 5s.

Tamra should have been allowed to do a full 20-episode run, but really MBC should have been ordered the show for only 16 episodes. I don't really understand how MBC could have possibly believe the show would have done better ratings than it did.

I didn't mind the extension to Coffee Prince, because I think it was kinda understood the story effectively ended in episode 12/13 or so. Everything else did feel like gravy. Having said that, there was still story space for CP to explore Han Kyul's relationship with his father.

I almsot never mind extensions for daehas and sageuks. It was pretty clear about halfway that East of Eden had enoguh story to do 60 episodes. Of course, this was before Lee Dae Hae decided to leave. And again when Queen Seon Deok was planned for 50 episodes, it was clear that MBC was just playing conservative. The show can easily do 60 episodes,

I thought extensions hurt a few shows I really liked, including Fashion 70s and All In. Toward the end, both shows seemed like they were going in circles to burn through filler episodes.

I think My Fair Lady has enough story to do 20 episodes. There's still that Hye-na backstory which probably won't get done.

Finally, glad that MiSa never succombed to an extension. It was just well enough for 16 episodes, and no more.

I don't recall KBS cutting shows due to ratings. I've seen shows average 3s that still did full run.

If it's on the business side of things, extending or cutting episodes would be understandable but like us, viewers, usually extensions are a bad idea since it really drags the story, and I've seen some of them. For example, Jumong was supposed to end at 60, but got an additional 21 episodes and ended at Episode 81, I really thought at first that when it almost reached 60 episodes, I still felt something was missing so adding 5 episodes I guess was enough but adding 21 more is like uh oh, but generally I loved the drama but they got to kill off some characters during their extension...about Last Scandal, I was glad that they didn't add more episodes but the almost sequel made me think twice if it will hold the momentum it had at first, but due to unfortunate turn of events the sequel didn't materialize, which made me felt bittersweet for a while

I hope though producers won't scrap off pre-produced dramas since I think they were much prepared with better acting, storylines and the whole production itself, sadly they got chopped off before they even air all episodes I also even wonder if netizens also had a hand in drama endings sometimes...

Reading the article, as a viewer, I'm much more understanding... of cuts that is. I get that right now economically no station can handle even one week of a bad(low rating/ low viewership) show. With that I will try not to be as put off by what "the man" has to do to stay afloat.

Till now, I've seen several shows that have been extended but not one that has been cut (haven't started Tamra yet) and I have to say that usually extensions are a horrible idea. Good shows should stay exactly that. I think that when working within a frame you have a plan and this works until that gets switched up and usually too late to make it work for the overall story progression.

As for cuts, sadly, I think that JB is right. When a show is just bad or isn't doing well initially, cut it! I mean by ep 3! If this is done more people will have much less time to get attached. Yes sure there will always be a handful of people (me and my friends) that say "Man where did so and so go? I kinda liked that show" but ultimately it makes it easier to move on to something better(more financially beneficial). And with that I think the general public would be more understanding.

Ultimately, I think its sad that there isn't a remedy that works for everyone involved.

I hate drama extensions, most of the times it just makes the story move slow.

Personally, I don't think QSD should be extended, they have dragged out each and EVERY episode with ridiculous tangents and unnecessary scenes. Mishil is the only person worth watching but even that gets old. Seriously, how long does MBC think they can milk the brow raising and "lip-thing." K-Drama interest hasn't been the same since Story of a Man!!!

The three main reasons I drop dramas are:

1. Changing the story in the middle of the series to compensate for low ratings.
2. Extending/cutting the number of episodes to make/avoid loosing more money.
3. Casting popular faces with no talent in hope to attract more viewers.

I’ve never really liked trendy dramas. All the big hits everyone raves about usually don’t manage to capture my attention. As a result, the very few dramas I end up watching are the mania dramas that very often get mutilated because of the reasons I mentioned above. As if it is not enough that I rarely find an interesting story, but it usually ends up as one huge illogical mess because of someone’s futile attempts to get higher ratings.

I'm extremely disappointed that MBC had decided to cut off 4 episodes of Tamra. I just caught on the wave and I think it's an extremely enjoyable drama to be afforded a full run of its episodes. I haven't watched till the edited parts yet, but from the comments in the Soompi thread, I don't feel good about it at all. Extensions are okay for me, but reduction of broadcasts just spoil everything. >.<

A recent drama I loved, that had great ratings and didn't get extended or cut was Bae Yong Joon's Legend. It's possibly my favorite drama ever and I was glad there was no extension - that kept the pace even throughout.

I don't mind extensions too much, even if I agree they kill the flow of the story all too often (agree on Goong and Coffee Prince. The latter especially basically became dead for the last 3 eps). That's what a fast-forward button is for and I ultimately get all the story I want, even if at a slower pace. And sometimes extensions work out fine, usually for longer or historical dramas - Jumong, East of Eden, and Fashion 70s all did fine with their extensions, IMO.

The cuts really bug me though - I have no interest in Tamra but I can see how infuritating it would be to have bits of the story chopped away. I never checked out Strike Love because I had heard horrors of the butchered ending, even though before that I meant to watch it. And I loved Ja Myung Go.

I suppose if the cuts have to happen (and I understand the business sense), I wish they'd let the production team know as early as possible. I'd be fine with Ja Myung Go being 39 eps and not 50 if that drama was initially planned for that many or early on altered for that many, as opposed to decided at the last minute, because if the former happened, the story over-all would just be compacted and flow well, as opposed to having its feet chopped from under it.

I really think they shouldn't plan any not-sageuk/daeha drama for over 16 eps - if it does well early on, then extend it. (Daeha/sageuks can be planned for 30+ eps, I suppose and then extended if need be). Saves a headache.

The thing that I really hate the most is extension then cut of extension then extension again. That's usually horrifying in its results.

It is all still better than American TV - with kdramas I will see the whole story, even if truncated. Something like 2007's Robbers or this year's Friend would have been killed asap on Western TV, with the ratings they got, and this way I got to watch them through to the end.

What an interesting thread!

I think one of the reasons I like MNIKSS so much is due to the fact that it ended when it should have ended. With the kind of monster ratings MNIKSS received, if it got extended, maybe it would have ended like Goong, perhaps, and how much worse for wear would have been the result?

I think Goong is the prime number one example of killing a story. They had it, right in their hands, they had something really special, with the plot lines coming together, with a lot of inertia heading in the right direction, they had the viewers sucked in, pulling hard for Chae-Kyung, they had it.... and it all petered out I think.

For those who have seen Goong, don't you remember how you felt, as you watched the early and middle episodes, with the fantastic opening credits and the beautiful, well, everything? By the last episode, I was just struggling to get through it.

Dalja Spring, to a lesser degree, also lost energy towards the end. Dalja Spring was so well-written. Coffee Prince, with its single ep extension, also, really well written, and yet there was a drop off in energy level at the end. I think that Goong could have been one of my most favorite dramas, definitely top 5, but as it is, I'm not sure I would watch it again. I've seen parts again, but I don't think I can sit through the whole thing.

Still, this is a business. They gotta make money in order to stay in business, and so inasmuchas I complain and grumble, I defer to the economics of the business. So, I guess we have to put up with the extensions and the cuts. Unless, of course, you want to make dramas like Style, and have the ubiquitous 1-second shots of the lead actors walking over to name-brand refrigerators and pressing their cup into the ice-maker attachment or the drinking water dispenser....or showing which brand of knives are being used by the chefs, or air-freshener, or whatever else they are branding...