Drama viewership ratings for the week of Aug. 17-23, 2020
by SailorJumun
I say this at the end of every month, but seriously, where has the time gone? One day, it’s the start of the summer, and the next thing I know, we’re nearing fall. The same goes for our recent dramas — it feels like they just started and already they’re wrapping up.
The first drama that came to a close was Memorials, landing with pretty low numbers. To be fair, the drama’s timeslot is probably the worst in the week. Ending soon are the dramas Men Are Men, The Good Detective, Was it Love, and Graceful Friends. The majority of these, unfortunately, seem to be crawling to the finish line.
Then, there was the addition of romantic melo When I Was the Most Beautiful. The numbers came in even lower than its predecessor, but again, this is the worst timeslot to be in. Perhaps the drama needs more time? Or perhaps things will look brighter with the next batch of dramas? That’s the thing about ratings — we never know.
Drama viewership ratings for the week of Aug. 17-23, 2020
| Ep. # | Station | Rating | |
| Monday, Aug. 17 | |||
| Men Are Men | 13 | KBS | 2.8% |
| The Good Detective | 13 | JTBC | 6.5% |
| Tuesday, Aug. 18 | |||
| Men Are Men | 14 | KBS | 2.8% |
| The Good Detective | 14 | JTBC | 7.0% |
| Wednesday, Aug. 19 | |||
| Memorials | 15 | KBS | 2.9% |
| When I Was the Most Beautiful | 1 | MBC | 2.9% |
| Was It Love | 13 | JTBC | 1.7% |
| Flower of Evil | 7 | tvN | 3.5% |
| Thursday, Aug. 20 | |||
| Memorials | 16 | KBS | 2.9% |
| When I Was the Most Beautiful | 2 | MBC | 2.4% |
| Was It Love | 14 | JTBC | 1.8% |
| Flower of Evil | 8 | tvN | 3.9% |
| Friday, Aug. 21 | |||
| Graceful Friends | 13 | JTBC | 4.0% |
| Saturday, Aug. 22 | |||
| Once Again | 85 | KBS | 29.2% |
| Once Again | 86 | KBS | 33.2% |
| Graceful Friends | 14 | JTBC | 4.7% |
| Forest of Secrets 2 | 3 | tvN | 7.0% |
| Sunday, Aug. 23 | |||
| Once Again | 87 | KBS | 32.8% |
| Once Again | 88 | KBS | 35.5% |
| Forest of Secrets 2 | 4 | tvN | 6.4% |
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1 Aura
August 23, 2020 at 9:24 AM
KBS and OCN should just give up nothing is working for them. TGD is picking up but FOE is lower than expected.
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cozybooks
August 23, 2020 at 10:13 AM
Question, on the topic of stations giving up... what on earth happened to SBS?
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Esther
August 23, 2020 at 10:48 AM
SBS gave up already 😁
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miss h
August 23, 2020 at 12:16 PM
SBS gave up on Wed/Thur which KBS and MBC should honestly do while trot is the craze. They have dramas coming up for their other slots.
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Carol
August 24, 2020 at 5:37 AM
The Trot variety show is not on the same timeslot as the MBC and KBS dramas. Flower of Evil is the one going head to head with the Trot show.
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panshel
August 23, 2020 at 12:46 PM
SBS did away with their Wednesday-Thursday slot for good, but new SBS dramas premiere next week: Alice on Friday-Saturday and Do You Like Brahms on Monday-Tuesday.
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cozybooks
August 24, 2020 at 10:54 AM
Oh, yay! I'm excited for the show Alice actually... I didn't realize it was SBS. Well, that makes me feel better.
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soulsearch12
August 24, 2020 at 3:26 PM
Solid cast. And I love that the FL is the genius/physics scientist here!
It's also pre-produced as well! One thing though, Sci-fi dramas tend to do dismal ratings wise in S.K. And Joo Won despite his 2010-2015 status in K-drama land, has been away for a while and I'm not sure if he'll either catch or break the military comeback curse.
Aura
August 24, 2020 at 4:06 AM
SBS gave up WT, MT is up and down but mostly down and FS is one controversial drama after another since April. The time slot only pulls in some ratings for lack of any competition. All the terrestrials cut their dramas by half for 2021.
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mindy
August 23, 2020 at 11:17 AM
KBS is still knocking it out of the park with weekenders. I hope those big numbers mean they can still afford to produce perfect little under-the-radar gems like Memorials every once in a while. If they were just looking for good ratings, something like Memorials would never have been created, and that in itself would be a tragedy.
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ray
August 23, 2020 at 8:25 PM
Weekenders don't bring in CF money only prime time does that. Networks thrive on CF money not weekender ratings
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Keyshie07
August 24, 2020 at 5:35 AM
Why should OCN give up FOE? Remember, it is a cable drama plus it is airing very late compared to other dramas. To be fair, its rating is still good even if it is not high.
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2 OldLawyer
August 23, 2020 at 9:30 AM
ONCE AGAIN is holding up- and the story lines got better last week.
MEMORIALS simply deserves better than this, even with the awful time slot.
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bong-soo
August 23, 2020 at 10:06 AM
@old lawyer,
Re MEMORIALS I agree with you. I really enjoyed it and loved the cast. Unfortunately it did not click with the SK viewing public.
O/T I am a bit ambivalent about the final episodes particularly episode 16. In this case it may have been better to have had maybe 14 episodes with a tighter story line. I personally would have liked to have seen the possibility of reconciliation between dad and Gong-myung. I can't put my finger on it but I think there could have been a better ending.
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OldLawyer
August 23, 2020 at 11:39 AM
I too wished for a reconciliation between father and son- perhaps brought about by our sometimes nearly crazy female lead. That could have made the final episodes better- and even filled out the full sixteen episodes- rather than just stretching the show with filler. And in fact I thought that this would happen because as I see it the father is not fundamentally evil- just caught up in a rut created by his ambitions. Ambition itself is not a bad thing but, if pursued blindly it can create bad habits out of bad decisions, which to me is exactly what has happened with the father.
But on the whole this has been a great rom-com.
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Screentime
August 23, 2020 at 7:05 PM
@oldawyer
I can see why MEMORIALS is where it is. Sure it is a pleasant watch, but its story is trapped uncomfortably between its politics and rom-com.
The J-drama "Enemy of the People" that this parallels explored how politics impacts normal life. Its entire story had that clear rationale and every smaller arc just explored the limits and ramifications of peoples good intentions.
For me, Memorials is suffering for losing this thread. Instead, it's become almost an office rom-com set in local government with one big whodunit thrown in for the big ending. When the story stagnates, it falls back on the usual SK Drama rom-com fillers that are sweet but take us nowhere - and the politics is diluted to the usual SK Drama personal fiefdoms and filial piety.
Personally TGD is doing a better job of unpacking those issues and TGD (like EOTP) is almost brutal in how it also calls out the audience for our own behaviours and assumptions that partly create/feed the very issues we rail against.
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azkiya
August 23, 2020 at 8:37 PM
I watched the jdrama Enemy of the People when it aired, didn’t know about its rating but I enjoyed it so much. I like how it potrayed the journey of an ordinary housewife who become a regional assembly member/politician, I think the genre itself felt a slice of life with humour injected,,it works well with me..
I tried Memorials when it aired its ep 9 to get the feel of it, and would say that it was alright, and the OTP was really cute, however looking at some comments beanies made, I felt that it tried to please both types of audience: ‘pure’ romcom and ‘grander topic’ romcom (hence the politics and whodunit mystery) which it seems didn’t help the rating gain. My opinion of course wouldn’t matter to the SK show rating, but now I wonder whether some rating fallout has been analysed by the TV execs so that they got some clues on what works and what doesn’t?
I mean beanies here even have thrown some clear analysis on what could have been the reason for some fallout, so did they over there, the TV management, have similar discussion too you think? I could have just wondered since I felt similar ‘mistakes’ seem repeatedly happen for some shows’ fallout..
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OldLawyer
August 24, 2020 at 8:59 AM
There is some reason to believe that ROK tv execs do in fact look at Dramabeans- but of course with the idea of trying to understand their foreign market, not the domestic one.
That said- your comment about an awkward balance between rom-com, mystery and politics is a fair one. But it was a good romance in aby case,
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Lulu
August 24, 2020 at 12:01 PM
Enemy of the People could have aired on KBS and the ratings would have most likely still been low. I find it sort of annoying that people try to blame faults they see in a show when it doesn't connect with korean public and has low ratings like ratings are always a true indicator of a show's quality.
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soulsearch12
August 24, 2020 at 3:08 PM
KBS never really gave it a chance or a shot to be big. There was barely any promo for the show. No big stars, and it was put on a bad time (Wed/Thurs which does the worst usually). It also aired the Summer which usually for these type of shows don't do that well. Still, I am appreciative that it wasn't shortened. If the Olympics occurred this year, ITR would've 100% been reduced to 14 episodes, just like Beautiful Mind was back in 2016 (Which now their ratings would've been solid). Shows how much ratings have changed in just a few yrs :O
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3 bong-soo
August 23, 2020 at 9:54 AM
The good news this week are the ratings for THE GOOD DETECTIVE. It achieved a series high rating of 6.955% (Seoul 8.365%) for episode 14. The cast and crew have given us a wonderful crime drama and I would love to see THE GOOD DETECTIVE 2.
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mugyuljoie is preciousss
August 23, 2020 at 11:31 PM
Ah, I remember the innocent days when I wished for a second season of Mystery Queen. It's too bad that never happened (some of us have sworn and oath).
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LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
August 23, 2020 at 11:36 PM
If it had happened I'm sure it would have been perplexingly bad, like the PD wasn't entirely sure what the show was about.
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mugyuljoie is preciousss
August 23, 2020 at 11:41 PM
And I'm also sure no one would've dropped it part way through out of total disappointment.
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LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
August 23, 2020 at 11:55 PM
I watched it to the end, mostly in amazement at how weird the directing was. I swear it was someone's experimental film class. The script really sucked.
bong-soo
August 24, 2020 at 6:04 AM
Oh ye (all) of little faith. TGD 2 will be great. I promise.
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Carol
August 24, 2020 at 5:41 AM
Good Detective is very lucky for not having any competition. There only two dramas airing on Mon/Tues.
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4 cozybooks
August 23, 2020 at 10:12 AM
Hey, the Good Detective isn't doing too badly!
Lol and then there's Forest of secrets, fantastic start from the get-go. Looking forward to the next batch! If there are that many (dangit Corona and cutting down dramas)
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5 merisoo
August 23, 2020 at 6:09 PM
Not surprised that Was it Love continues to struggle with the ratings and has the lowest numbers on this list. That drama is truly a mind-boggling mix of bad writing and bad characterizations. It's reminiscent of dramas from the early 2000s in the worst-way, as though the writer and producers weren't aware that we've upgraded the caliber of what is considered 'good'. Which is a shame, the story itself isn't anything new (but few things are), however, it could have still been executed in a way that is fun and entertaining to watch.
Anyways, Hwang Shi Mok continues to thrive as he should and at the end of the day that's all that matters. Bless.
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6 Carol
August 24, 2020 at 5:43 AM
Looks like primetime dramas only hold an average of 10% viewership share and all these dramas are competing for that.
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7 Jayne❤
August 24, 2020 at 6:35 AM
The ratings are mind-boggling, I have to throw a stupid question.
What will happen if the stations give up the dramas?
I can't imagine a life without Hyun Bin or Gong Yoo on small screen.
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VT
August 24, 2020 at 9:28 AM
Kakao M is opening its own online streaming platform which might permanently end television. Remember that they own the companies of Gong Yoo, Hyun Bin, Lee Byung Hyun, Park Seo Joon, Gong Hyo Jin etc
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soulsearch12
August 24, 2020 at 2:28 PM
Don't worry. Both are big A-listers, so they'll always have work. But they are going more on the film side lately. Besides, big stars/film stars are going to Cable/Netflix which is where the pay is better.
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mmmmm
August 25, 2020 at 1:39 PM
I’m truly relieved upon your confirmation that I’ll will always have some dose of Gong Yoo in the future. My life without him seems ..well not so very bright. Can’t believe I haven’t fallen for him sooner.
(But you know, I’ll always like oppa Kim Nam-Gil)
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8 soulsearch12
August 24, 2020 at 2:50 PM
The ratings for all these shows minus TGD/OA are really awful.
MAM though, even with a big name like HJE, it has similar ratings to ITR. I do think that the last 2 episodes, that the ratings will bounce up since its airing on Sep. 7 and 14 now. Generally, Fall dramas tend to do better ratings wise so it might be a blessing in disguise in the end.
For Once Again, solid numbers but people need to realize that weekenders have different audiences who watch them. And that a 30% and up for them, is a 15% like rating on a regular weekday show.
SBS out of the public channels actually had a good 2020, with Hyena, Dr. Romantic 2, and Good Casting hitting double digits. A report came out that said out of the channels, they had the best 18-49 demographic watching.
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9 soulsearch12
August 24, 2020 at 3:28 PM
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