I second that

And that's exactly what the likes of Netflix are fighting so hard to avoid doing.

As I understand it there actually is data for streaming services.

Streaming services are reluctant to disclose any viewer information because it will raise eyebrows. For example, when a US platform like Netflix claims viewership on a show, it defines it as someone watching 3-5 minutes. How can that count as a full episode watch? In addition, platforms may disclose subscribership numbers but not how they got them (new, renewal, or specific show) or how many left. With the introduction of advertising model, platforms will have to go to a form of certified viewership numbers like Nielsen does for TV and cable ratings (verified data monitors and canvas surveys).

Lead Your Own Life needs to step up the pace and get some action...I'm in it for the actors, but I tend to FF past mom's whining stupidity and entitlement and daughter's passivity about being constantly walked on. Lots of character development needs to happen and fast.

I'm sooo glad Castaway Diva didn't keep drawing things out

Just for comparison:
Sageuk KING OF TEARS (2021) aired S/S and its first 2 episodes nationwide Nielsen ratings were 8.7% and 9.4%. It ultimately averaged 9.7% for all 32 episodes so that should be goal for GKW to beat I imagine.
(Frankly I found the ratings for GKW’s first two episodes disappointing. Not horrible but….)

Btw, I like your description: faction.
So for sageuks we now have fusion, fluffy and faction.
For what you call ‘heavy’ I dislike having to write ‘historical sageuk’ because that is redundant but there are so many variations on a themes now that to clarify that is how I describe a proper old-time sageuk.

Thanks @oldawyer ... I think I once saw a post by you where you explained the different K-drama categories ... weekender being one of them!

How was Goryeo different from Joseon?

Re GKW, it seems the production wanted to open with a bang (which it did) but dramatically it might have been a mistake seeing that almost immediately the story reverts back 10 years so in effect that battle is in the future. Thinking about it I am starting to conclude that perhaps both episodes one and two (as presented) might have be rethought. I will think about it a bit more and expand in the opening review.

Could it be cuz it's really a daily soap all dressed up in evening wear? I expected to have the kind of outrageous fun I had with Last Empress but . . . I dropped it after 3 eps.

Ikr. PMR deserves more love!

I would recommend the DB post on how to survive a weekender so you go in prepared. Sorry I don't know how to link it here but there is also a copy on @oldawyer fan wall so click his name and check out his fan wall as I think there are only two posts on there one about how to survive and the other why the last weekender was an epic fail!

The weekend dramas are essentially family friendly and geared toward an older, more traditional Korean audience. They are usually about 50 episodes, feature big families and multiple love lines. I have watched about a dozen.

Everywhere on social media actually. Even MDL is loving PMR.

We love PMR!

Its facing tough competition from the other channels the sagueks and weekenders are winning the ratings game.

Period dramas are also pretty popular in the west. I wonder if the reasons are similar?

Live Your Own Life I think is doing poorly by weekender standards

But people don't only watch shows because they're "good" or "bad", it's mostly about personal preferences.
I wouldn't even call any of the shows I'm watching "great" or "a masterpiece" but I love them.
I have a big problems with TW and Moon Day' plot logic and development, but I like the characters and there dynamics.

Trying to use ratings to define what's "good" it's impossible. It's like thinking that the best participants in a competition show always win. We all know that practically never happens. Popularity has nothing to do with quality, from my perspective.

PS. Weekenders in the past wouldn't go down from 20% I think (I don't even remember well because it's been so long lol). So yeah, for a weekender LYOL isn't doing great. But I'm starting to think this is the new normal for weekenders now that it has so many competition.

Because of so much platform competition, I view the traditional ratings of shows merely the public buzz on first watch. (Channels constantly re-run shows during the day and week which probably are not counted in rating number. This is why a second episode may get a "bump" because viewers saw the first episode later in than the first run.

You also have to consider the ratings in context to actual market share. KBS, SBS and MBC are public TV stations that are basically free in all households; cable stations are smaller market because it costs money to subscribe; and smaller cable channels like ENA have even lesser potential audience share.

If you want to compare the popularity/potential audience, I find multiplying cable show rating by 1.5 and small channel like ENA by 3.

2 Dog episodes this week. 🙂

It's not only still on, we get two eps this week!

They should just stick back to two and stop playing with the audience. Don't love the show or the actor. Just pity the audience

The choices of SK audience are obviously different. If views of international audience were also considered perhaps the ratings would be different.

Evilive most definitely deserves more attention. Even though it is more paint-by-numbers than say Worst of Evil, the leads are mesmerizing.

I just noticed that I never actually tried to read the title of this show. I just so the letters but not the whole word. Now that you mentioned the word play I actually figured out how to pronounce it. I read it for the first time. 😂

@LaurenSophie: Me too!

The original title was Biography of a Villain.