A plea to drama gods: please stop putting the 16 episode count on a pedestal. It is NOT sacred. Mom’s Friend’s Son is an absolutely perfect example of how drama suffers when you’re trying to force it into the 16 episode frame.
As a general observation I think the 16 episode format is no longer sacrosanct. In one way you should be grateful MFS was only 16 episodes and not 20 episodes. I can remember in my early kdrama days having to plod through a number of 16 episode dramas bloated into 20 episode formats (2 in 2017 come to mind what were referred to as 40/20: SBS’s SUSPICIOUS PARTNER and MBC’s HOSPITAL SHIP).
In an opposite way this year tvN’s QUEEN OF TEARS was a 20 episode drama squeezed into the 16 episode format.
ladykrueger
October 7, 2024 at 11:18 AM
A plea to drama gods: please stop putting the 16 episode count on a pedestal. It is NOT sacred. Mom’s Friend’s Son is an absolutely perfect example of how drama suffers when you’re trying to force it into the 16 episode frame.
alasecond
October 7, 2024 at 11:37 AM
lol.. at this point i think even 2 ep were a stretch.. they should have just made a 90 min movie
ladykrueger
October 9, 2024 at 5:44 AM
Meanwhile we got a 90 min movie two days a week…
parkchuna 🍉
October 9, 2024 at 7:17 AM
Which technically made it an unnecessary 24-episodes drama!
alasecond
October 9, 2024 at 9:52 AM
lol
bong-soo
October 7, 2024 at 4:28 PM
As a general observation I think the 16 episode format is no longer sacrosanct. In one way you should be grateful MFS was only 16 episodes and not 20 episodes. I can remember in my early kdrama days having to plod through a number of 16 episode dramas bloated into 20 episode formats (2 in 2017 come to mind what were referred to as 40/20: SBS’s SUSPICIOUS PARTNER and MBC’s HOSPITAL SHIP).
In an opposite way this year tvN’s QUEEN OF TEARS was a 20 episode drama squeezed into the 16 episode format.
Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
October 7, 2024 at 4:43 PM
There’s not much to be grateful for here on runtime, though – it was about the same as 20 one-hour episodes, just as QoT was.
I liked Suspicious Partner fine, but it could have been twice as good at half as long.
vienibenmio
October 8, 2024 at 7:38 AM
Agreed. Suspicious Partner IMO got awful at like ep 29