Today saw the premiere of fully pre-produced KBS prime time melodrama Uncontrollably Fond by screenwriter Lee Kyung Hee, arriving on a hot July Wednesday while shelling freezing winter temperatures onscreen. I didn’t know for certain whether domestic Korean viewers had the appetite for an old school type melo romance even with well known big name stars Suzy and Kim Woo Bin as the leads, but it looks like episode 1 did well enough to be considered a successful start. Episode 1 of UF garnered 12.5% AGB nationwide ratings, a big gap over second place finisher Wanted on SBS with 7.0% while MBC‘s Lucky Romance fell to third place with 6.6% and ending Hwang Jung Eum‘s successive drama hit streaks.
UF’s first episode ratings is nearly the same as Park Shin Hye and Kim Rae Won‘s current SBS Mon-Tues hit drama Doctors, which got 12.9% AGB nationwide ratings before rising in each successive episode to nearly breaking 20% AGB nationwide in this week’s most recent episode 6. I loved episode 1 of UF but am not sure this drama has the buzzy story line to keep bringing in the greater viewing population, for me the allure is in the slow burn and it’s off to a perfect start for me.
Uncontrollably Fond is off to a better start than Lee Kyung Hee’s last prime time drama Nice Guy (The Innocent Man) with Song Joong Ki and Moon Chae Won. NG’s first episode got 10.5% AGB nationwide ratings before the run settled into the mid to late teen ratings, a decent showing that was more notable for the fantastic chemistry and acting of the leads. I’m not seeing the chemistry yet between the leads but they haven’t a lot of direct scenes together yet in the first episode, but hopefully Suzy’s character tones down and Kim Woo Bin starts to figure out what he wants to do with his life going forward after the big reveal right off the bat.
As long as they stay ttrue to the melodrama route, I’ll keep tuning in to this drama. I wanna cry drama gimme that.
i recommended doctors for you
For dramas, I think the difficulty it’s not to have good rating at the start but in the end. Because the stories often are dragged on and lost their appeal.
actually, it was boring… “Wanted” is much better, but people always choose romance than thriler
Wanted was a surprise hit for me. The first episode was a bit boring but Im glad the story is now picking up. And episode 5 was executed almost perfectly. It has the right angst, thrill, excitement, and mystery. I like Ji Hyun Woo before but his performance in episode 5 blew me away and I now love him. Looking forward to episode 6.
Wanted is so good ! Love it ! Watched the first episode of UF and it was actually fine ,typical plot but interesting, the acting from both leads are below average bUT not so bad that I want to pull my hair out
KBS started promoting this drama a good six months ago, was media played to death, has a renowned writer….and they stillll couldn’t get a higher premiere rating than Doctors that has a first time pd and is live shooting right now. I was expecting a good fifteen percent tbh.
They’ll get higher ratings than Descendants of the Sun, journalists said?
For all this hype about pretty production, star writer and hyped cast, it’s a bit below average but like someone said, KBS has hyped it enough to get those ratings.
Cold numbers and stats such as ratings are the only objective way of evaluating a drama. Everything else is subjective and biased shit.
Suzy has so outgrown her group miss a lmao Why did JYPE even bother to cast irrelevant and non existent unmarketable idols Fei, Jia, Min?
Cold numbers are just for evaluating the popularity of a drama not the quality.
For any person who claims a drama has no quality one can find another person who claims the exact opposite. That’s why such claims are biased shits with no objectivity. Hence, cold numbers are real unbiased criterias free of personal preferences.
My following analogy may not be perfectly applicable to drama. But in general for any commercial goods (I think including TV drama) in a free market, sales =/= quality. For example, everyone knows products sold by Walmart and furniture by Ikea are crappy. But these two whole sale stores have higher sales in average than other brand names. LOL
Yes your analogy is not applicable here. I don’t think a drama having good ratings is because “it’s cheap and has lower prices” lol
well think about it this way Do you remember how well Twilight sold and how every tween was obsessed? but it was criticized and hated everywhere. Also can be applied w/ most songs on the radio. Im not saying thats the case w/ UF because ive only seen the 2 ep. But ive seen some dramas get super high ratings because they have simple and cheap AF plots because people dont like to even take risks w/ other dramas w/ intricate plots
I thought you were going to recap this drama since you were so excited.
I actually enjoyed it. It leaves a lot of questions to be asked and there is a nice underlining melo feel to it. Ep 2 should hanker back to rom com era. I wondering how they are going to do this. Ep 1 is now, ep 2 is highschool, ep 3 is present, ep 4 is uni? The ep 5 has misunderstanding then ep 6 with connect both timelines and show us how they got to where they are?
Like Momento. Awesome movie.
It’s 16 episode long so I wouldn’t mind that format but not everyone wil like it.
I like the 1st episode, it made me more curious and anticipate more the next episodes.
Well, for the marketing noise, journalist prediction, star power, and “famous scriptwriter”, and high budgjet, the rating is far below the expectation. The PR said it’s better than DOTS, so the expectation for the rating is high too, at least 15%. Watching the preview and 1st episode, I only can say I haven’t seen anything in KWB other than another CYD. And suzy is toooooooo noisy that reminds me if HJM in KMHM. The good thing is Suzy is pretty.
Omo. I love that they introduced the more characters in this episodes. Suzy even improved alot, so much emotion in the last part.
i know it… When some of netizen keep telling that Suzy was bad.. I think she improved than when she was in Dream High…Oh yeahh i recommended Doctors for you and please support Kdrama…??
With all the hype and mediaplay this drama was getting for months it kinda under performed both in ratings and quality. And they don`t really heave big star competition right now, let`s see what happens when W premiers in the same time slot.
Btw both Woo Bins and Suzys acting left a lot to be desired.Not to mention obvious lack of chemistry.
@TYN123,it’s actually a 20ep drama. KBS said it’s better than DOTS and media said it will surpass DOTS’s rating. while I don’t think it will,UF will at least hit 30%. but I’m all for W. just saw the teaser and I keep raping the replay botton. it looks too good. hope it does well cos MBC is not even promoting the drama as much as MBC is with UF.
If you watch a drama you should enjoy it for what it is, not base it on what other people say let alone on things that are outside of the drama.
I’ve been on a few sites and every single one of them there are people coming on to talk about how W is so much better when it hasn’t even aired yet. I saw that trailer too and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like UF trailer either. But the amount of W fans on EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE is really pissing me off.
If you want to support W then go support it. Is there a need to compare a 1 ep aired drama to a not yet aired drama? What are you comparing? Who made a better trailer?!
I was going to check out W because I wanted to see how they were going to do the whole two worlds transition like I wanted to watch W because I wanted to see KWB and Suzy together, but now I’ll skip W so I wouldn’t have to be reminded of this constant annoyance.
Seriously, get off your high horse and wait for your beloved drama to ACTUALLY be successful BEFORE gloating.
I think they are not W fans (because they not really know about W plot) just some ppl who hates suzy.
+ UF and W are the same slot, kdrama fans always like that compare dramas whos airing at the same time especially it’s KWB and LJS, the bestfriend.
+1 🙂
I’m not for either but I hope you don’t skip W because of what its ‘fans’ has said about UF.
“If you watch a drama you should enjoy it for what it is, not base it on what other people say let alone on things that are outside of the drama.”
Beat them. Don’t join them. Heh.
It’s pretty normal to compare since both dramas are directly ‘competing’.
And you should just take your own advice and not be bothered by what others say.
lol. “If you watch a drama you should enjoy it for what it is, not base it on what other people say let alone on things that are outside of the drama.” girl…take your ow advice. This always happens tho you also sometimes see UF comments in W articles…its not that deep, chill
I don’t know why but I’m immediately hooked with the first episode. I have low expectation and I just tried to watch it, and I became more curious for the next episodes to come.
*KBS*
OMG. Even tho it’s summer, I got felt refresh just because of watching this. There is a Japanese feel in it, maybe because of the good cinematography. Suzy and KWB even improved a lot in acting, too much feels in the last scene.
It’s currently winter where I am so they are making me colder.
Doctors and this drama recommended for you..i want to watch this drama but i have a lot of pending drama heheheh??
Not a fan of both of the leads, but I like this Uncontrollably Fond’s episode.
Congrats UF team! 🙂
When I thought I already knew the plotline based on their so many promotional teasers released. And I’m still confused and more curious to the relationship of the characters.
I like this first episode ♡ Anticipating more episodes~
Suzy really pretty but The dino guy distract me, huek.
To be fair to Lucky Romance, it actually was leading the pack for most of its run. I will await what y’all think of this drama mid-way through. Unlike many, I am not a fan of Nice Guy and don’t generally enjoy the melos; however, if around episode 8 everyone is liking it, I’ll give it a go. I am happy to see double digit ratings if for no other reason than last year was a pretty lackluster year for k-drama ratings and they needed some buzzy dramas this year which they seem to be getting.
The first ep is really good.
your standart is pretty bad
I think you need to shut up.
Your kim woobin is so ugly
It should maintain it’s rating today but the real competition is next week. The 2 leads in W are stronger in acting, question is the script and directing will it triumph? I think Suzy will improve as we go along. Storyline is not captivating for me.
The drama is well-directed, the plot is excellent (melodrama is my favourite genre), Suzy is very beautiful, Woo Bin is quite attractive (actually, I used to think he looked like a beast but I seem to have changed my mind after this drama)…but the acting of the two actors was terrible. It was an absolute embarrassment. Forget about conveying emotions, but Suzy couldn’t even pronounce the words thoroughly and, strangely, I didn’t feel anything for Woo Bin’s character when I found out that he was going to die (that hospital scene should have been very emotional and it managed to leave me cold – I kept waiting to see some emotions on his face). What a waste of a good melodrama!
Now that I think about it, Park Shin Hye’s acting is quite good in comparison to Suzy’s (I’m quite surprised at myself; I have never thought I would actually say this).
i recommended Doctors and this drama for you hehee??
you compare the real actress vs idol actress? Laughing so hard.
Wow I’m actually surprised myself too since you dragged her so hard and also doubting her for pulling off the role in Doctors?
@suzypretty Well whats the difference? she gets lead roles as a “real actress” as you say gets so why does she get excused? Its not like this is her first role. I watched the 2nd ep and it wasnt anywhere near as bad as the 1st tbh. It was okay/good
Well, yes, SuzyPretty. I don’t see the difference between a “real actress” and an “idol actress”. They are both actresses. Suzy is not singing in the drama, she’s acting (or, at least, she’s trying to act). Keep laughing, it’s good for your health.
“trying-to-act-ress”… LOL…
That’s why we don’t judge ppl by appearance. Acting skills do make up what is short of the looks. LOL
I think KWB did a decent job in ep 1. I’m being fair since I’ve never been his fans and I loathe his role in the Heirs. I actually like how he delivered his supposedly-gloomy scenes in the doctor’s office and elsewhere. I always hate overacting much much more than underwhelming in films. We’re not watching Shakespeare plays anyways that always require theatrical expressions and exaggerating body language thanks to the stage setting. Who the heck in real life would cry buckets from heaven to hell or pass out like some dramatic acting when discussing incurable illness with a pro doctor? His almost emotionless reaction to his ill-fated news is just in the right amount for me. My opinions.
Being emotional doesn’t necessarily mean one has to cry.
He should have expressed his emotions by a certain look in his eyes and a certain tone in his voice – subtle but still there (when watching a melodrama one should be able to feel the right emotion even if he/she doesn’t understand the language). And he shouldn’t have been “almost emotionless” because he had already found out about about his illness some days before (and during those days he was in denial mode). Therefore, in that hospital scene, he should have been emotionless at first (still in denial mode) but at some point he should have realized that the illness was real, and only then some feelings of anguish etc. should have been conveyed (so, what I’m trying to say is that it should have been a subtle gradual emotional process – from incredulity to certainty).
Woo Bin acted in that scene as if he went shopping and he wasn’t pleased with the products he was offered. The camera actually filmed him from different angles in an attempt to make him look more emotional (because as I have said the drama is very well directed, and the fact that the actors still look terrible at acting proves their absolute incompetence).
Well, this is my opinion (a bit chaotically expressed, though).
In all my honesty, I don’t expect KWB to be Song Joong Ki or Jang Hyun who both were leading men of LKH’s dramas before. My expectation over him may lay low so I cut some slack on his performance. But I don’t think he was as crappy in ep 1 as some ppl claimed. The classical melo writing of the writer and the directing made up the shortfall of the acting anyways.
Jang *Hyuk
Congratulation to “UF” for its really good rating!
I’ve just wait for some episodes & then I decide to watch it or not, hope it will turn out good.
@Tyn123 :I want to clarify sth here, not all people who criticize some aspects of this drama are rivals’ fans, as I see a lot of fan bases overlap each other or a lot of viewers aren’t in none of them, I know fans of this drama suffer from negative comments but ignore those comments, all of us have experienced these feelings through our journey to korean dramas, so be relaxed & happy with who & what you love, and please don’t generalize a few commentators’ ideas. Good Luck to UF :-).
jeez! can u just shut it!. I didn’t condemn UF.
How much was koala paid by JYP to keep mediaplaying on dumbshell Suzy? An overhyped drama for more than a year turns out to be trash.
Found it a lot more intrersting than doctors ….Suzy has improved wish I could say the same for park shin bye ( sighs )woo bin is gorgeous but his acting leaves a lot to be desired ….the second empress from empress ki was decent as well likewise the nameless second lead …overall an underwhelming drama won’t be tuning in again …..what have I missed in doctors ?
lmao you can’t stop dragging PSH even in an article that not related to her.
But your opinion is invalid when Korea think the opposite.
Keep staying pressed
i disagree..Suzy’s eye has no emotion when she acts..Her eyes look dead or bored.And to compare to Park Shin hye!!?She is golden compared to Suzy..Are we be even talking about the same person here!
She is just a shinhye hater that she loves to bash her on everywhere even when PSH isn’t related.
It’s ridiculous haha
This is one of those cases where both Java beans and koala actually are optimistic and liked/loved the first episode whereas the general public just doesnt care.
It is old school. Youre right. None of that crack, pop, sizzle you get from some dramas that start off with crazy energy and lose it throughout the run. Lee kyung hee is first and foremost a slow burn type of writer.
I will judge as we move forward.
And by general public I mean the louder ones that choose to voice their opinions.
I think what made general public dissatisfied, wasn’t the drama itself but the hype over it, you know when something get a lot of hype & promotion makes EVERYONE curious about it while there is no drama that can satisfy EVERYONE so many people will be disappointed! But the ones with logical amount of promotion will find their fan through broadcasting.
I think the same case happened for Producer last year, at first people said it’s boring but after second episode the fans of that kind of drama stock to it & find it interesting. Even you can say Lucky Romance experienced a bit of it.
Did not like the first ep at all ????
fall asleep after 10min. it bore as fuck.SUZY&KWB acting didnt help the drama. will wait for two world.
You took the words right out of my mouth @Orange. nothing can go wrong on dramabeans site when they watch their bias’s show. take for example Doctors.that show has been condemned there by recappers to the point of fans getting angry at them not to recap the show anymore if they don’t like it.
Actually I hope they don’t recape doctors drama if you read how much negativity they are writing I won’t accept such a blogger to recap with feeling of unemotional feeling seriously you should be happy if your fave drama won’t be recapped by them .
UF is the worst drama in 2016, especially the leads can’t act. Suzy and woobin are ‘meh’ at acting as usual.
I am looking forward for W and IOJ drama, both much better in UF.
I’m still rooting for Writer LKH and pre production to make UF decent. For me, screenplay and directing are way more important than acting for a drama to be watchable. Sometimes it was an excruciating experience to watch LKH’s classical melo bcos of the complexity of emotions she tried to portray in her storyline. But if you have some taste for appreciating classical literature such as some Russian or British novels, you would actually find out LKH’s writing style borrows a lot of inspiration from classical works. She’s actually a more sophisticated writer than the famed writer of DotS, Kim Eun Sook. She somehow has knacks to make her dramas memorable even when the stories are not up my alley, like Nice Guy.
Doctors is destined to be popular since the storyline is as cheesy and fluffy as DotS and K drama audience like that in general. There’re similarities between Doctors and DotS. For example, both heroines’ characters are bright and strong while the heroes are cheesy, charming, and very playful in wooing their girls. I don’t see anything novel in Doctors’ plot. It’s entertaining but predictable. On the other hand, Idk what to expect out of UF since it’s part of writer’s signature style to make the ending unpredictable. So I have more anticipation of UF in terms of plot development.
Oh im so agree with you.. love the drama for the novel plot, the drama makes ur novel feeling shown live on screen.. its just so nice
I have to say that Doctors tried its best to copy DotS and while you may say that the heroines have some similarities, the heroes are actually very different: one is weak (in Doctors) while the other is not (in DotS).
Both the heroes are cheerful and amicable, unlike typical K drama heroes who were aloof and on the borderline being assholes. The major difference so far as I see is that SJK was less cringe worthy to watch when he delivered those cheesy lines. And the kissing scenes of course. LOL.
Are we even watching the same drama? In what sense is PSH’s character weak at all? She is a tough cookie. She is human. But deep down, she has a soft exterior perhaps due to the fact that she has lost everyone in her life. Her grandma especially, and even after that, she is still strong. She doesn’t show her weakness on the outside and embraces the poor experiences she’s had and is still headstrong. I think that’s a pretty strong character.
Lol. Sorry. I read your comment wrong. I thought you meant the heroines were different.
It’s funny because the script of Doctor was finished in 2010 but it copied a new drama.
Hyejung is weak? lol
Drama2016, when I said that the male character from Doctors is weak I meant to blame the writer and the director and certainly not the actor (Kim Rae Won is very talented and, as much as I don’t like Park Shin Hye’s acting, that awful kiss had nothing to do with the two actors – the director, I believe, put them to kiss like that in a ridiculous attempt to convey innocence).
Kim Rae Won’s character is simply poorly written: he doesn’t have a personality or some special traits; he simply exists to love Park Shin Hye’s character (in fact all the other characters appear in the drama either to love, hate or simply gravitate towards Park Shin Hye’s character).
Now DotS may not have had much of a plot, but all the characters there were unique, independent and well developed (and this is the major difference between Doctors and DotS, and that is why I love DotS and can’t watch Doctors, the latter simply being a poor copy of a worthy original).
P.S. Actually, I am somehow compelled to watch a bit of Doctors because my sister does and I unwillingly catch some scenes.
@Sganarel, I actually agree with your last comment about the difference between DotS and Doctors. Doctors is entertaining so far, but not intriguing enough for me to want to eagerly check it out. It’s predictable, I just watched it out of boredom since there’re many watchable dramas during this time. It’s a female-centric drama. So everything is revolving around the heroine. DotS, however, has a more balancing plot with more interesting figures other than one particular character. Nor could I expect what’s next to come up while watching DotS. That’s why I was hooked throughout the run of Dots. KES is known for penning out cheesy lines and surely no exception for DotS. I don’t understand Korean. Therefore there’s no way for me to judge how SJK blurted out those cheesy lines to make audience flinch or not. But according to several reviews I read about DotS, the critics all praised SJK’s skills to make cheesy lines charming rather cringe worthy. Also when he approached SHK in the drama, I believe many female fans including me felt fluttered. Fantasy galore at those moments. LOL. But it’s just to the opposite feelings when KRW approached PSH in Doctors. I cringed at those scenes when this OTP got physically close in Doctors. Perhaps age gap matters. Or simply KRW still hasn’t got the knacks to make his wooing less cheesy. LOL….
I meant *there AREN’T many watchable dramas during this time.
Well, yes, Song Joong Ki was deffinitely less cheesy than Kim Rae Won, when portraying his character, and certainly more charming (you may be right, maybe that’s why I don’t like Kim Rae Won’s character at all: besides the fact that it is poorly written, Kim Rae Won seems quite uncomfortable playing it – it may have to do, as you said, with the age gap; the cheesy lines remain utterly cringeworthy and he doesn’t seem charming at all).
But, after all, Song Joong Ki has always been charming no matter what character he had to play (it is his special skill).
UF is really shaping good. I’m intrigued in what will happen and I hope the next episode will start driving the plot to the destinies of these characters. The writer said that she will show us the love of four seasons like endless love series into one..
Mediaplay is so strong for this one. They need to W is coming.
Exactly
I am fell asleep watching UF ep 1 and couldn’t continue ep 2. But I heard ep 2 still have decent rating. Whats going on..? Knetzz are you blind? UF not worth watching, don’t waste your time, I hope W and Incarnation of jealousy come as soon as possible.
Considering how big of a project this drama is you bet KBS will mediaplay the hell out of it, why put in so much money and not over promote it. I get it from a business sense but at the end of the day the writing/screenplay is most important, if you don’t have an engaging story then no amount of money and PR can cover it so I hope for their sake it does deliver. 12.5% I’m guessing is good for now, only time will tell whether it’ll increase, decrease or remain the same throughout its run.
I forwarded most of the scenes in epi 2, it bored me to death.
I see some people are obsessed with Doctors even in another drama’s article.
OFC . Ppl obsessed w doctors because of PSH.
It’s bound to happen in any article. People will always compare their faves in unrelated articles. That’s just how it is.