Manhole Premieres at the Bottom in Lackluster Wed-Thurs Drama Offerings
It’s new drama Wednesday as KBS premieres the time-traveling wacky romance Manhole (Wonderland’s Feel or Feels So Good) taking over from the teary intense sageuk Seven Days Queen. Opposite the already airing The Man Who Dies to Live and Reunited Worlds, Manhole’s episode 1 ratings are so low it might as well crawl back inside the proverbial manhole. Episode 1 got 3.1% AGB ratings, and the only consolation is that the other competitors aren’t doing too hot either. The Man Who Dies to Live continues to the lead the time slot coming in at 8.0% for episode 13 and 11.2% for episode 14, while Reunited Worlds remained steady in the middle with 5.5% and 6.5% for the latest episodes. At this point Manhole might just try out the so bad it’s good strategy and hook viewers with the buzz, reportedly the first episode was choppy but had some chuckles.
Having idol-actors as main leads is risky enough (except you have hyungsik, siwan, lee joon) and with this genre obviously won’t attract older watchers.
I haven’t watched it yet though, I’ll give it a try for ep 1.
These days there is nothing good in the three main broadcasters.
Will stick with cable dramas in the meantime.
I actually quite liked it. A bit choppy and some moments where you cringe but overall funny!
Could it be because of UEE’s recent dating controversy?
Fairly enough, there has been no drama post Chief Kim and Defendant that netted exceptional ratings. Except for that period starting from August 2016 till early 2017 that churned out rating hits dramas like Doctors, MDBC, RDTK, Goblin, SWDBS, the rest are just meddling at the lower teens.
And I hope to dear God that Korea will stop with this crime thriller/legal dramas for now. Look at Falsify and Criminal Minds…even boasting stellar casts and yet the ratings are not impressive. I bet viewers are experiencing fatigue over this genre unless they really could come up with really fresh exceptional stories.
I have not given Manhole a try but I would since I was sold by the quirkiness of the teasers.
To be fair, while Falsify might not be breaking any ratings record, it is still leading the pack, against the more trendy saeguk romance (The King Loves) and a franchise series (School 2017). And from what little I saw from CM (and the comments I read about it), I say CM’s low ratings are less of a sign of genre exhaustion and more of it being a niche series (either for the original CM lovers and/or LJK fans) as well as suffering from the usual adaptation criticisms. If anything, it seems that legal thrillers seem to be a safe bet for SBS on the Mon/Tue slot as they’ve been winning the ratings battle with them (in comparison to Sassy Girl).
I pick Manhole over Reunited Worlds as well since that is too slow and lead pair just aren’t working for me. YJG really needs to pick better dramas with female leads closer to his age.
2016 was a good year for ratings. All of TVN drama’s starting with OHYA did really well. And even drama’s with bad ratings like WFKBJ were enjoyable.
There seems to be a trend this year for drama’s with good casts to have really bad writing and there really is too much thriller/crime/medical dramas. I need a good old fashioned romcom even a fantasy romcom sounds good at this point.
The 12 year age gap is intentional for Reunited Worlds! Do you understand the story? Have you watched it yet? If this is not your type of drama, fine; but to criticize on YJG’s choice of female lead is wrong. I enjoy it ?
I don’t watch any drama this year till finish. Last year drama mostly so good but this year mostly bad.
The only phenomenon work is JTBC’s drama Woman’s Dignity. TVN has very bad luck on the other hand, JTBC seems doing so well.
TVN seems lost their touch. They were so good in romcom and family kinda story. SBS is the one doing continously well this year tho
Check out Tunnel, Forest of Secrets and Chief Kim if you haven’t. They range from good to great from beginning to end. I hear Father is Strange is a very good weekend drama also.
Forest of Secret is IT. I thought nothing could rival Signal but boy I was wrong. Give Si-mok and his gang a second season please…
I also echo Forest of Secrets. Definitely one of the best. As for Chief Kim, I didn’t like the humor and found the storyline okayish. I couldn’t finish it (I might be in the minor who didn’t find Chief Kim to be all that. Wasn’t worth the hype for me).
This year I completely enjoyed Tunnel, Circle and Forest of Secrets… all of which are, gasp, mystery dramas! But I do love the genre, especially when done well. And Forest was exceptionally brilliant. Ratings wise it may not as phenomenal as TVN’s former hits; but still a success for the station anyway, and phenomenal for me.
That headline killed me hahaha. Plus, UEE’s acting is awkward, has always been. Can’t understand what people see in her. And yes, I watched Marriage Contract but her acing wasn’t brilliant like some people claim. Still, kudos to her for being brave and trying different roles.
So far, Forest os Secrets is the only drama that clicked me this year. Even I don’t really into crime/thriller genre, but this drama is just so good. And the after effects about watching good drama is the bland feeling when I tried to watch ‘just so-so’ drama
I can’t even bring mself to start another drama just yet and now I’m binging on variety shows . I’m so affected by FoS.
Me too. I rather late watching secret forest, I started falsify and criminal mind first. but then I binge watched secret forest. booyy,, it was that good. From then I cannot watch criminal mind and falsify happily again.
i never believe with rating,chicago copywriter had bad rating too.
this drama maybe little bit too much, especially in the epilogue. but it’s ok. it just 1 episode and I Don’t know why,i more like bong pil ending with jin sook rather with soo jun. ( best hit effect lol).
Yoo Ah In is a good actor but he is all the same i all his roles, he has a characteristic acting style. I liked him in Six Flying Dragons and I sat through Fashion King because of him too, but Chicago Typewriter bored me. Even Im Soo Jung comeback couldn’t get me excited
Dramas these days are not at their best. Even in streaming sites daily dramas like “Lovers in bloom” or “Unknown woman” are must watched than some prime time dramas. With that said ,i watched the 1st episode, and the problem is that Uee’s mind seems to be elsewhere. I have the feeling that she’s not into her acting work. She seems so skinny and tired that she may vanish at any moment. I’m wacthing “save me” OCN Drama.
hi, i am watching “Save Me” too…. how do you like it? It is a bit too creepy for me… I am a bit scared of this cult-themed storyline…. I am sad to see the bullying also, so sad… not sure if I can hold onto it til the end…
To @candycane , i find it fascinating cause it’s something Under my comprehension. There’s no word to discribe what i think about bullying .The actress gives me a vibe of a younger Soo Ae .I’m watching ” Reunited words” too , i find it very warm, and YJG is such a good actor. And to live up my mood i’m watching Shool 2017 (not realistic in some points but easy to watch!)
Yes I totally enjoy Reunited Worlds ? Good to know you like it too ??
I don’t have any qualms about the casting, even though they are idols, I think they have pretty good acting skills. However, I passed on the drama cuz the description sounds so much like operation proposal, which has already been said and done in both Japan and Korea. I’d rather watching something more original and refreshing.
I have to agree with some here that not much has gotten me excited in Kdramas this year. I did enjoy forest of secrets and lookout this summer, but everything else is meh. Most dramas start with lots of potential… But kind of frizzle out in the middle.
Lookout was really a good drama . I liked “Tunnel” but not the end . Introverted boss and Radiant office were very good at the beginning but let me down in the middle. Secret Forest was well executed from the beginning till the end . I’d like to see more female roles like that !