K-netizens Consider MBC Drama Kairos the Best Quality Drama Airing Now, Frustrated with Repeat Preemptions and Low Ratings

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• Sometimes ratings are just about luck, it’s not even about the lack of promotions or preemptions. Youth of record, penthouse, good casting aren’t good dramas but they have great ratings and a strong following while it’s okay not to be okay, start—up(haven’t watched but judging by the raves), 365, and I guess this drama(haven’t seen) deserves great ratings but it doesn’t. It’s tragic.

  • yeah, Penthouse and Record of Youth are among the worst dramas this year, but due to the high rating, they won't bother to mention them as two of worst dramas. People always say TKEM and BR, but at least TKEM and BR give some naive people like me some cider, unlike Penthouse and RoY.

    • What drama is BR

  • Youth of record? Lmao.

    Anyways, isn't the ratings-fate of dramas in the hands of these same K-netz (also the viewers) who are now complaining? Why are they blaming the network? They should blame themselves.

  • High rated dramas this year are only makjang or dramas lead by ajummas’ faves. I believe that women in their 40s above are still the people who still religiously watch dramas through tv, hence, their taste for dramas will be for sure rating winners. Penthouse or Youth of Record maybe rating high but it is not talk about and doesn’t have pop culture effect like World of Married, Itaewon class and Crash Landing on you.

    I am still glad though that writers and PDs with good reputation for their works like Secret of Forests and Hospital Playlist are highly-rated. Well, it may be because they already have a following plus these shows are just soooo great!

  • Penthouse not a good drama? Is amazing.

• MBC and baseball... Kairos and The Spies Who Loved Me always are preempted. They're good and it's super frustrating.

  I heard they will release 2 episodes the next Tuesday.

• I was not aware that it was preempted due to baseball (I'm not from SKorea) so I kept on refreshing viu and checking the date and was frustrated why there was no new episode lol. I was just so relieved and happy that EP6 ended that way. Thank you Kairos for adding excitement to the weekday/workday. :)

• I agree! This drama is absolute perfection and it is criminal how underappreciated it is. That said a lot of my favorite dramas flew completely under the radar so I am used to it. Heck, I am a science fiction fan and my favorite show of all time is Firefly, so this is NOTHING! Not my first rodeo with loving something so few appreciate.

  • Tied for my favorite show of all time is also Firefly. :-) It's been eons since I heard someone talk about it. Thanks for bringing back all the feels (and tears).

  • Firefly, Joss Whedon the only man who made me watch a drama as Buffy wich was something i thought impossible . Even Sheldon Cooper was harrasing the production ! I'm use to like what the others don't ! Ratings don't mean anything for me . Quality over popularity but some dramas can achieve both .

• I stopped watching kdramas these days. There’s nothing that excites me from the list of ongoing dramas lately. Start Up frustrated me the first few episodes. I think I’m just not into NJH and Suzy boat. Please don’t be annoyed. That’s just me. I went back to netflix and BTS watching these days in between studying.

  • @Mindy @Alex

    Ditto. Didn't bother with RoY, dropped Start-Up. Seems I've gotten a really low tolerance for the nonsensical storylines and overused tropes these days. Making it through the first episode is even a struggle. This also includes hugely popular dramas.

    Their writers are probably burnt out too. No wonder dramaland has been adapting (iffy) webtoons more and more or remaking Western shows/movies.
    A writer pal has some pretty good ideas but breaking into the industry as a foreigner is another hurdle altogether.

• this needs to be on Netflix ASAP, gosh the Netflix crowd would love this drama so much.

  • @Alex
    Same here. I'd always try to start watching a kdrama nowadays but would drop it after an episode or 2. Maybe I got tired of the overused plot? But mostly the ridiculousness of some situations in the drama. Like in the Record of Youth, the abusive co worker of the female lead gets away with severe abuse in the workplace just like that. In the reason world and in industrialized and highly educated countries like Korea, why would one allow for the abuse for a prolonged period of time? I don't get. Same thing with Start-up. I can't believe a mother who left her youngest daughter and husband to marry a rich guy, and later the ex-husband died, did nothing to somehow reach out and find out what is going on with that daughter, who weren't able to go to college be abuse she couldn't afford. In the meantime, sister and mother are parading with expensive purses and shoes and staying in 5 star hotels whe they are very aware there is a sister/daughter out there whom they know is poor.

    Sorry this sounds like a complaint. It is. There is no new material(s) at all. China on the other hand is producing dramas left and right that have fresh stories. Korea can make dramas and movies, they're very good at it. Their veteran writers are just not good anymore. Time to tap on those unknown, indy type, out of the box stories/writers.

    • Can u suggest any c dramas and jodrama that are fresh

    • Funny that you mention Chinese dramas because I often read that cnetizens and people that work in the industry complain that their dramas lack originality and production is crappy unless they're historical dramas. On the flip side, they praise K-dramas for trying different genres and spending most of their budget on things like set design and cinematography while Chinese dramas spend it on paying their actors.

  • True besides flower of Evil this a awesome show. KAIROS IS one of the best the plot is fantastic. The lead Actor is handsome and well suited and his acting is so complex and balance it exciting to watch this character.

  • I want it on Netflix too! The dramas I'm watching are not on Netflix :(.

• Kairos is the ONLY K-drama I am watching right now. I've sampled others and get bored and stop. They're SO predictable. Instead, Kairos keeps me going, wondering what will happen next. Its script is excellent, and the acting by all the leads is flawless. Perhaps some people chose not to watch it because they had finished up the previous Sci-fi show Alice (which was more confusing than Kairos) and just weren't in the mood for yet another Sci-fi drama. I think Kairos is the type of drama which will find its audience gradually, and eventually be recognized to be an excellent addition to 2020 K-dramas. It's certainly far superior to Shin Sung Rok's previous drama Perfume, which was so trite I couldn't finish it. LOL. He has a wife and child now so I guess feels he has to take anything offered to him now as a lead, instead of supporting the way he had always been before. And I too am sick to death of Korea always pre-empting their dramas for sports. Gee whiz, put sports on a sports' channel, but leave our K-dramas ALONE. Reminds me of what KBS did to masterpiece Beautiful Mind in 2016. It had low ratings because it aired opposite the much more boring Doctors which had more money to spend on promotion. They used the upcoming Olympics as an excuse to cut off the last two episodes and the worldwide fans of the show were livid, signing petitions and sending them to KBS, but KBS couldn't care one iota. They don't even appreciate their own dramas and their own actors.

  • I AGREE WITH YOUR COMMENT. All Shin Sung Rok's dramas are so good.He is a great actor and he is excellent in this one. He is also good THE Game..that' the American title I knew it by. ALSO the lead actress is really good too..it's an edge of your seat tear jerker and its filled with unexpected thrilling plot twist...I am hooked on it... I hope it comes to Netflix like Crash landing on you, and Its okay to be okay.

• Given all these rave reviews, I'm gonna have to check out this drama. But then again, the last few dramas I tried due to overpraise from koala turned out to be so disappointing I had to drop 'em: Alice. FoE. Tale of Gumiho. Start-Up.
  Oh well, one episode can't hurt.

  • whoa..are u me??? same same....definitely koala does not have the same taste as mine... start-up,guhimo bored me to death I do not get all the hype and I hate love triangle, and I hate the main leads actings.

  • Oh, I forgot to add the dreadful dreary Train.

• Aeri+ seojin tandem, you two please be happy

  • @anastasia and BBC
    I think it is a personal preference. I've watched k dramas for over 10 years so I'm probably burned out with repeated plots. The rich people, poor people situation has become ridiculous. I mean, they've pushed it to unrealistic chaos. Netflix has some very well made youth c dramas (unrequited love for instance, or Go go Squid at Viki) that are just like a breath of fresh air. No bad mother in law, or evil sister in law or poor people being slapped by bosses or acquaintance because they're poor. They're closer to reality. Yes, Korean dramas and movies spend so much money on cinematography but that has become their problem. All beautiful people and scenery but crappy storyline. Think Lee Minho's King drama. That was the best example of beautiful everything but the delivery and story were both a mess. They said that drama was very expensive. I couldn't even finish the first episode, and I like LMH. At least if it's a fantasy drama, I'd expect it to be. But if it's about everyday life drama, I don't want to see the actress playing a poor gal going to bed in full make up and carrying expensive an purse while riding a bus. See, reality vs fantasy vs just ridiculous.

• If a drama been promoting well it will floaded in interviews, games, and many variety show even the rating is low. Like nine tiled fox, the dramas been promoting like never before with tvn relesed many videos, interviews and the two leads always do paradoy and promoting in each other igs