Doom at Your Service Continues to Drop in Ratings as Even C-netizens Get Frustrated and Have Choice Commentary for What is Wrong
Week five of tvN Mon-Tues drama Doom at Your Service has not been kind to the series, recording a continued drop in ratings (episode 10 got 2.473%) despite delivering the type of fan service that would usually be enough for viewers. Leads Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk kiss, hug, stare, spout pithy sayings to each other, and spend a lot of time together in the series and definitely in the recent two episodes. There’s also beautiful backdrop scenery and gorgeous clothes. But yet viewers continue to jump ship and the negative grumbling continues. I popped into C-netizen forums lately and the feedback is just short and sweet: “This drama is like water, just flows with nothing at the center”, “The screenwriter wrote this script with her toes”, “The main story line and the secondary story line have zero connectivity”, “This drama is like a donkey pulling a mill, he walked a lot but went nowhere”, “Is this drama headed towards destruction, was that the point?” “For ratings to fall in every episode, that’s pretty darn impressive, right?” What are some other pithy zingers that would suit our collective disappointment at this drama?
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Poor park bo young rating drama will going down to 1% rating.I hope she recover with lee byung hun movie always hit and success. She very good in werewolf boy and outshine song joong ki.Look at her now being in big agency aka Lbh agency didnt help either.Hope she can choose good script thiller,suspence or makjang drama.
Kim go eun is talented!!!
If kdramas were like this the popularity would drop. This series was boring. I hope the actors pick better scripts to act in I only watch it because of them. But if the associate with this writer again it will lose them fans. Please select better scripts. The characters moved like robots and their lines were boring I loss interest after the 1sth Esposide I continued until the 7th and skipped to the ending.
@Koala – what cnetz forums are you frequenting? Douban?
I personally think this drama deals with a bunch of people going through a identity crisis due to various reasons e.g. illness, a previous traumatic relationship etc and how they deal with it. The fantasy outer cover however makes it confusing thus the low ratings and lack of understanding what the show it about.
It is a frustrating watch. The concept of a contract relationship with doom is thrilling and had so much potential… I binged the first four epsiodes and thought this drama is going to be great. Unfortunately, that all but fizzled out as the rules of this “universe” got fuzzier with each episode. If there’s anything saving the drama, it’s the great chemistry between SIG and PBY.
I cringe whnvr OTP is trying to act the inlove parts coz there was really no built up, no foundation whatsoever, they just kiss and suddenly so madly in love. Opposite to second leads whom had barely any development. But i ain’t dropping it. One good thing about this is the getting introduced to that deity actress.
Dayum, C-netz are so brutal yet so right on the money. My favorite zingers are, “The screenwriter wrote this script with her toes” and “Is this drama headed towards destruction, was that the point?” BURN. Lol.
What other dramas are airing in the Mon-Tues timeslot? Maybe now that YOM is over, the K-viewers might be forced to watch this crapper which could make the ratings rise.
Racket Boys on Netflix is nice
Racket Boys is very good.
Oh yeah! I totally forgot about Racket Boys.
They have diff time slot, DAYS AT 8PM KST whereas YOM and Racket Biys at 10pm kst
Sorry 9pm kst for DAYS.
The problem is very simple, they argue too much. It was boring to the point that I felt this was no better than a political debate show.
The disrespect to political debates. They have much more meaningful conflicts than this show has.
Skipped this weeks episode but pretty sure nothing happened as usual. At this point it feels the drama just needs to end. Nothing ever happens and the dialogue is unbearable. The pathos couldn’t be more fake and the ost pops up at the weirdest timings and cuts out just as quickly. The chemistry is forced and the kiss scenes feel vacant.
Yes! You’ve captured everything that disappoints me about this drama. The setup implies high stakes and an active plot… but doesn’t deliver.
If you wrote a summary of each episode and then shuffled them all around … it would be impossible to put back in order. They argue, stare, kiss, have ambiguous convos with teen god. Rinse and repeat.
At this point I’m praying for some loan sharks, birth secrets, or truck of doom. Give me ANYTHING.
I blame the writer entirely. No actor could save this mess.
Agreed 100%! I felt the same way too! So disappointed with SIG for choosing this drama script! To the point i can see his expression that he too acting like he was bored too!
Agreed 100%! I felt the same way too! So disappointed with SIG for choosing this drama script! To the point i can see his expression that he too acting like he was bored too! I quit watching this drama already. Better watch My Roomate is a gumiho. Much fun!
Am I the only one who finds the lead couple barely has chemistry? Also what’s up with the doom thick foundation and bb cream it’s hard to unsee, new chin?
Writer Im meari try hard to copy kim eunsook and makes the second goblin but this ‘doom’ failed very badly just as its named
Funny thing is I expected this drama to have great chemistry, story etc due to the leads because let’s face it, it got a high profile drama essential but turn out I enjoy my roommate guminho more, chemistry is so sizzling hot, funny etc. Guess I just watch for the heck to finished this.
not related to the drama, but just wanna to say this. it puzzles me actually why park boyoung onlt took dramas from non public channel like tvn and jtbc? why she never acted in kbs, sbs, and mbc? she’s already a veteran tho
They pay more (my guess). Cable channels are backed by huge corporations compared to public channels. Also, the production studio behind this show is hella rich. The rumoured budget is 200 million won, which is around USD 18 million give or take. That’s more than a million per episode. 50% is a pretty conservative estimate for the proportion of the budget allocated to the actors, and Park Bo-young is by far the biggest name in the cast list. How much do you think she gets per episode?
Sorry 20 billion won. Oops.
Normally, top tier actors would roughly take in 100,000 usd per episode. Assuming PBY is in this league, she would have pocketed a cool 1.6m for 16 episodes. Not sure how much SIG is earning per episode. Maybe at his level 30-40K per episode. Still not bad for half a million usd. Won’t need to work for a year. I’m pretty sure they have other income streams like shares in businesses, stocks, properties, etc. I always wonder how middle tier actors survive by only making a drama/movies once every 2-3 years.
100 million won per episode is reportedly what Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Young Ae, Kim Hee Ae earns, which is considered the top amount for actresses. I doubt Park Bo Young is at their level to earn same or close to that amount.
My bad. I’m taking a stab in the dark. Lol. Conservative estimate maybe 60-70k per ep for her. Wondering if her previous drama/movie’s success also play a part when negotiating the fee.
@kitai, do you mean Studio Dragon or Studio & New? Are they backed by Netflix money or Chinese money since it’s a Viu original too as someone mentioned?
Studio Dragon is backed by CJ ENM + Netflix. CJ is also behind tvN.
@kitai, thanks for info. Phew, CJ ENM & Netflix are huge players. Have they shot themselves in the foot by investing in this writer? My theory is that this writer only has enough materials for 10-12 episodes. I presume SD secured more funding for 16 ep as over-eager fans began leaking photos of filming sites. This left the writer scrambling for ideas to pad up extra 4 episodes. 6 months filming a stinker sounds very fishy to me.
@drama addict, concur. This whole project was very sus to me from the beginning. I have a feeling Netflix execs were interested to air it but quickly changed their minds upon watching a few episodes already shot. So tvn/CJ ENM sold the distributing rights to Viki and Viu instead. You never know, it could have been riddled with problems from beginning to end but tvn cover them up tightly.
@popcorn, now that you mentioned it, PBY was working in 2 projects at the same in April-May. She started filming movie Concrete Utopia on April 16 but filming for DAYS only wrapped on May 21. So for 5 weeks PBY was bouncing between 2 filming sets. Could spell more trouble for the last few eps of DAYS. Just like Ha Ji Won in Chocolate & Pawn. Her acting seemed very off in Chocolate though I normally love her work. Thankfully her movie Pawn did well in the box office.
Netflix only interested in 10-12 ep K-dramas now. Look at Song Kang’s Navillera, Nevertheless & LA series. Short and sweet.
I was intrigued and looked it up… so she did have some dramas in public channels, before she went to make movies for several years. But you’re right, she has only done cable since.
And I also remember there was news about her becoming the highest paid actress on a tvN drama when she came off her drama hiatus. So I guess maybe pay is a factor in it.
I think no offered dramas hence no show in public networks.
I hope Lydia would pay us a visit. Hi Lydia, if you are reading this, what is your estimate of PBY and SIG’s salary for DAYS? Previously, you mentioned that the only reason you could think of them accepting this drama is that they were highly compensated. Thank you for your insight in advance Lydia.
I see to many toxic comments in this page, tq
f l o p p e d.the girl so overacting. and not pretty but ptetty annoying. it doesnt deserve its rating. should be lower. shes an overrated actress.
It pains me so much, that this drama is so soulless. Even two actors famed for their chemistry with co-stars cannot save this drama. It takes a lot of effort that they lack chemistry, as the dialogue is so convoluted. But this writer managed it. So I guess this means another long wait for a new drama with SIG. What a shame.
that’s one of the reason why am still watching. most probably it will be after 1.5 yr give or take that we’ll see him in another drama.
Agree. More like waiting 2-3 years for another drama of his. He’ll probably go into his cave until his next movie comes out. So heart-breaking for me.
This drama has all the potential to be hit, the cast,an interesting plot and great cinematography but the writer literally said no!haha
Made it to episode 4 before I gave up. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s like watching the The king all over again. ??
The cinematography, the ost and pretty clothes…I’m staying for them. The leads had great chemistry but that faded with the lack of arguments for their characters to fall in love.
…And to the director: please don’t throw the beautiful ost to try hard dramatic scenes…it doesn’t make me feel for the characters, but instead hate the ost
I don’t even like the clothes. To baggy and look like they are 3 sizes to big.
Its all subjective, I haven’t started the show yet but who knows I might enjoy it.
True, most would-be viewers are likely to be highly influenced by negative comments from various sources. I didn’t watch Goblin, Hotel De Luna or TKEM so have no high or defined expectations of how a “hit” romance fantasy should be. DAYS’ pacing is slow like Tomorrow With You & WTWIF which also got 1-2% ratings from a cable channel. Reason this drama received many negative comments are the unfulfilled expectations, big budget hype, unique premise that promises so much but fall flat. Reactions would have been different if no hype, low-budget, B tier actors, lousy OST, terrible teasers, posters, etc.
Watch Racket Boys and you will be satisfied. Highly recommended!!!
So boring. I only watch because of SIG. Seems to lack characters. I am not really interested in second plot line (love triangle). Who cares!?!? It has nothing to do with ‘doom’. So much ambiguous dialogue — are we supposed to interpret what they’re saying, or take it literally!?!? So much staring at each other; acting = staring. Big fail. SIG and PBY deserve better!
I watching the BTS on YT. Literally heard PD Kwon yelled out to SIG to have “an unreadable face/facial expression” for a specific scene with PBY. The director was reading from the script and that was the writer’s description for Doom character to emote. So I guess that’s why Doom’s face is always so bland, dead-like & boring. Heard that director Yoo from Abyss directed some scenes to help out PD Kwon. Dunno made it worse or better. No A-list directors can save the stinker me thinks.
I think the abyss director joined to help with the supernatural scenes since he have more experience…but, yeah, they can’t do much with the absence of the plot
If you saw the BTS for the scene where the female writer Na Ji Na went crazy to the misogynist writer, you would have seen PD Yoo with blurred face.
I think he’s in charge of the scenes aside from the main lead.
Looking at how PD Kwon works, I don’t really like his style.
The script is full of abstract and ambiguous description and the director only reads them to the actors for them to figure out.
Even the funny scene where MM was used as a barrier by DK was SIG’s idea.
Can’t wait to watch Pipeline in my country because a youtuber review said his acting is the only thing that saved that movie.
In fairness to the actors, they are doing a great job in here. But having a plot to have “Doom At Your Service”, hmm what is that? I finally decided to drop this drama at episode 6.
Re: what c-netizens said, at least water is refreshing if you consume it, this drama otoh is….not. Based on comments here, it looks like the actors are being hobbled by the writer+PD :/
(thank you to the people who recommended I check the OST though, I think the drama makes a nice mv, better than the drama itself)
Just watching to see how bad show is. Could there be a pay dispute between writer and tvn? Maybe they paid her peanuts so she purposely dished out crap dialogue to sabotage the project. Or is she feuding with PD Kwon? Conflict of interests/different visions/had an affair & broke up mid-drama. Lol. I was reading an article about Hollywood directors with massive egos re-writing every scene of some excellent original scripts & turned them into utter garbage. Writer-nim wasn’t present at the press con of Doom. Normally writers would be present at press cons to take questions from press & pose with cast & PD in group photos.
Sigh. I get more entertained watching In Guk babysitting birds, cats, dogs, hamsters, roosters, racoons & even his pet snake encircling his fingers. Just end it at ep 12. Jebal.
At first I thought the drama was off to a good start, but now to episodes 9 and 10 this week, it really is starting to get repetitive. The plot is going nowhere and confusing, and the characters aren’t well written. I feel like I could skip to episode 16 right now and won’t even miss anything important.
I dropped this after EP4 as well. Too bad the leads were great but IMO, it’s another disappointment like TKM and Sisyphus. I also watch Racket Boys which is fun, and I also like Law School. Goes to show that viewers still value a well-executed storyline.
Racket Boys and Law School is worth the time. Even Gumiho isnt worth the time for watching. Sigh.
So, I was liking the kdrama and was not sure why so much people disliked it, but this week it was really hard to watch because I felt like nothing was going on.
And I never paid attention to their lines, but the second lead couple made me lol, one line that the girl said was just weird and felt forced, but please people who understand better english, it is normal to say something like ” When I liked/dated you, I was always wet?” “I was always in a damp”
was this a bad translation from Korean?? Who would say the word feeling “wet”…. does this mean “I was feeling blue” or something?? It just feels weird translating it to my language lol
*the context of this line was because the guy left her waiting for him outside on the rain*
Wow wow no wonder this drama flopped hard,park bo young salary higher than park shin hye??Amazing how can park shin hye only get 22.700$$ and park bo young get 27.300$$.Since pby make more money for this drama i dont feel sad if the rating will go down 1%!!!Enjoy your money!!!
In this drama, I am so distracted by the food that I forget that I watch a drama, that cake, I want it
Once again , the drama wich is good is the one that i never eard about until the diffusion : Racket boys . i’m sad for Doom because i like SIG but he isn’t enough to pursue . I watched all PBY ‘s drama but in this one, she’s like a wax doll . Sigh, such a waste .
Totally agree re PBY.
Yesss a statue also… What happened to PBYs acting?! It gets worse.
PBY is mechanical. Her off-work outfits are bad. SIG is impactful as is the other deity, but not PBY, sad. Plus, other than the SL triangle they have now another diversion from the main romance — the aunt who has arrived and like a schoolkid PBY must stay with her. So dull.
To be fair, it’s not PBY’s fault if the crew make her wear dowdy clothes or put bad make-up on her. A lot of it had to do with production issues. No talented actress can save a badly written drama. The drama is not even finished but you’re dragging her acting as if you have watched the whole drama. She did have some emotional scenes in last 2 episodes which tugged viewers hearts.
She’s the drawing factor here why people are still watching. I don’t like her character and I don’t understand her motivations, but her acting is good.
On the other hand, Sig didn’t impress me as he’s monotonous and doesn’t have the charm and gravitas to act as Doom, buy boy, he is smoking hot. Their chemistry drizzled down as the plot went down too. It isn’t enough to save the show.
At this time, PBY should know she needs to change her game as she is being typecasted already.
Just curious why a badly rated drama has over sixty comments but YOM a good drama only ten comments? Lol.
A tanking drama generates more clicks. MRIAG from tvN is tanking as well. Latest episode dropped to 3.6. No competition in it’s time-slot since Sell Your Haunted House & Las School finished. Even variety shows beat Gumiho. It’s the tvn curse. Yikes.
Oh boy, Gumiho is koala’s crack drama atm aside from Bossam. If it’s already tanking at this point, still have 10 ep to go. Should I watch it to see how bad it is?
Actually, SYHH and Law School were never in the same timeslot as Gumiho. It was always competing against itself. Law School airs first, SYHH half an hour later and they end at the same time. Gumiho airs after both are finished.
@kitai, thanks. I tried watching dramas that koala likes e.g. Start-Up but it was so boring to me. I may try Doom first since she hates it so much, lol. If I don’t like it, I’ll go Racket Boys or wait for Monthly House.
Honestly both start up and doom sucks imo, but go ahead.
Because people have high expectations in this drama. Hallyu actors, big budget, big promotion. Then, it didn’t deliver. People’s expectations were not met.
I thought ML is hated by k-netz. He’s definitely not Hallyu status. PBY is also not Hallyu status I think. Hallyu is LMH, SHK, JJH, SYJ, HB, GY, KSH etc. So much brouhaha over B-list actors.
@justcurious SIG has decent intl following as well as pby. They may not be at par with those you mentioned but they are not NUGU actors nor rookie actors- They are trusted actors. BUDGET IS BIG let’s face it, backed up with enormous promotion.
They generated buzz whether positive or negative as evidenced by the good data rankings.
People have HIGH expectations in this drama, given the pretty cinematograohy and bright colors. It is nicely shot and acting is decent. Why is it failing? Weakest link is writing and chemistry of actors cannot save this mess.
I love all the actors in this, and I think they deserve better.
They don”t have competition as it airs earlier than RB and YOM. Even if ott rating is high, tving shows are mostly tvn and ocn. Give me a buzzworthy drama rt now, none except them and shld be their advantage. Well penthouse 3 just started. Atleast in agb rating they should have maintained atleast 3% ratings, but no, it keeps getting lower when they started at 4% ratings.
All I am saying is that they GOT people’s attention during promotion but now people lost interest bec of a BORING story.
Lol, maybe nobody here watches it or they dropped it immediately. I dropped it temporarily but i love the drama so i couldnt comment what’s my analysis.
My roomate gomiho predicted to be flop even now this drama hitting 3.6%.Jan ki young get 4 or 5 lead in drama already.None one of them getting high rating.Poor song hye kyo will hard carrying her drama.If director cast someone like park seo joon it will doing better in rating.
Let’s see. Dont judge yet.
I’m one of those die hard fans of SIG & PBY who bravely soldier on. I have to say the latest episode is less irritating than usual. I’m finally making a connection with the MLs and understanding the motivation behind DK’s odd behaviour/sudden changes in decision making. She has no one in her life to tell her to say what she honestly feels or thinks. She always put others first on her life at the expense of her own feelings. MM is the first one to call her out on it. He’s also slowly learning on how to become more human. The dams are finally breaking as they both reveal more of their true selves. I’m also hating girl deity less as she carries the sins of the world on her frail shoulders. She dies so the world and humanity can live. It clicks for me when DK gave that spray bottle to girl deity but doesn’t resent her. It’s starting to give me Winter Sonata feels. You know it’s going to be tragic but you still carry on stubbornly watching till the very bitter end. I’m that type of old school fan. Lol.
Yay. Finally someone who feels the same way as I do. I’m bawling my eyes out when DK broke down at the beach. Her walls are breaking down. Another reveal is that MM was created for her existence. Therefore the strange attraction they have for each other from the very beginning. Boy, the writer should done this sooner. Gosh it’s going be another TSHLME but I don’t care.
I’ll be re-watching Shopping King Louis again to get over this heavy one. Don’t know why but I suddenly miss my two most adorable pure love puppies. They give me so much healing & joy. Probably it’s me preparing to say goodbye to MM & DK. It will be another 2-3 years before I have a chance to comment on a SIG drama again.
I’m still watching it coz lead actors, it’s not their fault if the story was not building up but let see it still has 5 more eps to go, don’t judge.
@just curious I am one of the international fan of SIG, he is so talented actor, what a shame Koreans don’t appreciate talented actor like SIG because of their standard of beauty is weird.
I’m an international fan of Doom. Episode 11 is coming together cohesively. The pacing and editing have improved heaps. Half the cast in Jeju made it a truly touching episode for me. Uncle Kevin’s chicken and duck bantering with DK was really funny & moving at the same time. Most of all I was blown away by how MM rallied all the family members and Ji Na to support DK. He’s slowly becoming a part of DK’s blood family. It was so heart-warming to see this transformation in him esp he’s now saving a life & learning to love human beings instead of just ending lives. The scenery in Jeju reminded me so much of New Zealand’s stunning landscape in South Island and the Coromandel beaches. I’m feeling the healing part in first part of this episode.
But it does well internationally.