KBS Sageuk Red Single Heart and SBS Rom-com Woori the Virgin are Not Getting the Same Ratings and Buzz as Recent Same Genre Hits
Gosh, I was hoping for the recent resurgence in popular buzzy dramas to continue with newcomers keeping the viewership. But alas it does not appear to be the case. Last week KBS premiered Red Single Heart (Bloody Heart) in the Mon-Tues time slot and the ratings for the first week were 6.3% and 6.0% but then this Monday ratings for episode 3 dropped down to 5.3%. The reviews are solid with praise for the good acting of the cast and the beautiful female PD directorial eye, but perhaps it’s just too much on the darker side compared to The Red Sleeve Cuff which had a lot more lightness in the beginning episodes. On the rom-com front, the unexpected success of A Business Proposal for SBS meant that its successor in the same time slot Woori the Virgin was hopeful that it could maintain that momentum. But the first episode got only 4.1% ratings and even more concerning was the lack of online buzz that immediately surrounded A Business Proposal. There is still many episodes left for both dramas but the first traction out of the gate isn’t there so it can hopefully try to make it up on the longer paced run.
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Jeezus, from the announcement of Bloody Heart till now, every single post about it on here has mentioned TRS. With some going so far as to tear down its ML in favor of the other drama’s ML. Yikes. They’re not even on the same network or airing in competition. Yet Bloody Heart is somehow stuck in TRS’ shadow. Can’t Bloody Heart be Bloody Heart and TRS be TRS? Whew.
The only episode that you consider 100% light in TRS is episode 2 and it has the lowest rating in the series.
As both are Historical Dramas involving Royals , let me present with a Royal Analogy.
TRS might not be everyone’s cup of tea , but it is a high grade production,loved by most .
As it ended with tragic ending, everyone was left with melancholic feeling .
Everyone is waiting for another masterpiece to fill the empty space left by TRS.
It is almost like ‘The Intelligent King’s first born son died and everyone is hoping to see another son’
Sometimes hope is cruel.
It’s a shame about Red Heart’s ratings because the acting and directing is stellar. Lee Joon is quite charismatic and Jang Hyuk is Jang Hyuk. I do think the writing has some issues. The palace stuff is actually quite good but the romance needed a little more build up. Still, I’m enjoying it more than the lighter fusion sageuks, and I hoped given the positive feedback it would do better.
It’s darker and more focused on politics. Lack of star power might be an issue too, and I include Jang Hyuk in that.
Woori the Virgin is not keeping my attention as I hope it would. I keep looking at how much time is left before the ep ends. And woori and her mopey face is starting to get on my nerves. Dropping at ep2.
Red Single Heart is amazing, yes its darker, yes the stakes are higher, but it is bloody perfect in writing, directing, cinematography and acting. I am enjoying it as is, if the ratings pick up, that would be fantastic but this is not a damper for me. I am just happy with the show. Its visually stunning, STUNNING! Episode 4 ended with a bang.
I actually fell asleep during the second episode which me decide to not continue Bloody Heart. The first episode was good though.
Woori did not appeal to me to want to even check out the first episode. Business proposal on the other hand was something of a surprise. I only checked out the first episode out of curiosity and ended up finding the show funny thanks to the female lead’s performance.
Woori cannot be compared to BS. BS is about fake identities. Whereas Woori is about getting pregnant with artificial insemination. That alone is not my idea of funny. Haven’t watched the original and the kdrama adaptation is not pulling me in.
You can never tell what will resonate with people. So many factors go into it including what had recently aired before, time of the week, time of the night, time of year, weather, and what else they have on their plate to watch (maybe they’re spending their nights streaming US tv shows)
I think A Business Proposal and Red Sleeve Cuff were anomalies in their ratings. Broadcast TV weekday evening dramas tend to hover around 6% these days and each year, each station gets to have one or two above 10%.
Cannot compare Bloody Heart with TRS. Though both period pieces, they are so different. Jang Hyuk is magnificent as usual. I quite like the female lead, visually she is outstanding in hanbook. As for Woori, seriously, I laughed quite a bit. I think the story line is also quite refreshing. Sung Hoon is superb in his comedic timing and expression. The boardroom scene and the hospital scene are classic Sung Hoon! His expressions are superb!
Cannot compare TRS and Bloody Heart. Though both are period pieces, they are so different. Jang Hyuk is magnificent! And, the leading actress is visually pretty eye catching.
As for Woori, I laughed quite a few times. Sung Hoon’s comedic timing and expressions are superb! The scenes during the meeting and at the hospital after Woori fainted are classic Sung Hoon! He didn’t have to say much just watch his eyes !
Talk about capitalising on the rating and buzzy success of BP. SBS announced Kim Se Jong’s new drama a remake of Japanese Sleepeer Hit will premiere on 29 July in Fri-Sat time slot after Again My Life. Filming has started already. This is super fast compared to the normal timeline of 5-6 months from start of filming to premiere airing date. SBS must be gunning for the ratings momentum gained from Again My Life.
Tvn Hong sisters Return shooting since last year August. Airing date announced 9 months latter. This one just started shooting already have airing date. SBS sure knows when to strike when the KSJ iron is red hot.
Webtoon is not following Again. Why Oh Soo-jae? (Seo Hyun-jin and Hwang In-yeop’s teacher-student romance melo) is airing in between from June to July.
@Dakchigo, you are right. Soompi made mistake on date. It should air after Why Her not AML.
Bloody heart is not aired during Friday to Saturday but it’s Monday Tuesday which has suffer low rating ever since this year, it’s darker than trs no matter how people on this site telling trs is only lighter in ep 2 lol..and there’s not much romance in bloody heart too, it circles around politic and ep 4 got more interesting as we will see the tragic war of concubines. Lee joon getting no 4 buzzworthy actor in the first week of it’s airing, and bloody heart is no 3 buzzworthy drama too.
Bloody Heart slow development in rating partly KBS fault too. The drama at 1st introduce as political drama with power battle between the leads but since TRS garner attention as a romance saeguk suddenly the promotion change way into another Romeo Juliet forbidden love etc etc. I don’t care about romance much in BH coz right now it was on the weak link but seem like ep 4 keep up the pace. I just wanna get my crumb of Jang Hyuk for 2 days per weak only after so long. Whatever came after that was a bonus.
Sometimes dramas needs word of mouth to get more ratings. My Liberation Notes’s ratings are getting higher and for the buzz they ended first for the drama and the actors.
Sung Hoon is just soooo sleazy looking. Im Soo Hyang was charming and was definitely the better of the two.
Ugh, I guess nothing is going to surpass the original telenovela.