The K-dramas that started before the holidays season are one by one wrapping up and this weekend on jTBC the slice of life seaside drama Welcome to Samdalri ended with the final episode 16 getting a super high 12.399%. It’s definitely on the list of highest rated jTBC dramas of all time now but the weird thing is this drama didn’t have much buzz during its run. Perhaps the viewers were ones not on the internet all the time and just going about their lives and watching this drama on weekends without feeling the need to talk about it. It doesn’t surprise me that the drama is a hit, with two veteran leading stars in Shin Hye Sun and Ji Chang Wook and a sprawling cast of talented supporting leads and a returning to the hometown type of story that has in the past done well in ratings.
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Shows that good dramas doesn't have to be buzzy. The Korean audience are smarter and maybe are not into hyped dramas or actors like Cha Eun Woo, Song Kang
Cha Eun Woo's visual is very popular in SK, his latest drama is heavily promoted. But even him cannot carry a drama o the end with high ratings. At ythe end, it is not just about looks in SK...
He is lucky that his upcoming drama has two other talented veteran actors, otherwise it will be doom
This is a good thing, people choosing high quality work instead of choosing because of face. I hope c ent can be like this too
CEW cannot carry any drama. He is just a pretty eyecandy to look at. If the cast is right, he got a good drama. But his most recent drama is a big mess, wrong casting, embarrassing CP, bad supporting crew, disjointing plotlines... I cannot even finish one episode!! And to be honest, his visual is diminishing as the time goes by...
@Yuhyi, It is very good. I too hope that becomes so in Cdramas.
The c-dramas on tv are generally of better quality acting wise, but they don’t get talked about much on international platforms. Even Yang Chao Yue has sort of redeemed herself through her latest tv show. The dramas that get talked about - xianxias/idol dramas/ period dramas are equivalent to the Kpop idol industry of China. Quality is not the main priority. You’re not going to see good looking actors in tv shows most of the time though - it’s normally dominated by 40+ top notch actors who get paid much less.
I agree. International audiences love sh*tting on korean audiences but korean audiences actually have objectively better taste. That's why actors like Kim Nam Gil, Ji Sung, and Namgoong Min are popular with Koreans but not with international fans, while actors like Cha Eunwoo, Rowoon, and Song Kang are popular with international audiences and most koreans don't really watch their dramas unless these visuals-only actors are paired with great actresses like Park Eun Bin. From my observation, international audiences just watch dramas with popular actors/idol-actors or eyecandy-type actors. Meanwhile koreans really care about the plot, writing, etc., hence dramas that aren't very well-written but have a lot of eye candies like Moon Lovers, Hwarang, Love Alarm, Nevertheless, and My Demon are popular with international audiences but not with korean audiences
You mixes a lot of things. First, KNG, JS and NM are way older. But they are famous intertionally too. It's not the same audience. My Dearest was successful everywhere, not only in Korea.
Koreans doesn't care about the plot at all. They love makjang! And they follow the buzz. Strong Girl Nam Soon was very bad and had high ratings! There are many examples. Now, Like FLower in the Sand is the best airing drama for the writting and it doesn't have high ratings.
Then please explain why King the Land and Business proposal has such a high rating? lol.... those 2 drama such a mid but they get high rating.
King the Land has high ratings because the stars are popular in Korea (they are from 2pm and Girl Generation) and Business Proposal is on a public channel.
As for Flower in the Sand, it is aired on a new and recent cable channel, ENA. Not everyone has that channel.
Actually China has its equivalent of KNG, JS, NM like Chen Xiao, Wang Kai, Luo Jin etc. Korea and China are quite different structurally from a broadcasting perspective. Almost all Korea shows are available on tv, whether public or cable channels, the audiences pick whatever they want to watch and the industry is more homogeneous. China on the other hand has tv channels (cctv 1,8, satellite) and online streaming platforms ( Tencent, iqiyi, youku) - tv dramas and online dramas are 2 very different worlds with different audience groups. The hottest shows on tv right now are Like a flowing river 3 and born to run ( quite makjang) etc, they don’t get mentioned much internationally. People are the same everywhere - they all shit on popular/idol actors. In fact China very clearly looks down upon online idol dramas because tv dramas are called 正剧 aka main/proper/legit dramas, idol actors aren’t considered to have the acting chops to be casted in tv dramas and are often ridiculed that they can’t progress to tv simply because they can’t do without the excessive filters present in idol dramas.
Though not without its flaws, this ends up to be a very heartwarming drama with great acting from its leads and supporting cast. One of those rare dramas that keeps getting better as you watch it (when other kdramas usually suffer in the 2nd half). I noticed this drama was not heavily promoted like other JTBC/NF dramas, which is weird bc it’s Shin Hye Sun and Ji Chang Wook. Might be why it didn’t generate as much buzz. It’s a testament that it’s still consistently charting Top 10 Netflix in a lot of countries and ended on a high note.
This drama rested on its leads only. The story wasn't really good and the other characters weren't interesting at all... But SHS and JCW had a great chemistry and were really cute as a couple.
Their break-up didn't make sense, they made the events so dramatic when they weren't...
Just goes to show that the two leads still got it and can hold their audience! I had thought before that Ji Chang Wook is past his prime, but apparently not! I am happy he is still here and giving quality works.
This one shockingly lacked buzz. I was waiting for it to be done before binging but honestly forgot about it since I hardly hear anyone talk about it. Glad to hear it did well tho because after a very long string of absolute duds, JCW desperately needed a hit.
It actually turned out to be a decent heartwarming show imo. I think the lack of buzz internationally might be because it's being overshadowed by My Demon, which is more popular and promoted on Netflix (despite the constant criticism). This is more of a family/slice of life than a romance show, the romantic scenes between the leads were quite few and far apart. Also the beginning of the show was quite slow and upsetting which probably drove some viewers away. It seems to be quite well liked in Korea though.
Aw I dropped this drama although I'm a fan of the two leads. Ppl either love this type of genre or find it boring. I belong to the latter even the whole cast in WtS did a great job bringing out rural vibes. It's still a much better drama than overhyped and overrated C drama in the similar genre, Meet Yourself. MY is so fake that I can't take it seriously. LOL. C-ent got to do business with more sincerity. Don't treat viewers as idiots.
A good reminder of the tortoise and the hare...no one looks at the tortoise as it is slow and humble, less known compare to the loud and pompous hare. At least there are enough stories in Samdalri to go around, besides the normal fall-in-love and then that's it......unlike My Demon, which started with a bang but then falters after episode 8-16
It's a very heartwarming show about in the end, returning to the one place that is home, that 'knows' everything that made us and will be there to shelter us.
I think a lot people expected revenge but in the end, it was something completely different so that might have quieted down the talk. It's more a show to watch with a cup of tea and simply relaxing. But I have to say the two leads carried it, without them it wouldn't have been even half of what it was.
Ji chang wook is not really impressive here... much less sincerity compare to the rest of the cast. Then again his character is so thin in arc so I understand why he is not performing that well. Glad he finally has hits drama though.