The year end polls appear to be starting earlier than usual what with two months left to actual produce a mega hit or another turkey. But it’s still interesting to see what Korean industry insiders think and Joynews polled 200 media, television station employees, production companies, and reporters to ask what they thought was the worst K-drama of the year. The top vote getter was turgid and self-important sageuk Queen Woo, which likely deserves it for the over hyping the return to proper sageuk and failing miserably. Second place in votes was The Escape of the Seven, it’s like everyone hated it. Weekend drama Beauty and Mr. Romantic came in third, probably one of those harmless but weirdly bad weekenders. Fourth spot is the surprise for me with Love Next Door, and I think it’s once again the expectation of it being really good and being in reality so underwhelming in writing. And the last spot in the top five goes to Sweet Home 3, thankfully that original webtoon story has now been milked to death after being dragged on for two more seasons.
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LOL.
None of these dramas are unexpected. LND was terrible, but Queen Woo beating Resurrection of the Seven is the hilarious surprise here. Honestly, this past decade has made it clear that if JCW is involved in a drama, there is a big HUGE chance it will be a stinker lol.
yeah cuz JCW is known for taking anything and everything offered to him like his rent his due lol...
Seriously this. If JCW is in the cast list, I automatically assume the script is crap. He seems to pick up all the projects no one else wants to do. Or maybe he's just doing community service and taking on everything crappy to save other actors lol.
Welcome to samdalri had 2 double digit, how is that a stinker.
Anyway he's in talks for a new movie with JJH and Kyo-hwan, atieast with that stacked cast it'll probably do well.
Never said it was. Read again.
Anyway, I specifically said drama. But bluntly, he could be working with SKH and I’d still be far more willing to bet money against it vs for it doing well. He’s just that reliable in picking absolute stinkers 🤷🏻♀️
@Millie your not mincing words looools. i like wookie but would like him more if i can actually finish any of his drama. melty, queen woo, magic, wish upon me, lovestruck, samdalri, backstreet... havent finished anything at all. he needs a better agency maybe.
He has a guest role in the movie with JJH. Koo Kyo Hwan is the male lead. Like others have said he seems to take anything offered to him, even if it’s a small role. Maybe he has massive debt to pay off.
JCW has prove to the world everything hes touch turn to a big flopped..a consistent 3rd grade level actor.!!facepalm
I liked LND but I gotta admit the writing really messed up after the beginning few episodes. I personally thought they had so much chemistry but it just was not properly followed through. The built up was great but somewhere in btw it lost the steam. I hope the leads get another show possibly a historical. They did what they could with the plot.
Queen Woo had too many gratuitous explicit scenes that don’t necessary push the narrative. It felt a bit Game of Thrones wannabe. JJS’s styling was doing her no favors. I felt like her hair was going to consume her head half the time. JCW is honestly a decent actor. I wish he had a better eye for scripts. LND had potential to be great, but I felt like the writing was all over the place. I don’t know if it deserves to be in the top 5 worst. Maybe people just had high expectations and felt catfished on some level so they’re bitter. I didn’t watch any of the other 3 mentioned so no opinion on those 🫤
I don’t think ppl can criticize JCW for not having a good eye for scripts anymore. The guy is clearly optimizing for earnings and not script quality. He works like he’s trying to retire in the next 2 years.
100%. He's not gunning to be a well respected actor who sells projects through name value as he has none.
Regardless, its been working and he's getting scripts. I highly doubt he's charging too much for his services too which is why many are willing to take him on despite his record being as bad as it is. He seems like a workaholic to me and at least his fans never have to wait long for his next work.
@Pickle&Tomatoes - to be fair to JCW, I’ve never seen him dial it in for a project. Despite the sheer quantity of work he picks up, he hasn’t coasted in any of them. This is more than I can say for more “selective” actors, some of whom sleepwalk through their projects.
There are a ton of selective actors I dont enjoy. So Ji Sub is one I'm sure most love but I just cant get behind. Regardless, JCW to me is bland and does the same expressions in every work. Not to say he does that badly, but there's no variation. Nothing to distinguish one from the other. But acting in general is subjective. Most have different opinions and thats fine. However, from sheer quality, he is at the bottom of the barrel. He clearly doesn't care, and I doubt his fans does either so it works out pretty well for everyone in the end.
I think Queen Woo, Backstreet Rookie, and Melting Me Softly were awful. I didn't try to watch the other ones, but I thought Worst of Evil and Welcome to Samdalri got okay reviews? I liked him in Empress Ki, Healer, and Suspicious Partner. I felt like his older dramas had promise, so kind of sad post-enlistment he's had so many busts.
Expectation vs Reality edition would have had LND at #1 and QW at #2. So deserving to see both dramas on the list. Its been a dismal 2nd half of the year for kdramas tbh.
Best Dramas for 2024: Queen of Tears, Lovely Runner, Good Partner, Connection, Whirlwind, Blackout, The Goryeo-Khitan War.
lmao, a jcw drama leading worse drama of the year list :O
*pretends to be shocked*
Ji Changwook certainly has a (deserving) reputation LOL.
Its made me giggle that Koala picked the 5 worse dramas to write about instead of 5 best. I dont agree with LND here over Midnight Romance or Serendipity's Embrace or Captivating the King. Imo, they are all the same quality. Low but not that low. Personally, I would replace LND with Dr Slump: zzzzz with 30yos acting like they forgot they weren't teenagers, convoluted killer mystery and just a mishmash of badly written 2010 plot.
Nah, LND deserved this spot. Doctor Slump, while obviously not your cup of tea, was definitely better.
Well all you mentioned were dramas I pretty much dropped after few ep so saying they have same quality might be true. But lnd was particularly overhyped so the disappointment is higher
Where is the impossible heir??
You are so right... that belongs on this list!
Ah forgot about that. The plot was mess too. But I guess the fl being such bad actor make the focus go there. The performance of other actors were good so people might pity voting this as the worst one
So many bad dramas before Love Next Door like The Impossible Heir with the worst FL.
Love Next Door wasn't perfect but it's one of the rare dramas that gave a good arc to the main characters.
Both are bad enough… but lnd is so overhyped. So the hate makes sense. But it still is not my type, character arc being good doesn’t mean the drama is enjoyable
The hate doesn't make sense. The drama was pretty enjoyable. It wasn't the drama people were expected but it doesn't mean bad.
LND’s hate totally makes sense. It was partly high expectations and partly a general lack of chemistry of good acting performance. Just really bad all around.
I liked LND (not for the romance, but for all the other stuff), but I think LND should have been honest about what kind of drama it was instead of disappointing so many people wanting a friends-to-lovers rom-com. Also, casting the beloved Jung Hae-in as the passive and passive-aggressive male lead was a little off-putting.
Queen Woo was an embarrassing abject failure in every way with a totally miscast lead actress. Ji Chang Wook in a terrible drama is no surprise. It seems that as long as you show JCW a cheque he will say yes to anything. Occasionally, due to the law of averages he manages to star in something decent but his filmography is mostly filled with garbage.
I agree the poor reaction to LND was because expectations were so high. Cast and plot were great on paper and TVN were heavily promoting it for months but it ended up not meeting expectations so the disappointment is disproportionately greater than some objectively worst dramas that people had less expectations for.
Sweet Home 2 and 3 are yet another example of Netflix greed and poor judgement. The first season was actually pretty good but rushing the second and third into production led to a humongous decrease in quality despite the capable cast.