tvN Mega Budget Space Romance K-drama When the Stars Gossip Drops to 2.237% Ratings in Episode 3
The first big crash and burn drama of 2025 is likely going to be When the Stars Gossip (Ask the Stars), and rather apropos as it was the first drama to premiere this year and also has a whole space theme whatnot. The drama premiered to 3% ratings and now in this Saturday’s episode 3 dropped to 2.237%, a meaningful drop for a cable network and especially in light of the huge budget and big name cast. I tried watching episode 3 and found myself at times cringing, rolling my eyes, laughing AT the drama, and then finally FF-ing. This is 100% the fault of the script – plot, dialogue, and characters as written – so much so it’s not worth getting into whether the actors and actresses are delivering a good performance (everyone is mid so far) or have chemistry (none so far). But if you want to see a K-drama dumb story but set in space (fresh setting for sure!) with very sleek directing and you can actually see onscreen the visuals where all the money went in this budget, then this is the drama for you. PD Park Shin Woo of Encounter and It’s Okay to Not be Okay is singlehandedly the only one making a worthwhile product onscreen here while screenwriter Seo Sook Hyang exhibits not a shred of intelligent writing that she did in her previous dramas I loved Pasta and Miss Korea.
I have no interest in this drama. But these ratings are bad for a drama of this caliber.
Instead I am loving Love Scout and dropped Motel California at the beginning of episode two. Everything about that drama felt wrong.
That rating is bad… really bad for this Budget drama. It might rise later… viewers may wait till the drama comes closer to the end to watch it..then they know if it is worth further investment or time waster.. Viewers like me…
I think the rating is referring to cable TV rating, not online streaming rating from international viewers. The drama is simply not doing well in the domestic market. SK is also undergoing political turmoil and economic downfall, in a very unstable state. I don’t think many S Koreans have mood for entertainment either.
Yes..this reminds me of the horrendous fire in LA currently.. some new US programs have pushed their launch date till later. @Somebody, I hope you dont live near the area. Do take care. Hope you dont have loved ones caught up in those situation too.
@somebody, unfortunately SKorea isn’t the only country which is facing an economic , political crisis and even a social one , actually …see European countries, we aren’t doing great either . Canada, France, Germany,…
The premise was the nail in the coffin already 🤢 Korean ent can’t do sci-fi. It’s not in their DNA.
K-ent has been slacking lately, anyway, with their superstars aging and no one with super talent stepping in to fill roles, soooo, let’s hope an uptick is on the horizon for them sometime soon.
Writer Seo Sook Hyang’s work is always on the wacky humor side. And that’s not everyone’s style. I’m really liking the show though. Sci-fi has never been something the tv korean audience has liked but the this is a romcom and it should be seen as such.
Oh well the writer of Pasta and Miss Korea!!!! What can I expect LOL? Never been a fan of these two dramas, I actually think Pasta is one of less appealing works led by GHJ. The story of Pasta isn’t interesting even the two leads are pretty good. I followed this space drama for the sake of GHJ and LMH. Agreed the director did a decent job to save the drama. I still appreciate his craft even though the storylines are wacky. But I’ve never expect space romance would work. Usually a successful sci-fi had a mix of thriller and fantasy. Obviously WTSG is too realistic to be romantic. The writer just doesn’t have enough talent to pen out imagination that’s much craved for the sci-fi genre. LOL. I’ve distracted to watch other K and C dramas since watching 2 eps of WTSG. Given the declining rating, I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the drama again and when. Interestingly I found an old drama costarring LMH and Kim Go Eun very fun to watch. I’ve never found KGE appealing or an outstanding actress as many have been raving about. I thought she was pedestrian like her ML and supporting ML in Goblin that had a very lame to tell too LOL. But bang! KGE in The King: Eternal Monarch is so charismatic. Now I’m hooked to her drama with LMH. LMH also suits the monarch role pretty well too,
Sad for GHJ whom I like a lot to have such a disappointing comeback for a long while.
The Rating is completely irrelevant as it is on Netflix.. South Korea has one of the largest Netflix subscribe base and the graphic is much better on Netflix. Ratings are a thing of the past anyways.. Ratings are completely irrelevant even airing on that caple TV was unnecessaary the whole target is Netflix
Interesting. IMDB rating isn’t that bad either. The discrepancy between domestic ratings and international ratings has long been existing in Asian drama genres.
The drama isn’t doing hot on Netflix either. It’s not generating any international buzz.
I really enjoyed the first week and the uniqueness of the circumstances within the drama. But I was expecting them to settle down and get to the actual meat and potatoes of the story this week. Instead it’s just more of the same so far. I agree about the weak writing but for the most part, I haven’t been a fan of the writer’s previous work. Jealousy Incarnate I found really funny, but Pasta and Miss Korea where snoozefests for me.
So far, it feels a bit like the drama has no real story other than somehow emphasizing the space theme. The characters are all just so one dimensional and I’m not sure Won Bin can change that reception lol. Despite that, I still found many hilarious moments and at least it’s not boring despite being sometimes absurd lol.
And yup, the PD is really killing it. I wish he’d pick better dramas to direct tho because despite being outstanding himself, Lovestruck in the City and WTSG aren’t helping his resume. At all.