I can’t get my arms around either the plot or ratings of tvN drama It’s Okay to Not be Okay and it’s all in good ways. This drama keeps me off kilter and every scene feels meaningful and thrilling, I was riveted to episode 3 and there is so much to talk about. The drama setting moves from Seoul to the countryside of Sungjin which will be the setting from here on out, much like the seaside town of Sokcho played a key role in the same PD’s last drama Encounter. Sungjin is where Kang Tae and Sung Tae have been running from, the “butterfly” that killed their mom and the place of cruelly dashed hopes and dreams. It’s telling that Kang Tae goes back to both run away from Moon Young but also because Moon Young calls him out on his run away/avoidance two step self-preservation personality.
Moon Young follows and what ensues is brilliant – she becomes the crazier than the mental patients literature teacher at the hospital and plays a key role in helping cameo crazy guy played by Kwak Dong Yeon (so awesome) get some much needed catharsis with his flashing and self-destructive behavior as a stand in for fatherly validation. Each scene between Kang Tae and Moon Young sizzles with sexual and mental energy but there is also countless nuggets of great storytelling to feast on. This drama is so good I can’t even, Kim Soo Hyun you are like a savant of drama picking dude. There is also another reunion, the director of the mental hospital is played by Kim Chang Wan who acted as Kim Soo Hyun’s good friend/fake father in You From Another Star.
the most perfect drama of 2020..nuffsaid! fullstop!!
No competition.
Watching on Netflix in US. This drama is one of the best I’ve seen in a while. It is so unexpected…. the reactions of the actors in some scenes are hilarious! There is other drama to compare to IOTNBO! (MY opinion)
Whatever koala why are not posting backstreet rookie ratings??? Which got really high?? Are u triggered?? Lol anyways backstreet rookie will save kdramaland 2020 because of kim yoo jung
Seems like the starpower of kim yoo jung beated kim soo hyun this time lol
One is aired in public channel and one is aired on cable. So ratings are judged differently.
omg. this is so funny. i have to laugh. 8.3% ratings (for a public channel) and 5.9% (for a cable channel). i guess you don’t know how viewership ratings work in korea. ??♀️ a greater than 5% rating for a cable channel is already considered a “great” rating while a 7.5% to 12% rating for a public broadcast in korea is considered “average”. lol the 1st half of backstreet rookie’s 4th episode was 4.6% which is considered “poor”.
try to learn about korea’s viewership ratings from here:
https://aminoapps.com/c/k-drama/page/blog/understanding-viewership-ratings/g01h_6u4blLnz8WZNlB3WNRed7eBg7
I dont understand whether those mentioning kim yoo jung are fans or antis
If u actually r fans i dont think u need to mention her everywhere to create fan war becoz this post is not abt backstreet
I m kim yoo jung fan and this behaviour even i cant tolerate becoz u indirectly causing harm to ur idols
And success of any drama is a team effort the credit goes to everyone even the failure
So if u actually a fan plz stop it becoz its not doing good to our idol
@Yas.
I guess the 7-12% average needs to be adjusted because after 2016, ratings get lower and lower. Hence, in my opinion, the average now is 5-10% for a public channel.
Are you suffering from antisocial personality disorder yourself? Because the way you are talking…. You know one of the main traits of antisocial personality disorder is display of arrogance, a sense of superiority and being extremely opinionated. Not to mention having poor prognosis and being callous, cynical and disrespectful to others. Your words exhibit all those signs. You should try to get diagonsed once.
@ violt
Truthfully, the ratings weren’t high. It did do better than last week ^^
To those who r saying backstreet rookie rating not high
I think it is high considering all the negative comments and cancellation issues surrounding it and its just 4th episode
Lets wait and see becoz no one can predict future
Just being positive for my backstreet team
Fighting
@ana
Whether or not there are controversies or (rumored) cancellatiion request- this does not change the fact the BSR got low and average viewership ratings on the first and second part, respectively. Im just saying.
Sorry, look at the rating for tv chosen and you really can’t call backstreet rookie rating as high. It has improved for sure but not high, Is only 6+% if you average out the two epi and it is aired on free public station.
Violt just wants to trigger fan war. So dumb.
Technically neither It’s Ok Not to be Ok nor Backstreet Rookie have HIGH ratings. Other dramas from last year and early this year had much better ratings in those time slots.
I agree in fact tv chosan – king maker is the one with high rating on sat night
You’re right. I don’t like Park Si Hoo at all, but it’s quite impressive how his drama can achieve such ratings on a small cable network like TV Chosun.
Backstreet Rookie?
*chokes*
It’s not watchable to me unfortunately, and I like both Jo Chang-wook and Kim Yoo-jung
I don’t know, maybe she isn’t following it? Does she have to watch Backstreet Rookie??
Lol TV Chosun is the real winner here, getting 6% despite being on a smaller channel and with Park Sihoo as the male lead.
But of course Koala only focus on Its Okay as male lead is KSH.
You know why Koala or anybody sane shouldn’t talk about Park Shi Hoo. If you want to support a shady guy, do it yourself. We don’t want him mentioned or hyped here.
I don’t even like him, but I am mocking Koala for choosing KSH’s drama to report on every episode’s ratings to invite traffic as it would definitely incite fanwars from Backstreet Rookie fans and LMH fans.
i love park si hoo in saeguk! i noticed that psh reallly can bring a high rating even in cable channel. the obly exception is the one with sonh jihyo. but all of his drama in cable channel got a high rating. miss him in my princess
really high??don’t be delusional please.. among all of sbs kdrama in fri sat slot, they are the most bottom one in term of rating
Lovely episode.
I laugh so hard at the deer scene rofl
There were things I had problems with in this episode but I enjoyed it regardless ^^
I’m glad KSH choose this project. I really admired the directing and cinematography, the writing is something else. At the end of ep 3 when Kang Tae pictured himself jumping at stage, I can see and feel his emotion, how he has suppressed all the negative emotion and try to be okay all the time. It’s not healthy,you know.
And the chemistry between main leads, cannot get enough of the shirtless KSH with Seo Ye Ji.
Btw, i also really like Backstreet Rookie, the style is awesome, like watching manga alive on screen. I’m blessed with those two dramas to watch on my weekend 🙂
I agree. The both dramas give us 2 different ambiances but both are really fun.
So biggest paid drama actor of decade and king of last decade cant even bring doubke digit u like cloy and twom.
Producets didnt pay that chrck for acvlaim but for ratings. It is average at maximum . And there is no profit pre airing for this.
Top most actors and this is what he brings? His gans told me he will brkng 20% on cable easily. On netflix it is doing ok. But here people told me netflix is irrelevant as well. So now dont use it as criteria.
Ksh last project was flop n this one is below average. For that paycheck he delivers this?
If you are judging a show on the basis of ratings, why are you even watching it? Aren’t you wasting your time as well as our time by writing such comments which nobody cares for. Tell me something are you frustrated from life and do you need a scapegoat to take out that frustration on? If you feel so high and mighty, what are you even doing here among us bitching about the show and actors?Just go and watch CLOY again instead of wasting time n words here
Over 5% rating on TvN is not bad. You said The King would bring 20% ratings and it was even shown on a FREE public channel. Did you forget your own words? As long as you are not the one paying KSH, what are you bitter about?
I doubt he got paid for 5% lmao.
Excuses. And here some people were saying this drama is doing good on netflix. Hypocrisy is thing here.
King actually made profit. What bout this one lmao
making profit or not does not concern me at all if this is the only reason you are picking on about this drama. The acting in this drama is superb. The directing is also excellent. The King is just a mess in everything. So what if the King made profit, what have you gained from that as an audience?
First if a cable drama is getting above 5% then it is doing well and average rating is 2-3 for cable dramab. CLOY is about North Korea which south Korean likes…and same with TWOM. They have targeted 15% ratings which is quite high for cable drama. This drama have not completed even 25% of it. Atleast wait for 8-10 episodes. IOTNOB is healing drama which is rare in Korea. Everyone is saying this is a Gem/ masterpiece. On Netflix it ranked 6th worldwide with just two episodes that means it is getting profit. It is doing far better than TEKM which air on public channel. Remember CLOY got above 10% in its 8 th episode which means they have time to bounce back.
He’s doing very well considering he has no star writer, big budget production and popular female lead.
Goes to show that tvN sat-sun ratings have really taken a dive after the boost it received starting spring/summer of last year with Arthdal Chronicles and Hotel del Luna, peaking early this year with CLOY. Hope it increases further. It’s a good drama.
Watching this drama makes me think and feel all sort of emotions. I couldn’t help but shed tears at some scenes. The loneliness, the monster that lives within us, society standards and our own identity. this is a journey for not only the leads but people that are just little different than others. You can’t change your destiny but you can try to find a way to live it your way. When a drama makes me ramble on that just means how good it is. PBIO fighting!
same here. I almost teared up while watching some scenes in Episodes 1 and 2 and i got scared in Episide 3. . Will continue watching this drama. I do hope that the viewrship rating will increase in the succeding episodes. Fighting Cast and Crew of Its okay to not be okay.
yea I hope the prod team and the cast know how much this drama is appreciated. It’s such a gem and they can be proud for it, regardless of what naysayers might say. When a drama is good, it will leave an impact this way or other.
I’m still a mess after ep4, mygosh this drama really TT
I watched Ep 3 raw last night because, well, I was very curious whether the show would keep up its quirky storytelling and tone. I was definitely not disappointed.
On board with koala about the themes being explored here. On the surface it seems a bit detached from reality but when you examine the characters, you see so many emotions. Pain, sadness, love, innocence, envy, jealousy, anger…and certainly, on deeper examination, crazy people do exist in our everyday lives. Even the seemingly normal ones have some kind of crazy inside.
The actors are superb at portraying these emotional nuances. Great casting job. Hopefully they keep the story alive and bring it to a good close.
I haven’t watched kdramas in well over 3 years as I felt drama quality had dropped a lot. After seeing everyone clamoring over CLOY, I thought I would check out some of the new stuff and came upon this, it’s a good revival for me. And no, I didn’t watch CLOY straightaway and might not do so any time soon.
As for Backstreet Rookie, I checked it out purely due to Kim Yoo Jung. Story-wise and storytelling-wise, nothing on IONTBO but it is very cute. Both dramas should have its own followers. Perhaps KYJ might want to select a different role next. This seems to be a similar role to Clean with Passion? Even the cute, comic-book like presentation is similar to that drama plus the much older male lead. I understand as a very young actress, she might want to avoid the heavy, mature roles but after this and maybe after taking a break, she can come back with more mature offerings. She can certainly pull it off.
GREAT project for KSH and SYJ!!!
I hope this drama tone back the comedic sense, it doesn’t match the overall vibe, just it took off guard while watching ep 3
For those comparing this drama’s ratings to Rookie, lmfao go and educate yourself first.
1. It’s cable vs free-for-all channel
2. The first half of Rookie was 4.6% – this is the time when it -*directly* competes with Its Okay.
3. Lastly, it’s only the 3rd episode. They haven’t even completed 20% of their run. A long way to go for us to see who exactly wins this race.
Anyway, I freakin LOVE this drama. KSH just gets it right every single time with his drama picking. It’s obviously a huge talent. At the back of my head there’s Giant, Dream High, YFAS, MoonSun and Producers. Every single one a huge ratings hit, but also really solid dramas. I do hope he picks more projects tho. He’s similar to JIS and can be gone for years. I hope it’s not the case now that he’s back from military.
I think the criticism is more of
“BR actually maintain the viewer and gain a little” vs “IONTBO is losing its viewers”
The actual winner of this drama rating is The King on Tv Chosun, it get around 5.8% and it’s TV Chosun drama , not in tvn, jtbc, sbs, netflix
i’ve never seen any other fans of tv genres anywhere else obsess over ratings for a show (on top of thatIN A COUNTRY THEY DON’T EVEN LIVE IN) like international kdrama fans. It’s bordering on the absurd at this point seeing people on different sites actually argue about a show’s merit based on tv ratings like they own stock or on the board of directors in these TV networks. I’m not aiming this directly at you either or this site because it’s not only happening here.
Oh come on…it only overlaps for like a few minutes. They are both different drama genres with different target audience. I doubt the ratings for either drama affect each other.
It’s hard to wrap my mind around the genre of this drama. One minute I thought I was watching a serious drama tackling mental health then the next I’m watching a horror story about a haunted castle…no doubt the storytelling is superb but there is something that fails with this drama. Mental health in real life can not easily be cured but when I watch Korean dramas about mental health it always takes a comedic turn. This I fear will be that way. I like Seo Ye Ji’s acting but at times even her character can be over the top for me.
This drama is possibly the most perfect drama to air this year while BSR can easily be put away under the worst drama of 2020 and this is despite the fact that I watched both Born Again and Welcome. I won’t be surprised to see it on the list of worst dramas at the end of the year. I never think dramas need ratings to be qualified as a good drama but Psycho is a GREAT drama and deserves a lot more than the current viewership. KSH is a true savant at picking drama scripts.
I think the drama finally found its footing in episode 3 with a lot of hysterically funny moments. Kudos to Kwak Deon Yeon and his brilliant special appearance.. The man is continually stretching his range and I’ve a lot of admiration for him. Episode three did something that the first two episodes were not able to do – which is to turn Moon Young into an empathetic character. While the first two episodes established her neurosis, episode three revealed her loneliness and vulnerability. I felt so bad that she went to bed hungry, meanwhile Kang Tae was having a warm dinner with friends and family. While Moon Young appears to be haughty and callous on the surface, if you listen closely to her, she displays an innate understanding and sympathy for the mentally challenged or emotionally troubled, case in point, in her class – her message was ‘stop looking at Fairy tales and accept your life, then you will be less dissatisfied and happier’ and in her handling of Kwon Gi Do, the little girl in the hospital and Sang Tae. I’m very interested in watching the next episode.
Sorry this was meant to be a stand alone comment, not a reply.
Regardless it’s an awesome comment! Really agree with you and specially this week, I can relate to Moon-young a lot more. She’s obviously not *only* what she shows on the outside. She is the crazy, haughty, somewhat unfeeling bitch. But she’s also other things that she possibly doesn’t realize she is; and I quite love that it was shown this week. Plus KSH… his acting in ep4 is top notch. I teared up a total of 3 times in this drama, and all of them were his scenes. He’s so good.
KDY was brilliant in episode 3, the directing for both of the scenes where he tells the story about his escapade were top notch, i’ve never seen something like that in a kdrama.
KDY phone was probably ringing off the hook after yesterday’s episode too, i’d promise him a lead role in a drama just from his performance in episode 3 & 4 alone. The acting and directing is just top notch so far, i’m so impressed.
First time to watch a KSH drama and I am loving it! Awesome chemistry with SYJ!
The cinematography is top-notch. It feels like a Tim Burton movie. I hope the ratings get higher, a lot of people must see this gem!
Kim Soo Hyun is one of those actors that made the drama. I usually remember actors from their roles from the series I like the most. But Kim Soo Hyun is different. I don’t see him acting out the characters, I see him being that characters as himself be it the king, the alien, or the troubled caregiver. Regardless of the ratings, I think we are very lucky to see him taking on new project.
For this series, if the director wants the rating, it’ll be super easy. He just has to led the romance take the lead. However, I think it’s honorable to tackle heavy subjects instead of commercializing the whole deal.
wow just finished episode 4, absolutely phenomenal episode. this one will hit hard for some people
The insetion of gothic story book telling is so brilliant. I am drooling over Soo-hyun beautiful visal ??
I really like it when I first watch so I watch it over and over again in this crisis we all need Each order so I’m really happy that they show this in Netflix and And I really hope the both of them Will Act Together again and I hope they all go out together for real