Slow and Steady

The Absolute Ruler of 8 PM, The Iron Fortress of KBS Weekend Dramas That Never Crumbles When discussing the "guaranteed check for viewership ratings" in the Korean broadcasting industry, KBS weekend dramas are indispensable. Even now, when the media environment is changing rapidly and OTT platforms have become the mainstream, blurring the concept of watching live broadcasts, Saturday and Sunday at 8 PM is still undeniably KBS's exclusive stage. In an era where dramas on other broadcasters or time slots are evaluated as "doing well" if they pass 5% and cheered as a "jackpot" if they pass 10%, KBS weekend dramas show numbers on a different level from the start. This is because, beyond simply the fun of the drama, sitting around the TV with the whole family or eating dinner while watching the drama on weekend evenings has established itself as a lifestyle pattern and culture. This powerful fandom, called the "concrete viewer layer," is the force...

The Stagnant Wednesday-Thursday Drama Market, tvN's Bold Move Once, the Wednesday-Thursday drama slot in the Korean broadcasting industry was the frontline of trends and a fierce battlefield for viewership ratings. Numerous hit dramas and Hallyu waves that defined the era were responsible for these Wednesday and Thursday nights, gathering viewers in front of their TVs. However, in recent years, regardless of terrestrial or cable channels, Wednesday-Thursday dramas have faced the threat of extinction. Due to low viewership ratings compared to production costs and the rapid rise of OTT platforms, broadcasters have heavily programmed cost-effective variety shows instead of dramas, cementing the idea of "Wednesday-Thursday nights without dramas." Even when works were occasionally scheduled, they often ended as one-offs or disappeared without creating much resonance. In this barren environment, the fact that tvN has launched a new Wednesday-Thursday drama, I'll Give You th...

Intense Opening That Rewrote ENA Channel History, The Return of Trusted Actors The new drama Honor, ambitiously introduced by the ENA channel, is gathering hot attention as soon as it started airing. The fact that it recorded the highest viewership ratings for a first episode in the channel's history proves how great the public's anticipation for this work was. At the center of that anticipation lies a flashy cast that overwhelmingly captures the eye. Lee Na-young, Jung Eun-chae, and Lee Chung-ah. It is no exaggeration to say that the drama has already achieved half its success the moment these three actors, who instill trust just by their names, are captured in one frame. In particular, the unique cold yet intellectual images of the three actors are added to the genre characteristics of a crime thriller and legal drama, creating a sophisticated atmosphere differentiated from existing dramas. Lee Na-young's Welcome Return, A Leap from Healing to Social Messages Above all, t...

If we examine the recent trends in historical dramas dominating both theaters and television screens, we can see that fusion historical dramas, which boldly overlay modern sensibilities and imagination, are more mainstream than authentic historical dramas. The "faction" genre, which intricately blends historical fact with fiction, is overflowing. Sometimes, works that merely borrow the historical setting while the characters' speech and behavior remain no different from modern dramas pour out, dodging controversies over historical distortion. Amidst this flow, the movie The Man Who Lives with the King is a very exceptional and welcome work in that it stimulates the tear ducts of the audience by dealing with the power of heavy authentic history and humanism without the box office guarantee of romance. Instead of flashy spectacles or stimulating settings, it genuinely captures the tragedy of individuals swept up in the vortex of history and the stories of ordinary people pr...