Poll: Are Ratings the Best way to Judge a drama?

[sweetroad]

2 hours ago, Sleepy Owl said:

These 2 dramas are very high in my watchlist.

 

Chingu, you must MUST watch My Mister!! I'm going to be like @partyon and sell it HARD to you!

 

It is perfect from beginning to end. Lee Sun Kyun and IU, as well as the rest of the gifted cast, all give amazing performances - nuanced when they need to be, passionate when they need to be, and funny when they need to be. PDnim is Kim Won Seok, and he knows how to get what he wants from his actors.

 

The writing, the story, the things the characters are going through, the cinematography, the OST, the heart-pounding moments, the bada** moments, and EVERYTHING is so good.

 

My Mister is the only reason I joined Soompi Forum. I finally found the thread after weeks of searching for it and I ate it up. Then I stayed on the Forum and got sucked into all manner of other conversations. But My Mister is the rich, moving, beautiful drama that will be #1 in my heart forever. (So much so that I have a fanfic out there for it. I never ever thought I would write a fanfic. I used to laugh at people who wrote fanfics. And now MM has led me there. Ridiculous.)

 

At least watch through Episode 5. If you can get to Episode 11 even better. And if you can watch all 16 episodes...I'm already excited for you to take that journey!

 

Thanks for your consideration, chingu (but when will you start watching it?). Some of us could watch it with you. 

[lebeaucouple]

2 hours ago, Sleepy Owl said:

These 2 dramas are very high in my watchlist. I was actually going to watch "Mama", but then went for "Smile Has Left Your Eyes" and since it was draining enough for me (even though it is among my favorites), I just couldn't go for Mama. How did you like that drama (Mama) Chingu? 

I am glad that you have almost the similar taste as mine.

 

"Mama" story is about a terminally ill single mother tried to make several plans and arrangements for her son's future. I picked up this drama was because of leading actress Song Yoon Ah. This drama made me cry buckets of tears, not only the main lead actress was so good, but the little son's acting was very impressed. Meaningful storyline. The IMDb scoring was very high and the actress won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Leading Actress in TV

 

 

 

"The Guest" is the most horror drama that I ever watched in Kdrama land. very scary but i managed to finish it. Afterwhich, I tried to avoid watching too many horror film.

 

The most memorable horror Korean film     : The Wailing  (I got nightmare after watching this film) 

The most memorable horror Korean drama : The Guest

 

@the_sweetroad - I am totally agreed with you, "MY Mister" is one of the best dramas that should not miss in your entire watching drama journey. A MUST WATCH drama.  

[sweetroad]

8 minutes ago, lebeaucouple said:

I am totally agreed with you, "MY Mister" is one of the best dramas that should not miss in your entire watching drama journey. A MUST WATCH drama.  

 

Yes!!

 

Here's the MM thread for easy reference, for anyone who will be watching it in the near future!

 

 

[CarolynH]

Different strokes for different folks as they say.  Despite studying and loving history, man, I struggle struggle to watch sageuk.  I also do not care for fantasy or legal dramas.  I love mystery and slice of life.  My recent favorites include

 

Dear My Friends  (ok, not recent, but it came to mind)

Navillera  (I think I spelled it wrong)

Move to Heaven  

Stranger (I forgot about this one until I saw someone's post) 

 

*******

@lebeaucouple Is Undercover worth the watch?  I do like Ji Jin Hee.  I had trouble with the streaming site, so I gave up.

***********

Did anyone watch Alice in Borderland?  It's similar to Squid Games, but in Japanese.  

 

[lebeaucouple]

1 hour ago, CarolynH said:

*******

@lebeaucouple Is Undercover worth the watch?  I do like Ji Jin Hee.  I had trouble with the streaming site, so I gave up.

***********

Did anyone watch Alice in Borderland?  It's similar to Squid Games, but in Japanese.  

 

Undercover is certainly worth the time to watch, not only is the suspenseful and thrilling storyline fascinating, especially the dialogue between the protagonists is the best. I like any favorite proverbs or quotes that appear in the conversations or in narrative statement, they can inspire our daily lives.  It will not make you bored. This drama entered my top favourite list is because of the written script, the cast was good

 

I did not watch the Japanese drama "Alice in Borderland", but watched the "As the Gods Will" - since many people were circulating that the plagiarism allegation against squid Game. It was a lousy drama (wasting my time and I fast forward), can't compete with "Squid Game". So far, Squid Game deserved the hype  

 

[Sleepy Owl]

9 hours ago, rolisrntex said:

I'm normally not a horror flick/drama kind of person but I watched because my favorite actress Shim Yi-Young had a small part in it (the mother of the possessed little girl in Ep 8-9). It started off good kept you guessing and interested from start to finish. And the ending was out of left field for me. Never would have guessed who Park Il-Do was. The drama was really underrated.

 

Horror is among my favorite genres. I do understand why we don't have many horror dramas, since again, the ratings come into play. Not many people are into horror stuff, and also they might need to choose the later night time slot for airing it. Anyway, so "The Guest" was my first horror drama, and I loved it. It was intense, it was scary, and the moment you would think you knew who Park Il Do dude was, they would reveal it to be otherwise 

Another horror drama that I enjoyed watching was "The Priest". It did lose the plot in between a bit, but there this big twist in the second half which blew my mind. I consider that twist to be one of the best I have ever seen. I never even thought that could happen 

But I still rate "The Guest" above it since "The Guest" was a much more complete drama, with better writing and also execution. 

 

@the_sweetroad, @lebeaucouple Chingus, the number of people who have recommended "My Mister" to me since I joined Soompi is so huge. Initially it was just in my watchlist, but now it is pretty up in my watchlist, and I will be watching it pretty soon 

7 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

Thanks for your consideration, chingu (but when will you start watching it?). Some of us could watch it with you. 

 

I will definitely tell you when I will be watching it 

7 hours ago, lebeaucouple said:

I am glad that you have almost the similar taste as mine.

 

"Mama" story is about a terminally ill single mother tried to make several plans and arrangements for her son's future. I picked up this drama was because of leading actress Song Yoon Ah. This drama made me cry buckets of tears, not only the main lead actress was so good, but the little son's acting was very impressed. Meaningful storyline. The IMDb scoring was very high and the actress won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Leading Actress in TV

 

Yup, seeing your list, I did realize we have almost similar taste in dramas 

"Mama" plot wise seems very similar to the korean movie "The Wedding Dress" which also had Song Yoon Ah playing as the lead actress, suffering from terminal disease and trying to make sure that her little daughter would be able to live on her own after she dies.

 

That could be the saddest movie I have ever watched. Kim Hwang Gi played the daughter there, and showed why she is among the most promising actresses out there. She was just a kid and delivered such a strong performance there. 

 

Since this drama also is kinda similar to it, of course it wouldn't exactly be same. While I want to go for it, I am still waiting a bit for a good rom-com to start and I start this drama along with that. Honestly "Smile Has Left Your Eyes" was so draining, I wouldn't dare to go for another drama which could be kinda draining for some months. But, this drama is among the ones I want to watch this year itself, since I like Song Yoon Ah, and I am sure this would be a good one since she chose it 

 

7 hours ago, lebeaucouple said:

"The Guest" is the most horror drama that I ever watched in Kdrama land. very scary but i managed to finish it. Afterwhich, I tried to avoid watching too many horror film.

 

The most memorable horror Korean film     : The Wailing  (I got nightmare after watching this film) 

The most memorable horror Korean drama : The Guest

 

I agree with "The Guest" being the most horror drama. I also agree with "The Wailing" being the most memorable or maybe most scary Korean movie. I don't really remember watching a korean movie which was more scary than this one 

 

5 hours ago, CarolynH said:

Different strokes for different folks as they say.  Despite studying and loving history, man, I struggle struggle to watch sageuk.  I also do not care for fantasy or legal dramas.  I love mystery and slice of life.  My recent favorites include

 

 

For me one of the reasons Sageuks are very special and most genre (special enough to have their own top 15 list for me) since I got into Kdramas through Sageuks. My first 3 kdramas were Sageuks, the first one being Dae Jang Geum. At the same time I love history, it was my most favorite subject in school, so I believe that could also be a contributing factor in my interest for Sageuks 

 

5 hours ago, CarolynH said:

Dear My Friends  (ok, not recent, but it came to mind)

Navillera  (I think I spelled it wrong)

Move to Heaven  

Stranger (I forgot about this one until I saw someone's post) 

 

I have only watched "Stranger" from this list, and yes, it is among the most well written dramas I have ever watched. "Move to Heaven" is in my watchlist as well 

 

5 hours ago, CarolynH said:

@lebeaucouple Is Undercover worth the watch?  I do like Ji Jin Hee.  I had trouble with the streaming site, so I gave up.

 

 

I have watched "Undercover" and can say it is a good drama. I binge-watched it when it was done airing and enjoyed watching it 

[sweetroad]

1 hour ago, Sleepy Owl said:

Chingus, the number of people who have recommended "My Mister" to me since I joined Soompi is so huge. Initially it was just in my watchlist, but now it is pretty up in my watchlist, and I will be watching it pretty soon

Great!! 

 

I thought of one more reason for you, particularly, to be interested in it.  When I scrolled through the Add/Subtract thread to find Eurovision posts from the spring, I noticed some of your posts about football. We’re into European football as well so your posts caught my eye.

 

Anyway, in My Mister Lee Sun Kyun plays football in a neighborhood league! Football is actually a big part of his character’s life. I was surprised by that. It’s also the only k drama I’ve seen so far that has football.

And LSK is pretty good at it himself, which is fun to watch.

 

6 hours ago, CarolynH said:

Dear My Friends  (ok, not recent, but it came to mind)

 

I just finished this a couple weeks ago. SO good! I loved it. And the way the show made sure all the characters had well-written arcs and substantial story time. It was very well crafted. One of my favorites now as well.

 

 

 

[Sleepy Owl]

19 hours ago, CarolynH said:

Did anyone watch Alice in Borderland?  It's similar to Squid Games, but in Japanese.  

 

 

Chingu, I binge-watched that drama today, and for me, this drama was much better than Squid Game. I am now looking forward to its Second season 

 

13 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

I thought of one more reason for you, particularly, to be interested in it.  When I scrolled through the Add/Subtract thread to find Eurovision posts from the spring, I noticed some of your posts about football. We’re into European football as well so your posts caught my eye.

 

Anyway, in My Mister Lee Sun Kyun plays football in a neighborhood league! Football is actually a big part of his character’s life. I was surprised by that. It’s also the only k drama I’ve seen so far that has football.

And LSK is pretty good at it himself, which is fun to watch.

 

Chingu, didn't know that this drama also involves football. Sounds interesting 

[CarolynH]

3 hours ago, Sleepy Owl said:

Chingu, I binge-watched that drama today, and for me, this drama was much better than Squid Game. I am now looking forward to its Second season 

I finished today also!  I've been telling others that I think the characters/actors in Squid Game are more engaging than Alice and it's more straightforward than Alice.  That along with K-stuff (dramas, music, food) is more popular than Japanese.  Would you agree?  

[Sleepy Owl]

8 hours ago, CarolynH said:

I finished today also!  I've been telling others that I think the characters/actors in Squid Game are more engaging than Alice and it's more straightforward than Alice.  That along with K-stuff (dramas, music, food) is more popular than Japanese.  Would you agree?  

 

Well, its because you see only those characters in Squid Game. It had same players playing the games, dying etc. It was of course much more straightforward as well. 

 

In Alice it was totally different. You would see different players playing the game with the leads, the games were different, we had different type of games based on the type of card as well. I would say the stakes were higher in Alice, since there wasn't really a prize money involved (at least they didn't say it) and the players were literally playing for their lives while being confused about the whole situation. 

 

But I agree that since the plot was more straightforward and the characters were more engaging, it was more popular. Along with the other factors you mentioned. 

 

Still, I enjoyed this drama more than Squid Game, and feel Alice was much better overall 

[Sleepy Owl]

Thank you Chingus, everyone who participated in this event.   

 

 

It was great reading your views on what a good drama is according you all, and also I loved everyone's top 15 drama list. My watchlist is now bigger thanks to you all 

Its interesting to see that the vote results do show that many dramas' places are changing if we go with the public vote here, and not just the ratings. So summarizing the poll results we get the following results: 

 

Top 15 tvN dramas (as per Poll Votes)

1. Crash Landing On You --- 37 Votes
2. Goblin --- 27 Votes
3. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha --- 21 Votes
4. Reply 1988 --- 19 Votes
5. Hospital Playlist --- 19 Votes
6. Signal --- 19 Votes
7. Mr. Sunshine --- 18 Votes
8. Vincenzo --- 16 Votes
9. Hotel Del Luna --- 16 Votes
10. Mr. Queen --- 13 Votes
11. Hospital Playlist 2 --- 12 Votes
12. Prison Playbook --- 12 Votes
13. 100 Days My Prince --- 10 Votes
14. The Crowned Clown --- 7 Votes
15. Mine --- 7 Votes

 Top 15 JTBC dramas (as per Poll Votes)

1. Itaewon Class --- 26 Votes
2. Sky Castle --- 23 Votes
3. Strong Woman Do Bong-soon --- 23 Votes
4. Beyond Evil --- 18 Votes
5. World of the Married --- 17 Votes
6. Something In The Rain --- 16 Votes
7. The Light In Your Eyes --- 14 Votes
8. My ID Is Gangnam Beauty --- 14 Votes
9. Misty --- 9 Votes
10. The Good Detective --- 9 Votes
11. Sisyphus: The Myth --- 9 Votes
12. Law School --- 8 Votes
13. The Lady In Dignity --- 5 Votes
14. Beautiful World --- 5 Votes
15. My Kids Give Me A Headache --- 1 Vote

 

I hope you all enjoyed this event 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have ideas for event 

 

 

Your Friendly Neighborhood and Resident EOs,

@partyon, @agenth, @confusedheart, @Sleepy Owl

 

Tagging: @CarolynH, @the_sweetroad, @rolisrntex, @lebeaucouple, @rocher22, @Sky Kang, @africandramalover, @joccu, @pompyavi, @liddi, @DreamCatcher2011, @Gumiho, @frozentundra, @gm4queen, @madmad min, @LeftCoastOppa, @jongski, @MayanEcho, @larus, @Lmangla, @lila21, @willenette, @andy78, @SilverDawn, @nohamahamoud2002