Can't wait for Athena! And ouch for Mary, though I must admit that I haven't been watching.

"Though anything with that much hype is facing an uphill climb."

Why are you always so pessimestic and cynical about the potential of a drama to be successful whenever there is a lot of initial hype surrounding it? I've noticed that you always pass judgement about dramas that haven't aired, and more often than not, you always highlight one or two personal criticisms. Allow us readers and drama watchers the chance to actually be excited about dramas regardless of any flaws that may or may not exist.

ATHENA!!!!!!!!!!!!

i've always read drama ratings and what your comments about dramas are but, i dun't understand how are dramas rated with numbers? What do the viewers do to give an episode it's rating?

Ouch. Cant wait for Athena: Goddess of War but that still my second choice for my monday-tuesday shows. Mary Stay Out at Night will still but my number one show. Just look at the actors. Hot. And Mary is soo cute :) Love the chemistry between the cast.

now I understand why they choose to air 2 eps of Mary on coming Monday

haven't watched Mary AT ALL.
I wasn't too excited about Iris but I AM very very looking forward to Athena because of Jung Woo Sung! (And BoA's cameo!)

And yet, I'd bet money that every where other than Korea, M3 will garner much more attention, insight and DVD sales -- a la Playful Kiss -- and Giant will be forgotten. At the end of the day, both will be successful, albeit in different ways and to different audiences.

I have Episode 1 of Giant and I like it!!

sorry, type too fast. Am still getting use to typing with iPad. I meant I have watched Episode of Giant, and I like it!!

Go Giant!

It deserves those high ratings. I haven't watched the finale myself yet, but the show itself has been pretty epic these last seven months.

Gahhhh Giant finally ended. I haven't been able to catch the last two episodes and I've been DYING to...except papers and ugly things like that are keeping me away from finishing one of the most epic dramas ever.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of long dramas. I watch occasional episodes of the daily dramas and family dramas because my mom watches them but I don't usually watch them willingly. However, Giant is one exception. Granted I came into it a little later than other people but I was hooked so fast it was kind of scary. (Thank goodness it was summer then). Did it get a little ridiculous sometimes? Yes. Was CPY sometimes cartoonish? Yes. Did KM seem to get out of the curveballs CPY/MW threw at him a little too easily? Yes. And the business-y portions sometimes lagged. Despite its flaws, though, I continued to watch it because the story and characters drew me in. The acting was great, the sets and clothing were nice to look at, and the directing was very smooth. I'm both sad and relieved to see this drama off. Thank you to the cast and crew for making my Mondays and Tuesdays a little more fun.

I'm excited for Athena...but I'm also forcing myself to keep my expectations lower than they would be...just because too much hype could lead to disappointment. But I can't wait until next week to check it out.

I actually have not checked out Mary yet. But based on some reviews by other people...I'm not sure if I want to commit myself to it. I do hope the ratings pick up though. I always feel a little bad to see dramas have such low ratings. I hope the cast and crew fight to see a strong finish.

its not pessimistic. Most people look at things this way when it comes to dramas that get a lot of pre-air hype. obviously, when its talked about so much, people are hoping it actually comes out really good and well keeping your expectations on a low is better than being disappointed. lastly, this javabeans blog so i think that means she writes we read. and then discuss. not tell her how and what to write.

Giant was epically awesome. I think it will leave some kind of mark on those who watched it for some time. Though it had flaws in terms of sometimes getting too political-- (everything in life has flaws) -- Giant was very extraordinary in establishing the essence of power, life, human relationships, family, and fate.

I don't know, but watching Giant-- it wasn't just a drama that was entertaining, but I actually learned some lessons.

It was amazing in its start. And it ended amazingly at its end.

I just started Giant a few days ago and am liking it a lot. Great cast of veteran actors right from the get-go. That's for me. It seems the dramas that do the best these days with the Korean audience are the ones with a solid group of veteran actors, not just a cast of pretty young 'uns.

Whilst we were going around one of the palaces here in Seoul, we saw the crew of Giant shooting some scenes with the lead actor. I don't know if this was a part of the drama or he was doing a footage for a commercial, but yes, we saw him in the flesh, with a photo to prove. At time, I didn't even know who's photo I was taking until the next morning when I saw his face on TV.

The other cast members were there too but I didn't bother. Thinking back, I should've.

Don't worry Geun-Geun couple!!!!
We still love you....
Aja Aja fighting!!!!
Woaf-Meow couple fighting!!!!!!!

Sorry Jung Woo-sung, you're wonderful and everything, but -- Park Sang-min's (and Kim Soo-hyun before him) Giant character Seong-mo will change the way I look at Secret Agents, forever.
No macho posturing, no women, no fancy cars, no luxury apartments, no exotic foreign locales.
He only wanted to right a wrong. That's all.
Oh, he was badass alright, pretty crazy -- but that perpetual glint of fear in his eyes will haunt me for many years to come.

Congratulations, Giant, wooohooooo!

I am sad Giant came to an end. It was an awesome drama. Besides solid acting from the cast, Giant delivered a great story . Now on to Athena. Hopefully it does not disappoint. After all the hype with Runaway, I was disappointed with the drama. It was kind of boring.

I guess this is good time to finally watch Iris... Right after I'm done with my finals (two days!)

I swear I am about to revert to older dramas cause the stuff on nowadays is so boring. I feel like new dramas are trying to draw people in with the cast rather than the plot itself. Just me complaining.....

Oh, I almost forgot about Athena. I didn't watch IRIS (I'll get to it...eventually) but I'm intrigued by Athena, well, the cast anyway. Spies and secret agents aren't my thing, but I'll give Athena a try.

Well, I love most of the cast in Athena, so I sweat for them too. Hope they do alright. I purposely watched Iris a couple of weeks ago so that I won't miss out on any cross references between the two dramas as well...am so happy Kim Seong Woo and Kim So Yeon is coming back..love them two...though I wonder how or if they are gonna write off Kim Tae Hee's character...

Though KTH was alright, I only loved Lee Byung Hyun, KSW and KSY in Iris. But the last two episodes of IRIS was so lame..LOL.

I hope the writers do justice to the big and talented cast. And I wanna see Cha Seong Won and Choi Si Won so much! I hope they get meaty roles.

I hope that Mary's ratings will be able to climb :D
I enjoy it so much, and it's not just because of JGS!
I chose to watch it because of Moon Geun Young! Always loved anything she's in and her acting never fails to amaze! :))

I do admit, though I visit dramabeans a lot and read it and enjoy, that sometimes I wish i could just get news without the sarcastic/negative opinion. I know everyones entitled to their own opinions, but it doesn't mean that it has to always be verbally expressed.

it'd be good too if I would be able deduce my own opinions about a story.

Giant is just amazing....and truly deserves those ratings ...i cant wait to see the last couple of episodes

What does that 38.2% rating mean?

38.2% of all available TVs in South Korea are watching that show?

or 38.2% of all available TVs in South Korea THAT ARE TURNED ON AT THAT TIME are watching that show?

thanks.

hey, hey people rating will not always measure the greatness of the drama.i don't care about the low,lower, lowest rating of MMM.i just love the drama.rating was based anyway in seoul but if you look how many fans were becoming addicted in MMM internationally then you would say its not that bad at all.i guess you are close minded in a sense that you dont like it.well i guess you miss your half life anyway. ADDICTED TO MMM SO MUCH. THE CUTEST ROM-COM KDRAMA EVER.IT WAS MY FIRST TIME TO BECOME ADDICTED TO A DRAMA AND I DONT KNOW HOW TO CURE IT.but i guess we have all our opinions and i just express it here.gomawo still:)

Well, I'd never given much thought to how "up" and "down" goes under korean dramas, but still it;s ridiculous! "Marry, stayed out all night" is a great, funny, and coooll! A little bit non-korean drama:))) Two thumbs up! I don't know about "Giant", but there must be a river of tears... for 40.3 or something! I like "Secret Garden"; "The fugitive: plan b" but Marry is my favourite!! Sweeeeet!
Rock on!
Fighting!
Gambattttte!
And every words means "you are the best!"

On Direct TV, we are only up through ep 51 of Giant this week. It has really picked up speed, and I am really enjoying it now, especially since the end is in sight, and I can see how things play out.

I'm going to be very critical, I actually think Mary Stayed Out All Night deserved such low ratings. It is way below my expectations. I was thrilled when this drama was going to happen with a great cast, but its everything is so cliche about it. I don't dislike MGY as an actress but her "Mary" character is annoying the crap out of me, especially with the whole "honey" ordeal. I just find her so unlikable here, unlike Cinderella sister. Finally got that off my chest. And the whole cuteness thing between JGS and MGY, I don't feel any of it. Don't even get me started with Mary's hair. LOL. Unlike You're beautiful, I enjoyed the chemistry between JGS and PSH. As for KJW, I am very disappointed in his performance. He was good in Bad Guy, but is terrible in Mary Stayed Out All Night. His character is so wooden, no facial expressions, little/no reaction, and just feels like a standing mannequin with good looks/clothes. I'm already half way through the drama, so I would finish it, but there seems to be no/little improvement to make me take everything back. At least the whole "chagiya" thing is gone. JGS seems to be the only character that doesn't annoy me all that much. But the plot is too ridiculous on many levels (I suppose that's the beauty of most kdrama romantic comedies), but honestly, even MGY and JGS getting married seemed unbelievable, and the whole issue with KJW's father wanting his son to get married to MGY is more ridiculous. Sorry for all the hard-core fans of this drama. Rate this drama 5/10, but still hoping that some miracle will save this drama from being a complete flop. Cross fingers.

oh, I'm really excited for Athena...I don't know why.

I am a huge JGS fan and I respect MGY as a young actress. I never watch one ep of GIANT and never intend to. As of MSOAN, I felt bad that they receive such a bad rating. It proofs one thing, no matter how good the actors are, an entertaining and strong story is the major thing. What a waste ...they have the best casts, they could ever have, the beginning of the story is pretty refreshing and up beat...starting ep. 3 or 4..it starts getting downhill, the flow of the show is up and down and you pretty much can predict the next move and SO OLD SCHOOL.... I wish the PD team and the screenwriter hear our voice and please put more efforts on the plot and write sthg more fit to their characters to show the new trend of generation.....MSOAN fighting...

I don't actually watch Korean dramas, I've only watched My Name is Kim Sam Soon, started Iris, stared Boys Over Flowers (but not intending to finish), and currently watching Seccret Garden and Marry Stayed Out All Night.

I don't know, I guess i'm a romance fluff fan, but I am really digging MSOAN. 3>

i feel like mgy & jgs only did M3 so they can date under the pretense of acting :D ... i mean, they did read the script, didn't they?

For those of you who watched Giant, fondly as I: Here's the Edelweiss MV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CleIq_UuI_Y
I'll never forget the wonderful, wonderful cast. And these kids!

I know I'm one of the biggest rom-com/rom drama lovers out there. But if you have seen as many as I have, and I'm sure many out there have, some stuff has just gotten boring. I felt that both Mary and Playful Kiss deserved the low ratings that it got or is getting. I know that internationally I will be different, but I had a higher expectation for Kdramas. Maybe if Mary was one of the first few rom-coms or kdramas I've seen, then maybe I'd feel differently. Who knows. Anyhow - I love jb's & gf's commentary. They don't beat around the bush and often tell it like it is. It's refreshing for me to read anyways.

I think for all the fans out there - it's ok for people to not like a drama! There are plenty out there to go around. :) This year has been full of surprises. The ones that I thought I would like a lot, I ended up not liking :( And the ones that I really didn't care for at the start, I ended up really liking a lot. Odd how things play out.

I hope to see more action in Athena than Rain's Runaway Plan B is the most I will expect from it, not the best of scripts or best show.

I was being careful to read the posts here as I'm right at the moment watching episode 26 of Giant. (Oh snap! Jeongyung has just laid down the law to stepmommy.) Don't want any spoilers.

While I'm enjoying the show, I'm going to be a voice of dissent and say I don't think any actor/actress in particular has wowed me in this drama. (And don't even get me started on some of the costumes, especially the pimping outfits Jeongshik wore.) So why am I watching this show? You tell me! It's my crack. I have Giant withdrawal when I have trouble finding ep's with eng. subs.

I do hope it ends well.