Wonderful Season breaks records in its debut
by awcoconuts
It seems drama viewers were craving a winter pick-me-up: New drama Wonderful Season smashed records this weekend by breaking the 30% mark by its second episode. Whoa. It handily beat the previous record, set by the recently concluded King’s Family, which had earned a respectable 23.8% in viewership by its second showing.
King’s Family finished strong with 47.3% ratings, so it’s likely that viewers (especially with the conclusion of the Olympics) were eager to pick up a new weekend drama. Timing, the popularity of the cast (Lee Seo-jin of Grandpas Over Flowers and Kim Hee-sun of Faith star as reunited lovers), the feel-good and family-centric storyline, and the Midas touch of Samhwa Networks, all contributed to boost initial viewership. Not to mention the reteaming of Nice Guy’s writer-director duo, Lee Kyung-hee and PD Kim Jin-won.
An extension is already being whispered about, and Samhwa Networks is being labeled a drama hit factory. The production company was also behind the popular cable series Childless Good Fortune, which ended its extended run in 2013 with over 10% viewership—impressive for a cable show—and last year’s Gu Family Book on MBC (which ended with 19.5% of the nation’s viewers), and SBS’s Goddess of Marriage (11.7%). Samhwa Networks also produced 2010’s wildly popular Baker King Kim Tak-gu, which ended with a whopping 49.3% of national viewership.
Time will tell if the drama can keep up its momentum, but with the first week’s remarkable draw and the buzz generated by its formidable production company, Wonderful Season is on pace to be the next national drama of 2014.
Via Chosun
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Tags: drama ratings, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Seo-jin, Wonderful Season
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1 Javabeans
February 25, 2014 at 6:07 PM
Ahhh episode 1 reminds me of Will It Snow for Christmas ♥ Crap do I have to watch this now?
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ilikemangos is happy
February 25, 2014 at 6:50 PM
:O
I'm watching the pilot atleast, just because of this comment.
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Mandy
February 25, 2014 at 6:56 PM
Just... LOL at ur user name!
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HDCessa
February 25, 2014 at 6:57 PM
Ditto!!
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Mama J
February 26, 2014 at 3:00 AM
Yep, that's enough to hook me, too.
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Jasmin Rice
March 7, 2014 at 12:19 AM
I like mangos too.
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Mandelbrotr
February 25, 2014 at 8:16 PM
Searching to see how you rated Will it Snow . . .
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dmohican14
February 25, 2014 at 8:55 PM
Darn, I really liked Will It Snow for Christmas, well at least the first two-thirds. Stop tempting me!
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jxng
February 27, 2014 at 11:16 PM
U're right, I watched exactly two-third of Will It Snow for Christmas and never got to know the ending. The last part was boring..
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xxvxx
February 26, 2014 at 4:11 AM
Do I have enough time for ANOTHER drama? I'm already juggling 3... or so I think.
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2 floralnori
February 25, 2014 at 6:10 PM
If it's any good, I hope that someone will pick it up and sub it. I want to be part of the buzz
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mel
February 25, 2014 at 6:30 PM
It comes out on kbs youtube march 8th but darksmurf is currently subbing it also
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ansapums
February 25, 2014 at 9:28 PM
Crunchyroll's new kdrama.com site is simulcasting it and the first two episodes (English-subbed) are up...but it's still just in beta, so unless you have (or get) a crunchyroll all-access-pass you're out of luck until the beta is over. (ㅠ_ㅠ)
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3 Noelle
February 25, 2014 at 6:19 PM
How many episodes are they planning for this?
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lemondoodle
February 25, 2014 at 7:17 PM
50ish at least
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4 Mandy
February 25, 2014 at 6:19 PM
KBS owns this time slot. They've been dominating it for years! It's too long for me to commit to but if the ratings keep increasing, I may just be curious enough to check it out.
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wannabean
February 25, 2014 at 6:49 PM
it's a shame they're not much good at their weekday slots though...i'd say SBS is king at that.
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Nancy
February 25, 2014 at 8:04 PM
MBC owns Mon-Tues
SBS owns Wed-Thurs
KBS owns Sat-Sun
But we'll see how things go once YWCFTS ends this week.
Wonderful Season's first two eps are pretty good but blah, potentially 50+ eps? Sighs.
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pogo
February 26, 2014 at 8:27 AM
They had Good Doctor and Secret in 2013, the latter actually went on to beat Heirs for a good chunk of its run. They're not doing all that badly, though of course none of the other networks has had the string of weekday hits that SBS has been having since I Hear Your Voice, in any timeslot.
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lemondoodle
February 25, 2014 at 8:41 PM
It's not hard to own the slot when SBS and MBC don't air dramas against it. :D Though 30% for episode 2 is impressive.
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Angélina Eang
February 26, 2014 at 2:07 AM
But MBC and SBS do air family dramas on this timeslot too. I remember reading an article about it with viewer ratings. It's just that KBS has been on a roll.
I have followed KBS family dramas only in 2012 when Unexpected You aired but since that drama, My Daughter Seoyoung has been a huge success. You Are The Best Lee Soon Shin had lower ratings than the other two but still dominated, Wang Family had huge ratings and it seems that this family drama is going to follow the same pattern.
Perso, I have watched most of them and I really don't understand the appeal of KBS Family Drama except for Unexpected You which was just amazing. They look the same and have almost the same storyline.
I remember laughing when an article said that this drama will talk about family and distinguish itself from other family dramas. This is what they said about Wang Family and no need to wonder what we've got.
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Juen
February 26, 2014 at 3:25 AM
that SBS and MBC drama is from 20:45 timeslot, this timeslot is 19:55
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lemondoodle
February 26, 2014 at 8:18 PM
No, they don't. Their weekend dramas air later. I don't know what SBS and MBC air, but they don't air dramas in that slot.
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5 Swee
February 25, 2014 at 6:35 PM
Just wondering, will you be writing a first impression of the first 2 eps? 50 eps is very difficult to recap but a first impression would be nice; please? Thanks
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6 barbara black fox
February 25, 2014 at 6:44 PM
Where can I find it? (I looked and saw that an alternate title is "Wonderful Days." But I can't find either title anywhere.)
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Star
February 25, 2014 at 9:03 PM
i believe KBS World will upload it onto Youtube with english subtitles like they did with King's Family
i'm not sure when though! but soon i believe~
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aznative
February 25, 2014 at 9:12 PM
KBS World's YouTube channel says that it will air on March 8.
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Adal
February 28, 2014 at 6:27 PM
Viki just got the license for it and they'll sub it two weeks late.
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7 raindrops1
February 25, 2014 at 7:03 PM
I had completely forgotten about this drama so it's great to hear that it started with such a strong rating. I´m always weary of weekend dramas because the ones that start promising detour into WTH territory. I like the two leads in this drama so I'm hoping that this is the weekend drama I'm looking for (to get me hooked on the story and characters)
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8 Briana
February 25, 2014 at 7:18 PM
I wanted to not watch a weekend drama but Seojin....man.
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9 August
February 25, 2014 at 7:38 PM
For some reason, each time I see your moniker "awcocunuts" I have to do a double take because my eyes tend to somehow transpose it to read as awecocunuts.
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August
February 25, 2014 at 7:44 PM
Gosh darn it...see I did it again...
awcoconuts vs. awecoconuts
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10 Marie
February 25, 2014 at 8:01 PM
I want to see this but I can not find it with English subs.
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11 TS
February 25, 2014 at 8:15 PM
I like weekend dramas, and I like kim Hee sun and Seojin. So I'll watch it.
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12 Tara
February 25, 2014 at 8:26 PM
I was only able to catch the first ep so far, but I like it so far. Despite being burned already by weekenders, yet I continue to try em out. Soft spot for family dramas, I guess.
I like the cast for the most part, as well as the writer. Didn't know the production was behind two of the hits that I liked (Childless, Takgu) and Gu Family...although I don't think Goddess is something they'd be proud to mention (just my opinion...that was such an aggravating watch, refused to finish it).
I'll continue watching for a few weeks to see if it'll be one I'll stick with...especially since the main weekender I'm watching (A Little Love Never Hurts) is gonna end soon.
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13 Langit13iru
February 25, 2014 at 8:50 PM
I only watch Baker King and Nice Guy among the dramas listed above and like it alot.
I'm watching for Taec and also coz of the weekend drama KBS. First two episode is good. I love the scenery and cinematography. I advised pleased watch it on HD quality to appreciate the camera work.
I love how some actors here already work together before for past dramas.
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14 dmohican14
February 25, 2014 at 8:58 PM
KBS is really dominating on the weekend. With the exception of Lee Soon Shin, I think they've owned that timeslot for at least two years now.
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15 Kiara
February 25, 2014 at 9:48 PM
Wow that's pretty impressive. I'm happy for the cast and crew but somehow I don't care to watch it. Not my cup of coffee.
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16 Natalie
February 26, 2014 at 1:59 AM
I was going to watch this, mainly because of Kim Hee Sun, but 50 episodes are too much for me.
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17 hummie
February 26, 2014 at 3:12 AM
Oh, exciting! I was very moved by Ok Taecyeon's character and acting in Dream High, so I hope he does well in this!
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18 mira
February 26, 2014 at 3:29 AM
meh ~
I saw it and didn't see much to keep me watching.
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19 bigsis
February 26, 2014 at 3:56 AM
Can anyone help me make sense of Korean ratings? In contrast to American ratings, where you get both a total viewer number and share of various demos, Korean ratings always come in the form of a percentage. But percentage of what? Viewers watching in a certain time-slot? All viewers in a week? What?
It's not very informative. For instance, JB writes that Wonderful Season is on the way to become the nation's drama. But if it's impressive 30% ratings is only a 30% share of, say, 3M viewers in total, it would be significantly less popular than - again, as speculative example - a You From Another Star that scores a 25% share of 20M viewers - 5M viewers in total.
So, what do these percentages reflect? Does anyone know?
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bigsis
February 26, 2014 at 4:48 AM
Sorry, I meant "Awcoconuts writes...", not "JB writes...".
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Juen
February 26, 2014 at 7:18 AM
Viewers watching in a certain time-slot, if it got 30% rating means from all tv owner 30% watching this drama, the rest of it can watching other show or not watching tv at all...
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bigsis
February 26, 2014 at 9:31 AM
Ok, thanks. So basically it is meaningless to compare shows' rating. That a show brings in 40% of the viewers in a time-slot tells us nothing how universally liked it is.
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megumi
February 26, 2014 at 2:08 PM
you should watch the drama called 'King of Dramas' to understand the meaning of ratings in Korea and how important it is, ratings is everything there...
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20 klir
February 26, 2014 at 4:42 AM
People need to understand that there is no competition in this time slot , so any drama that airs in it will have great ratings by default. SBS and MBC don`t air dramas at this time.
Its much harder to get 20% rating on Monday - Tuesday / Wednesday - Thursday, than to get 40% rating in this time slot.
But it`s a great achievement to get 30%rating in your second episode non the less.
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21 Dagm mengistu
February 26, 2014 at 6:37 AM
I'ven't seen it yet but i've great expectation esp. from taecyon
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22 divyrus
February 26, 2014 at 7:18 AM
The ratings, the slots, the production houses wouldn't normally make much sense to me but thanks to king of dramas , I get a whole new level of understanding!
30% for episode 2! *slow clap*
And am so happy for seo jin !!!!!
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23 poth
February 26, 2014 at 7:33 AM
Watched Seojin and Taecyon's interview on KBS..I have to say Taecyon's mugging for their photoshoot was really really really cringeworthy. His expressions are really smug, if he is anything like this at all when he's acting then I truly understand all the people saying he's an awful actor.
He seems nice off cam though, but his overall "acting" aura is not good..
It seems for the veteran actors trying to make their comeback, they choose weekend dramas since it's easier to get high ratings...(for example Jang Dong Gun in Gentleman's Dignity..)
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24 pogo
February 26, 2014 at 8:23 AM
about time, I've always liked Lee Kyung-hee's dramas even when they give us grief (and SUCH grief), I'll tune in to this one for the feels, Seojinnie and Kim Hee-sun, and ignore that girl from Basketball and Taecyeon (hopefully their parts will be small enough to not make me cringe too hard)
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hummie
February 26, 2014 at 12:50 PM
I'm very curious what you see wrong with Taecyeon's acting skills?
Actually, I almost passed over Dream High because the recaps on Dramabeans gave poor comments/reviews to Taecyeon's and Suzy's acting abilities. I finally gave Dream High a chance, and I was impressed with his performance so much that I became his fan.
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Nicole
February 26, 2014 at 1:18 PM
I'm watching Dream High for the first time right now, and despite being very fond of 2PM, I have no desire to praise Taecyeon's acting. I can see he tries very hard, but he seems so mechanical and too obviously drawn out. I haven't seen any of his other dramas so I can't vouch for improvement in the past three years, but if they're anything like his Dream High performance, I'll pass.
That doesn't keep me from enjoying the show (JYP and Pil-sook/Jason are too awesome) but I have to say, between Suzy and Taec, I choose Suzy. I actually kind of like her more reserved style rather than over-the-top rookie actress heroine.
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pogo
February 26, 2014 at 3:10 PM
haha 'reserved', that's a nice way of putting it.
But Dream High had a strong story and the one good thing that came out of it was that it introduced me to IU and to the writer, Park Hae-ryun (whose dramas are much better when she isn't forced to accommodate extreme deficiencies of acting skill in her leads).
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pogo
February 26, 2014 at 1:38 PM
Simply put, he can't act. He's the stiffest, most blank-eyed 'actor' I've ever seen in Korean entertainment (and I have a very high tolerance for bad acting, considering that I found Kim Hyun Joong and Jung Yonghwa bearable in their early roles). In most frames, he looks like he's struggling to remember his line and the PD's directions.
Dream High was marred for me by both him and Suzy, but between the two of them, he's actually worse as an actor - at least she had scenes with the other actors where she was a little less wooden. Still not lead actress material, but still, better than Taec.
I know the defensive Taecyeon fans are going to come after me for this, but to be quite honest, acting is not his calling and an acting career is not something he has a right to just because he is an idol. If JYP wants to make money off him, they should launch him as a solo idol instead or keep him on variety.
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hummie
February 26, 2014 at 2:30 PM
Hmm, I guess I am not seeing what you're seeing. I didn't see him as wooden at all. I agree that Suzy was pretty bad.
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Juen
February 26, 2014 at 3:42 PM
the think about taecyeon he was one of that idol with rating luck, so far he never starred in low rating drama
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pogo
February 27, 2014 at 7:01 AM
....I had the impression that ratings below 1 percent were abysmal even for cable, and that is exactly what his last drama ended on.
25 Sadie
February 26, 2014 at 6:30 PM
i don't have time......!!
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26 y2k2000
February 27, 2014 at 7:45 PM
This is my new go to drama of the season
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