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tvN shakes up its schedule, adds Wednesday-Thursday dramas

Ever experimenting with its drama lineup, cable station tvN has announced a significant change in its scheduling plans, going six days a week with drama programming. That’s quite the increase from the four days a week it currently programs: one Monday-Tuesday series and one Friday-Saturday series (it did experiment with a second Friday-Saturday slot recently with Entourage, in the late-night hour, but doesn’t look like it’ll be keeping that on the schedule).

To that end, tvN is adding a Wednesday-Thursday drama slot to the schedule, and will be shifting its Friday-Saturday shows to a more traditional Saturday-Sunday slot. On the one hand, I tend to like tvN dramas so having more choices mid-week isn’t a terrible thing. On the other hand, I often feel like I’m drowning in dramas already, and now I have to contend with two more hours a week? I love-hate this idea, and I love-hate it hard.

One station rep explained that the decision comes out of the station’s recent ratings slump in an effort to breathe new life into things. After all, while tvN has been home to many of cable’s (and TV in general’s) biggest success stories, it also has its fair share of underperformers; this year has produced lower-than-expected ratings for many of its offerings, like Introverted Boss, Tomorrow With You, and Chicago Typewriter.

I find the weekend shift an interesting move too, because tvN really went after the empty Friday-night timeslot with gusto and premiered its biggest hits there (the latter two Answer Me series, Misaeng, Signal, Goblin), then solidified the block by adding a Na PD variety hour that regularly commands strong ratings (the Grandpas/Noonas/Youths Over Flowers franchise, the Three Meals a Day series, Yoon’s Kitchen). They were so successful there that other stations attempted to compete, to mixed results. KBS tried it with The Producers, for example, and is reviving that slot next month with variety-drama series The Best Hit, followed by Strongest Deliveryman.

So it’s odd that as other stations are shifting to Fridays and Saturdays, tvN is heading to the more conventional Saturday-Sunday lineup. The drama slot will move from the 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday hour to the 9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday hour, which goes up against SBS and MBC dramas as well as variety programs like Gag Concert; KBS airs its weekend family dramas an hour earlier, which removes one of the big sources of competition, since their weekenders often draw the big ratings (What’s With This Family, Five Kids, Laurel Tree Tailors, Father Is Strange). I do think OCN’s success with Tunnel helped, and there’s an argument to be made for counterprogramming with different types of content.

The first tvN drama to be affected by this scheduling change will be Forest of Secrets, the pre-produced thriller starring Jo Seung-woo (God’s Gift—14 Days) and Bae Doo-na (Tunnel). It premieres on June 10 as a Saturday-Sunday drama. The Wednesday-Thursday drama block will launch in July. (Note that it isn’t the first Wednesday-Thursday drama ever for tvN; when the station aggressively expanded its original drama programming six years ago, it started with Manny as a Wednesday-Thursday show and kept the slot for several series, including Queen In-hyun’s Man, before shifting over to the Monday-Tuesday slot.)

More dramas! HOW WILL I FIND THE TIME.

Via Joins

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I wonder how will I fit another drama on my Monday schedule. I mean, I need to watch Sunday Variety Shows too.
These are the kinds of problem that we like! haha

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agree! Besides drama, I live to watch RM, 1N2D, TROS, KB, etc too. Can we have more than 24 hours in a day?

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We don't need more than 24 hours in a day. That'll be a living nightmare.

But we need superpowers that allow us to go sleepless forever and our bodies rejuvenate while we're awake and just sitting (which I do so often anyway). Sleep for fun but stay awake if we want. This is my dream superpower. I have too many interests.

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To me, we do not need more than 24 hours/day. What a k-drama addict needs is superpower to convert 1 hour drama into "2 hour sleepless + high effective work hour", as in I tend to skip sleep whenever I pick up a drama, and then be a sleepyhead during work hours the next day!

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The same goes for me! I am a wrecking mess at work the next day

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This reminds me of the hell that I went through for Moon Lovers. Watching raw on the same night, subtitled on the next, another version to fit in...

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I've discovered that I like EVERYTHING tVN produces!

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Even entourage?

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I love Entourage. Whether you believe or not, I thought it's better than Goblin.

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Better than Goblin? Anyone else care to comment here? I'm way too biased.?

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What can we Say? The heart loves what it loves ?

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For me Goblin is too slow. There was too many repeatitive scenes & flashbacks & too cheesy. I have seen that kind of love story & was too predictable. They just incorporated a fantasy to have some difference. Too be honest I don't understand the hype about the drama.

Unlike Entourage, it's new & something you have not seen before in kdrama.

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I agree with Outy. Entourage a terrible drama is better than Goblin.
Liar is not mentioned in nonperforming dramas but CT is. hehe

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Everything I've seen so far...I'm still new at this kdrama thing. Now, you have my curiosity peaked though!

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Even ...Cindy and the Four Knights?

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I used to believe in TvN until this happened.

Even my abundant love for Jung Il Woo can't convince me to go past the 4th episode

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I thought I did too, until I watched Basketball (2014).

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I'm not a korean audience and my opinion doesn't really count. But I have to say that my problem with tvn is the washed out colors. I don't understand why they do this.
When I'm loving a drama I can ignore it or smetimes even feel it adds to the beauty. BUT if I'm getting bored by a drama or dislike it, the washed out colors make me lose interest and drop the drama much more quickly than a normally colored drama on another station which I might not love but usually still follow.

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Oh, you are so right about the washed out colours! When you are talking about colours, I immediately being reminded of Ruler of The Mask vibrant colours and comparing them with Goblin or Chicago Typewriter. Those 3 TvN dramas have a really good cinematography yet a little dull colour palette compared to Ruler of The Mask.

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Agreed. I recently noticed the color palette of Ruler of The Mask is brighter which somehow makes easier for my eyes to watch it.

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My bigggest problem with Tomorrow With You was the color, its no where near as beautiful as the poster

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The posters were different, but I kind of liked the colour schemes of the drama itself, it had a melancholic feel to it that matched the drama.

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I think Misaeng was never meant to be a fluffy drama, so...

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Yup. Misaeng had kind of melancholy feeling and the color matched it.

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Cinderella and four knights has a really good cinematography and the camera movements are really good.

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The ost was the best part about the drama though.

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The Three Musketeers was bright and vibrant.

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Cool, this means I get more choices since I'm picky anyways, I hope they could produce quality shows tho, since their current shows is a bit of a let down

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I do wonder if the time slot is indeed the culprit behind the recent ratings slump of tvn. They've truly had a bad and sad run after Goblin. I guess a bit of experimenting in scheduling won't hurt. It will be interesting how things will play out since not only tvn, but other stations are doing things to shake things up a bit in the dramaverse.

In the end, more dramas so yey!

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This is what I don't understand! If they've had pretty consistent success with the original drama slots then surely it would have to be the quality of the show rather than when it's showed? So why don't they experiment and change up the content/format/cinematography etc instead?

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Goblin was heavily advertised. It was a big budget drama which I think big chunk went to Marketing cost. But not all TVN dramas have the same budget as Goblin.

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It is a good idea to avoid KBS' weekend drama slot because KBS managed to produce a lot of quite strong weekend family dramas in the recent years.

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Yay, more dramas! I don't know how I will find the time to watch more of them, but I sure will try.
Work is really cutting into my drama-watching. If only I didn't have to make money in order to watch dramas.

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great can't wait for what tvN has in stored for us!

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So, when the competition tries to copy your sched, you go back and copy theirs.. lol Maybe if it's successful the others will follow again and then TVN will go back to the Fri-Sat one. I'm a TVN girl through and through so yey for more dramas! I understand that it's a business thing to always try to one-up the ratings but I think it's normal to have highs and lows; I don't see the low ones necessarily a "slump". I have yet to see a channel that is ALWAYS the best in ratings anyway so I think it's a cycle and it's normal. Regardless of the low ratings I think their shows are still good quality-wise. So as much as it's sad that a drama I love is not that successful in ratings, it's the content and how much I enjoy it that matters :)

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Whyyy?? As if I didn't already have enough dramas to watch? Looks like this will be another summer of watching everything airing

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This is a love-hate for students like us, you know. My mom is not gonna like this. ???

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No kidding. I'm already watching double now what I was before exams.

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More dramas! HOW WILL I FIND THE TIME.
One order of a time turner please!

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I wonder how I will fit these new dramas into my old schedule. Saying that, I did like tvn's dramas such as Goblin and Chicago Typewriter. I do have to agree with those washed out colors though. To me, usually, I like dramas that are more mysterious or in the thriller genre, so these type of colors always clue me into what I will be looking for. That being said, I also like bright colored dramas sometimes, since it is very eye appealing. I hope it works out well for them.

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This is great as it gives more opportunities to actors.
For someone who doesn't like thrillers, it also gives me more choice of dramas since k-dramas nowadays are swamped with those.

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Which drama will be in TLAHL's old slot? They're obviously taking a break this week, but tvN will be continuing the Monday-Tuesday slot, right?

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Circle, will start next week.

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Funny you mentioned that drama. I thought it would be mentioned in the post since the picture included it, but there is absolutely no mention of it. lol. Oh well, seeing sr x hg smile can't hurt.

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The drama landscape is ever-changing. But if it means more dramas to choose from, then bring it on! ??

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I love that it means more options to choose. Just like KBS reviving their Friday-Saturday slot. But can we get miniseries on Wed-Thur slot and some sitcom like Super Family 2017 for weekend slot? I love watching Super Family because it gives my mind break from the normal drama and works, and I don't have to think so much about the plot etc because it is is normally less drama and conflict. We sometimes want to watch something casually.

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HOW WILL I FIND THE TIME indeed.

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Hey, at least your job is watching dramas and writing about dramas! Dramas 24 hours a day, what a joy!

What about plebeians like us who don't have that fortune?!

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True dat.

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Well,more dramas for me so it's all good!

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Y'know, this might be the reason WHY I'm in a slump! There's just so many dramas and shows to choose from and I'm too internally overwhelmed to check 'em out because I don't know which one to start with. ??‍♀️ I'm just gonna take it easy. ??

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Interesting! Tvn always delivers some gems (even underperfoming ones like CT).

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I enjoy most tvN dramas even when I don't love them. The ones I love, I love a lot. As long as it continues that way, I'm good.

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Omg so much more dramas so little time!

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Yahooooo! I'm excited for this! Though I truly feel that the time slot is not the reason for the underperforming dramas, it's just that the dramas aired after Goblin were frankly, not that addicting. Let me clarify, before anyone shoots me, lol. The female lead and the writing in Introverted Boss were not that great, Tomorrow with You was off to a slow start, and is more of a niche drama than a drama with broad based appeal; Chicago Typewriter was also off to a slow start: it was hard to connect with the characters, and the writing only came together by the middle of the drama run. I think the excellent cast of that drama is responsible for the drama netting between 2 - 3 percent. The Liar and his Lover found its audience within a certain demographic, most of the audience were pissed off at Joy landing the lead role, for reasons I can't imagine. Will tVN produce other rating hits? Most certainly, but it would depend more on other factors than time slot, I believe.

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Iiinteresting. If this means that they'll serve up more mysteries/thrillers a la Liar Game and Pied Piper, that would be amazing.

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I want quality not quantity. High quality one!
#amnotgoodqualitysseuregi

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me two. a good one, a memorable one

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Well as long as the drama lineup will be good, romantic, and entertaining, I will somehow find time... hopefully :)

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this just means more dramas! GOOD!

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More drama means more time needed to watch! I'm sorry sleep but you are not a priority! :P

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This will mean that I will be permanently busy all week long. Life can take a back seat (or jump into the drain)

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I always prefer tvn dramas as I feel they are more daring with the scripts and goes for the unconventional. However, I always wonder why the ratings were so slow until i saw the competition from the other stations. Yikes.. The recent tvn drama that i cried my eyeballs out was Dear My Friends. I admit, I watched it for Jo In Sung and Daniel Henney but thanks to them, I stumbled on this beautiful beautiful drama that my sis was embarassed to introduce me to her friends due to my swollen eyes and "wanton" tissues beside me..

I really enjoyed Chicago Typewriter, I hope they will get better ratings from the Korean folks!

More tvn dramas meaning less sleep for me~ xD

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Hope they don't put quantity over quality.... what can I say, my backlogs it's already scary, 2 more ep. Per week, my social life is doom!

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LOL to your inner conflict w/ loving and hating having more enjoyable dramas at the read, JB!

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There are really A LOT of Korean dramas nowadays unlike before; I find myself always catching up the dramas that I want to watch. I was surprised to know that there are also A LOT of channels in Korea when I last went there, and I'm just talking about the local channels. Variety can be both a blessing and a punishment. ?

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Dont sleep. Or sleep less. Haha it cant b helped esp if their offerings r right up ur alley

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Lol! Out of everything all I saw was misaeng. Misaeng was from ten??!!!???Way to go TVN. It's been my favorite network since since. I hope they hit gold once again as with goblin. *fingers crossed
I still dunno why liar and his liver didn't hit...it was SUCH a good drama *sigh

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When you have everything in scheduled, classes, dentist visit, loundry and now dramas.

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As long as they don't number their dramas weird, they can do whatever they want.

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