I do hope the show finds its footing in the ratings game once the adults have settled in. It's not a complete flop - recent KBS dramas have rated far worse at under 5% - but a part of me fears KBS might cut the number of episodes as sageuks are expensive to produce.

That's what I fear the most too. I hope KBS won't ever have to resort to that solution. I miss the time when dramas such as Hello Monster (I Remember You) could keep its total episode count despite the abysmal ratings. Its writer went on to write Suspicious Partner, which is another cute show though less suspenseful and interesting than its precedent. Judging how SP is doing, I hope the writer for 7DQ would be encouraged to do the same thing and produce quality work without having to be too heavily affected by the ratings for their first work.

@junny Aaargh..Beautiful Mind! I really liked that show. Even though I can see why it didn't garner high ratings, it definitely did not deserve to get cut.

It's indeed a painful memory. ? Esp with some drama behind the scene, like the casts were not informed earlier etc.

it's been a year. but feel like yesterday I signed the petition.
they're just sooooo stupid to cut such a beautiful drama

Me too! It hurts so much, I refuse to event talk about it.

True but KBS knew that ahead of time. I think they were hoping it would be well received like "Moonlight."

I think novel based sageuk rom.com like "Moon Sun" and "Moonlight" are much more successful because there is not much expectation when it comes to the history. Same goes with "Tree With Deep Roots." Based on a novel, a fictional take on King Sejong and the creation of the Hangul alphabet. "Painter of the Wind" too.

If 7 Day Queen is going to be a well written directed rom.com with Yeonsangun running around in the background then it's not going to get more viewers beside the rom.com fans.

@kiara
You're right that KBS might want to repeat Moonlight history with 7DQ, judging how PMY herself suggested that viewers consider this production a 'Moonlight' set in 5 years later, which can be seen as an implicit promotion based off of Moonlight's success. However I don't think they really bet on this as a second Moonlight, since none of the main leads has star power as KJY, or recently starred in a well-received drama as the case of PBG in Reply 1988. In other words, there is absolutely no guarantee that any of the leads in 7DQ would make another 'PBG' or 'Song Joong Ki' level of breakout. That's why I'm still wondering if there are other and just as important factors that determined the airing time of 7DQ. But still, it's rather awkward for them because it doesn't look like this is the best time to attract viewers, what with Ruler already settled half-way through its run with its own loyal viewerbase.

Yeah I kind of hope that they won't let Yeonsangun just run back and forth in the background, but that's just my wish because a lot depends on the skills of the writer. I guess part of the reason why many people are holding their hope up for 7DQ is because it has the most potential in writing in the current batch of sageuks, so there is something to be hopeful for that the writing will not weaken towards the end of the show. Yet since it's something completely out of our control, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what'll happen next.

@HyeMi
Understand what you are saying.
There are many factors determining the ratings. Koreans knows their history better than any of us. It can have the best written and directed romance out there but neglect to make it appealing to the average sageuk viewers than that's all they are going to get. The rom.com fans.

@kiara
I know and I don't expect this one to sweep the die-hard sageuk fans off the ground tbh. I would categorise 7DQ more or less in the same group as Moonlight as far as plot and focus are concerned, instead of hailing it as a sageuk masterpiece. The Moonlight magic aside, that drama started out at around 8-9%, and judging how similar these two can be, I'm hoping for 7DQ to reach that figure too. Plus, I know fully well that 7DQ doesn't have any rating magnets, and the historical aspect will be much thinner than found in other classic romance sageuks, that's why I take a humble approach and hope for a modest increase of 1.5% for the rest of 7DQ's run :D. If this was anywhere near the league of TPM I would have been indignant at the ratings it's got already XD.

Rebel's Yeonsangun was mostly taken from the history books and Kim Ji-suk gave it a realistic portrayal.
Honey Lee's Noksoo was equally amazing.
It's hard to top that especially if you are in it for something more other than the romance.

7 Day Queen isn't doing much with the actual history. So far it's been fictionalized to accommodate the budding romance between two teen agers and Yeonsangun as the 3rd wheel.

@kiara I don't know history. So, are you saying that SDQ's Yeonsangun is more fictionalized? I don't mean the part about him being a 3rd wheel but the way they portray him in court and the politics. How about the relationship between him and his brother, is it purely fiction too? I don't remember reading about it anywhere the last time I looked up Yeonsangun.

@outofthisworld
I haven't seen it up to eps 4 yet but so far not all but some.
They have to change part of it because the focus should be his brother and his queen.
There is no detail information on their early life. The historiographers only focus on the king after they take the throne.
Most likely Lee Yeok did resides outside of the palace and it's possible that they did not meet each other at all.

Now you are going to make me watch it all :).

@kiara @outofthisworld 7 Day Queen has established itself as "a fiction based on history"... so yeah, I don't think we can expect this drama to be historically accurate. It might even have a different ending for the queen. Who knows, maybe unlike the history, she'll live happily forever and after with the king (even though I prefer they stick to history in this matter) just like how The Prince in Moonlight didn't die.

@nchoe
It's only at eps 4 so here's hoping for balance between romance and politics.
It doesn't have to be historically accurate. Most sageuks are not but with a skill writer changes can be intriguing.
Was there something Yeok could have done to keep her from being deposed?
Maybe with the addition of Jo Gwang-jo will make politics interesting...

@outofthisworld
This maybe the 2nd time most of us have seen a sageuk based on Yeonsangun's reign. For Korean viewers, this might be the 10th or 11th times.

The childhood portion is always the lowest. Everything about it is made up by the writer. Joseon people had arranged marriages. There was no dating before the marriage. Most of the royals were married very young, some as early as 9yrs old.
Maybe some are waiting for the adults to show before they start watching.

The children really step it up in eps 3 & 4. Hopefully those planning to jump in still marathon those eps, because I consider them pretty important. I suppose some could be satisfied with reading recaps though.

It's the just way I watch sageuks.
Instead of enjoying the cute interaction between cute teen agers. My mind was busy trying to calculate the distance from the countryside to Hanyang and how this girl made it there on foot.

Yea I need to adjust expectations and enjoy it for what it is. This could turn out to be one of my favorite rom.com.

@kiara I think it also boils down to personal preference.
You can still watch Ruler which I can't because of the massive number of plot holes.
We can go on and on about quality, accuracy and so on but at the end of the day, people just prefer one drama over another.

@outofthisworld
Pretty much. It's a great genre and it's my favorite but it has changed a lot throughout the years.

I'm glossing through Ruler because it feels more old school.
7 Day Queen has romance and hopefully court intrique on the side to offer. I'm curious about their version of Jo Gwang-jo. He was a big deal in Korean history.
Then there is Sassy girl for the over the top comedy.

I'm glossing over all 3 but I'm not quite sure which one I'd want to really watch.

Oh you should watch the teens, they did a great job!!!

Lol, I know. There have been discrepancies in the past between ratings and comments on online streaming sites. Anyway, MSG is doing quite well given the reactions online from knetz. For a remake and a parodied version of both the genre and the original work I didn't think it would hover just under 10% mark.

@maskros do you know how these knetz comments are selected? I don't read Korean and only get them from sites like kkul-jaem and netizendrama which have translations. It gives me an idea of the response in Korea but I have always wonder how representative they are. It seems more fan based than anything else.

As far as I know they're directly translated from popular news/ online streaming sites. Usually only the first 10 or 20 most upvoted comments got to feature on the news page and got translated. I don't trust their representativeness much, simply because people are anonymous online and it's hard to collect real demographic data that way. I just read them for entertainment. Sometimes the comments/ reactions are hilarious and interesting they can make a whole drama out of themselves XD.

Who knows maybe in the upcoming episodes, MSG will be on the top, esp when things get a bit serious. I don't think it will be a hit, but I think it could rise by 1%-2% probably.

@maskros I often laugh whenever I read those comments - one thing for sure it's not something to take it as serious thing. They are like another drama for us.

I don't watch any korean netizen comments. is it that bad?
they had the fastest internet connection so they seems to enjoy comment about anything online lol

Where can I watch that show? I don't have netfix.

You can watch it at fastdrama.co ?

I don't know exactly how these things work. Do stations earn anything by uploading their dramas on Youtube?
It's the production company that sells the rights to sites like DF and viki, right?
Broadcasters earn from commercials and PPLs. That's why ratings are still important because they help to sell these commercials. International viewers don't contribute unless the drama is sold at a good price in that country

@outofthisworld Youtube and other online content do not make $$$ as much as commercials and PPLs on television. But, online videos and streaming earn through click-through and ad placements as well. I mean, that's why they're like hundreds of vloggers. But, using online platforms acknowledges that the consumers' viewing habits also changed. And yes, that includes selling rights to Dramafire, Viki, and Viu.

@sojusommelier I don't think the broadcasters are totally ignorant of the trend. Who knows, perhaps they find the revenue generated by making english/foreign language subtitled videos available online not worth the while. Just like how the illegal streaming sites have ripped the subtitles off the official sources, it will happen in like manner to the broadcasters'.

continue...
Did I read you wrongly? Were you referring to international viewers or domestic?