Rating might not be the sole focus of a drama’s worth, but it definitely can’t be brushed
aside.
Afterall, high ratings means high popularity in Korea, more ads revenue, and a lot of buzz
for its actors and actresses.
Unfortunately though, some actors and actresses just can’t seem to nail the ratings, no
matter what they try.
Today, we are tackling these unlucky cases, to bring to you: Korean actors who seem to
be cursed with low ratings.
Song Kang Song Kang’s popularity is undeniable: He’s
dubbed “The Son of Netflix”, and that title has proven true in his countless Netflix
dramas.
From Love Alarm to Sweet Home, the actor’s face had become well-known to many audiences
on this streaming platform.
However, his luck doesn’t seem to strike on the normal television, seeing that none
of his traditional drama series nailed decent ratings.
Take Navillera for example - the MBC series embraces the beautiful journey of senior resident
Shim Deok Chul - a 70 year-old retired man who suddenly decided to pursue his life-long
ballet dream.
Here, Song Kang transforms into ballerino Lee Cha Rok - who is basically the second
protagonist - with his own depth and growth.
However, the actor’s previous fame didn’t help, and while Navillera was a spectacular
series, it tanked hard with an average rating of 3%.
Song Kang’s other series of the same year, Nevertheless, also didn’t score high ratings,
despite its hype.
This 18+ rated, mature series just can’t seem to suit the regular TV viewer, and experienced
declining ratings from 2.2% to 0.9%.
Yet, for what it’s worth, Song Kang has been a busy bee.
He isn’t afraid to dive into new waters with his various projects and we applaud him
for that.
Let’s hope that his next work, ``Meteorological Agency People”, will finally break the curse.
Go Kyung Pyo We all know of the mad success of Reply 1988
- where Go Kyung Pyo was among the main cast.
However, it seems like the actor’s popularity and talent just can’t be translated to ratings,
seeing that other than Reply, his other works just didn’t receive much recognition.
Winding back to 2014, and we will see Kyung Pyo’s first major role in ‘Naeil’s Cantabile’
- the Korean remake of the famous Japanese manga ‘Nodame Cantabile’.
This series, however, failed to live up to its original, and flunked terribly, with ratings
dropping from 7.7% in the first episode to 4.1% in its finale.
Then, Kyung Pyo’s first work after the Reply hype was ‘Jealousy Incarnate’ - a highly-anticipated
project that stars Gong Hyo Jin and Jo Jung Suk.
The series did score an average rating of 9.4% - but considering that it was so huge
that KBS and SBS basically fought over broadcasting rights, this performance was actually way
below expectations.
Sadly, this underwhelming-ness continues to prevail over Kyung Pyo’s later works.
Chicago Typewriter, despite having Yoo Ah In and Im Soo Jung, only scored ratings around
2%, while other Kyung Pyo works like Private Lives and Cross, only lingered around 1-3%.
The actor’s only project that crossed the 5% milestone was ‘Strongest Deliveryman’,
but even that performance was disappointing, considering this series was broadcasted on
a free channel.
Fortunately though, Go Kyung Pyo’s bad luck with TV series didn’t hinder his achievements
on the big screen.
The actor’s cinematic works, including Coin Locker Girl, were met with spectacular reception.
Song Ji Hyo If you are interested in the Korean entertainment
industry, it is just impossible to miss Song Ji Hyo’s name: the actress is a gem on the
silver screen, and has gained exponential fame as a member of the internationally famous
variety show ‘Running Man’.
However, her successes seem to not click with the dramaland, seeing that her TV series performance
never lived up to her fame.
The sole exception was her breakthrough role as the second female lead of ‘Princess Hours’,
which scored an average rating of over 20%.
But ever since, it was all down the hill.
To start with, Ji Hyo’s first major drama role after ‘Princess Hours’ was in ‘Emergency
Couple’, with ratings as low as 3%.
Then, her rom-com series Ex Girlfriends’ Club, even struggled to get a meager 1% rating,
and performed so spectacularly bad that it got cut down to 12 episodes from the original
16.
Her future projects like ‘Listen to Love’ and ‘Lovely Horribly’ also scored the
worst ratings possible, at an average of 2.8% and 3.3% respectively.
And her newer appearance in ‘Was It Love’ also couldn’t break the curse, scoring ratings
that can’t even cross the 2% mark.
Compared to her box-office successes like Intruder and A Frozen Flower, it seems that
Song Ji Hyo is just better off for the big screen, and champing like the ace of Running
Man?
Lee Dong Wook Next, we are going to tackle the curious case
of famous actor Lee Dong Wook, who always seems to shine particularly well as the second
male lead, but not so much when he becomes the protagonist himself.
Of course, Lee Dong Wook had successful works, including old Kdramas like ‘School 3’,
‘My Girl’, and most recently, ‘Goblin’.
But looking closer at the actor’s extensive filmography, we can say that he had quite
the rocky path.
First, there was one of his first major roles in ‘Wild Romance’, which scored an average
rating of 4% - quite disappointing compared to free network dramas at the time.
Then, the actor tried his hand in the supernatural series ‘Blade Man’, which saw declining
viewership from 6% in the first episode to a meager 2% as it wrapped.
Dong Wook’s Later projects like ‘Bubble Gum’, ‘Life’, ‘Touch your Heart’,
and ‘Strangers From Hell’ also suffered from the same rating curse, with none surpassing
the 5% rating mark, and ‘Life’ even tanked so hard, it barely kept up an average rating
of 1%.
His newest series - the fantasy romance ‘Tale of the Nine Tailed’, saw a better fate,
but a 5.2% average rating is nothing to brag about, especially considering Lee Dong Wook’s
rising fame.
Let’s hope that the actor will be back to prime with his super interesting upcoming
project ‘Bad and Crazy’, which I, personally, am dying to see!
Go Ara Go Ara has reached her acting peak ‘Reply
1994’ - that’s what many Korean netizens say whenever a topic regarding the actress
arises.
And if you look into her history of works, you’d realize that such a statement is somewhat
true.
Take a look at Hwarang, Go Ara’s first project after reply for example, and you’d see am
average 7.4% viewership rating.
Normally this wouldn’t be so bad, but considering that is series was broadcasted on KBS, with
an all star cast, including Park Seo Joon, Park Hyung Sik, and famous idols like SHINee’s
Min Ho and BTS’s V - that rating was just pure disappointing.
Go Ara’s later works, including the fantasy series ‘Black’, the legal drama ‘Ms.
Hammurabi’, and the historical series ‘Haechi’, also had underwhelming runs, with ratings
ranging mostly around 3-6%.
And worst of it all, even her newest work Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol, only experienced
continuous decline, with ratings never surpassing the 4% mark.
Sadly for Go Ara, her cinema career isn’t going smoothly either, so we can only hope
that her next work can somewhat resurrect her previous fame.
Seo Kang Joon Finally, let’s seal the list with the unfortunate
case of Seo Kang Joon, who first rose to fame as the second male lead of the notorious series
‘Cheese In The Trap’.
Unfortunately, this fame didn’t secure success for Kang Joon’s later works, and his very
next project - the comedy series ‘Entourage’, failed miserably with viewership ratings barely
over 1%.
Then, the actor took on quite the challenge, playing double roles as a human and an identical
robot in ‘Are You Human Too?’.
Sadly, his efforts didn’t come to fruition, because despite the series’ interesting
theme, viewership only averaged at less than 6%.
His later works like ‘The Third Charm’ and ‘Watcher’ even failed harder, with
respective averages of 4 and 5% in viewership.
Still, their performances weren’t quite as bad as Seo Kang Joon’s latest work - When
The Weather Is Fine.
Starring along with the famous actress Park Min Young, and yet this series’s slow theme
just didn’t click with the Korean audience, spotting disappointing ratings that never
surpass a meager 3% mark.
Seo Kang Joon has now enlisted for his military service and will be taking a break for 2 years.
Hopefully, the actor will get better luck when he comes back.
And that’s the list!
Why do you think these actors and actresses keep ending up in failed dramas?
Are you hoping for them to break the curse?
Let us know your opinion in the comments!
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