Weekend drama Delicious Life gets the axe
by javabeans
Ow, another drama gets a cut, and a pretty big one at that. SBS’s weekend series Delicious Life, originally slated for 50 episodes, is being chopped down by 10 hours and will now end on Episode 40, which rolls around in a couple more weeks.
The plot of Delicious Life in a nutshell: The drama tells the story of a father with four daughters, all with no interest in marrying, who quits his job as a cop to work at a restaurant and reconnects with an old friend (flame?), which sends the family’s lives on a roller coaster of ups and downs. It stars Yoon Jung-hee, Ryu Hyung-kyung, Ye Ji-won, and Im Chae-mu.
I can’t speak to the show itself since I’m not watching it, but that’s got to be a painful cut for a prime-time drama on a broadcast station. We’ve heard of shows getting cut before, but usually by smaller increments. (Tamra the Island and Strike Love, for instance, went from 20 to 16. Bad Guy went from 20 to 17. Me Too Flower and You’ve Fallen For Me lost one apiece.) Those that have been significantly chopped have mostly been on the newly launched general-programming cable channels, which had their own hurdles to contend with.
There have been rumblings for a short while of Delicious Life getting cut, originally floating the number of losing five episodes. The show hasn’t been doing well in the ratings, which is the reason cited for the move; it premiered in April with a 9.2%, and has been getting creamed by KBS’s hit drama You’re A Stroke of Good Luck (aka You Who Rolled In Unexpectedly). It never picked up steam since and its current ratings remain in single digits, hovering around the 8% mark.
That may not be a terrible number for some shows — it’s low, but we’ve seen much lower — but as a weekend series the expectations tend to be a notch higher. Ratings are higher across the board for Saturday-Sunday dramas as a general rule, so a single-digit weekend drama is pretty much tanking.
Originally Delicious Life was set to end on November 3, but now it’ll be lowering the curtain on September 29 or 30. (The broadcast station appears to still be debating whether to end on a Saturday with Episode 40, or take it to Sunday and end on 41.) Sigh. Well, we never said dramaland wasn’t vicious.
This pulls up the next drama, My Love, Madame Butterfly, to October 6, which stars Yeom Jung-ah as a former top star who moves in with the in-laws.
Via Star News
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Tags: drama ratings
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1 Ivoire
September 4, 2012 at 3:17 PM
Thank you for the news!
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Ivoire
September 4, 2012 at 3:27 PM
Just by the title of the article, I want to say so sad... Ok, I just read the piece and yes, it is sad. All the people who were associated with the drama, and who as a result, were working. Numbers seem to be important in Kdramaland, so off to the chopping block, unfortunately. I recognize the dad, I have seen him in a few dramas, I just can't remember the names (of said dramas) at the moment.
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2 HK
September 4, 2012 at 3:29 PM
I'm not too surprised. I checked out the show because I like one of the actresses (Ye Ji Won, who's not playing one of the daughters). The show was fairly cute in the beginning -- family and restaurant workplace interactions. Then it took a weird turn into makjang territory with the eldest daughter, who I thought was the most boring character in the drama. Ugh, classic bait and switch. And even the cute storylines (such as with the 2nd daughter) started getting all serious and dramatic and boring. What a waste.
I suppose the show was trying to distinguish itself from its competition, You Who Rolled in Unexpectedly, which is more of the cute family drama. But I don't see how getting more melodramatic about a character who was boring and unlikeable in the first place gets you very far.
It's too bad. This could have been a cute show, albeit not popular at the level of its competition.
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Irene
September 4, 2012 at 5:27 PM
totally agree .. I am actually appreciated for the cut! I watched the first couple episodes, then stopped watching because of the unbearable affair between the eldest daughter..Then, till she got married, now I felt like it is suck again because of the unbearable sister-in-law...The same storyline repeat every week for almost 3 weeks, I totally don't think they have any problem to cut 10 eps... it will only help them to wrap up the drama faster!
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3 dulcedeleche
September 4, 2012 at 3:54 PM
Omo! Dan ah from Family's Honor! The one with PSH!
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Lovebug
September 5, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Thats exactly what i was about to write. Didn't know she was still acting! I loved her in Family's Honor!
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4 Em
September 4, 2012 at 4:59 PM
I will never understand how Yoon Jung Hee keeps getting work. She couldn't emote if her life depended on it and I was shocked when I found out she was born in 1980... I thought she was at least 10 years older!
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Chanel
September 5, 2012 at 5:10 AM
wow...I agree w/everything you've said^^
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5 Lisa
September 4, 2012 at 5:09 PM
:( the only drama im watching right now. sadddd.
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6 Elise
September 4, 2012 at 7:27 PM
Ok the story is a bit too makjang for us regular folks-brothers in law fighting over one woman then add estranged wife into the mix, a dude dating one (step) sister whose father he killed (or sth like that), then another sister dating the son of their father's worst enemy...i mean seen it all b4 actually am not quite sure why & how am still following it but yeahs no surprises there, they had it coming...
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ar_arguably romantic
September 4, 2012 at 8:17 PM
wow! the poster of the bus doesn't seem to indicate makjang at all. Unless the bus is undergoing a dramatic situation like that in the Sandra Bullock movie, Speed...
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7 saranga
September 4, 2012 at 7:56 PM
i'm not watching this, but i am avidly following unexpected you (best. quality. weekend. family. drama. ever.), which ends this week i believe... maybe they wanted to give butterfly a fighting chance, with kim nam-joo out of the scene? i really disliked yeom jung-ah in royal family- her character rubbed me the wrong way- but i'm a sucker for a true quality family drama, so i'll be tuning into butterfly..
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8 dinamite
September 4, 2012 at 8:24 PM
You Who Rolled In Unexpectedly start on 19:55 - 21:05, Delicious life start on 20:45- 21:55 so basically they only overlapping 20 minutes, they can gain better rating than that but it may because of KBS1 9 News that was the highest rating news program made the rating even more suffer although the news finished 21:38 around 20minutes early then delicious life
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9 DB5K
September 4, 2012 at 10:15 PM
What will SBS air on Sunday if they end the series on Saturday? They should just end the series on an odd number >:3
And as Dinamite mentioned, Unexpected You airs like 45 minutes earlier, so Delicious Life's direct competitor is actually God of War, which is getting ratings in the low 10s.
Also, I think prime-time in Korea is 10-11pm? That's the time Faith, Gaksital, Arang, Haeundae Lovers, Golden Time, or basically every single big three drama airs, which would mean May Queen and Five Fingers are the weekend prime-time dramas, not DL or UY... And I kind of thought weekend time slots weren't considered as good as Mon-Tues or Wed-Thurs time slots...?
Either way, I'm kind of confused by this cut. I think the drama that aired before Delicious Life only had marginally better ratings. Meh, I could care less. All I need is May Queen + weekend variety shows ^^~~
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10 dany
September 4, 2012 at 10:59 PM
From the weekend dramas I am only watching Panda and Hedgehog- it's simple but nice. Has anyone else tried watching it?
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11 lovepark
September 4, 2012 at 11:48 PM
It's sad to see dramas cut since it hurts the people who work on it, on screen and off. I'll just hope the actors and staff on Delicious Life work on better projects next time.
The good thing personally, though, is that My Love, Madame Butterfly premieres earlier which means I get to see Park Yong-woo sooner which makes me giddy with anticipation. I hope they do better than their predecessor.
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12 NoRae
September 5, 2012 at 4:18 AM
Coinsidently, a couple of days ago I was looking for a family drama to watch and came across this one, and sadly I couldn't complete the first episde as I found it horrible.
The directing was all over the place and the plot wasn't really interresting.
Anyways, sad that it got the axe =_=
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13 Barbara Starks
September 5, 2012 at 5:42 AM
I like the drama I enjoyed the complicated story lines acting was good and the concept was slightly different, but there was no development or resolution as the drama progress. Which at times was confusing and a little annoying but nevertheless a good drama. I do think it's a good idea to end at 40 episodes it time to start rapping things up.
The story line I enjoyed the most was the sister-in-law, I love how she didn't let the oldest daughter girl off the hook. I felt she should have never married the wife's brother especially since you were having an affair with his brother-in-law. I enjoyed ever scene where the sister-in-law let her know how thick skinned she was. I read one comment about the sister-in-law was over bearing. I beg to differ, how would you feel if the girl you husband was sleeping with a few weeks ago is now you sister-in-law living with you and your husband, over bearing is not a strong enough word for what I would do in that situation. I think I would have some understanding and respect if she would have insisted on living on their own or love the brother before they got married instead of falling for him during the marriage
As for the comment about knowing the father/// LOL I think he played a father in hundred dramas you could have throw out any title and he probably was the "DAD" but I think you are referring to "OK, Daddy Girl"
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HK
September 5, 2012 at 8:58 AM
To me, the sister-in-law storyline made the least sense. I'm pretty sure that if the wife has an affair fairly early on in the marriage, moves to the United States with the new man, and then doesn't return to Korea for years, the husband should be able to find a new woman. And even after the wife returned to Korea, the husband kept saying he wanted a divorce, that he pretty much considered their marriage over for years because she didn't contact him while living on a different continent.
Granted, it wasn't the smartest thing for the "other woman" to end up marrying the wife's younger brother and move into the house. But I think the sister-in-law lost whatever grounds she might have had to feel aggrieved at the situation when she left her husband and lived in the U.S. for years with another man.
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14 cherkell
September 5, 2012 at 6:50 AM
It's always sad to see a show get cut, no matter what the reasoning behind it turns out to be. For the past few weeks, I watched the last 30 or so minutes getting ready for "Five Fingers" afterwards, and what struck me as odd was the disjointed writing which followed no real straight path. And some of the actors playing screaming harpies always turns me off, but who am I to judge on those few viewings, ne?
And Im Chae-mu's greatest Claim to Fame for me will always be as Bong-yi's dad in "Smile Donghae." He's played some rat bastards in his days, but that was the first time I'd seen him in a such a tender and humble role, and I was impressed. I don't think he's going to lack for work at all after "DL" wraps.
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15 jomo143
September 5, 2012 at 1:06 PM
You can tell I have a teenage son.
I see AXE and I think deordorant/body spray first.
(It is Lynx in Europe and the UK.)
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16 Colors
September 5, 2012 at 3:12 PM
"who quits his job as a cop to work at a restaurant and reconnects with an old friend (flame?)" I've been watching this drama (too bad in a way), so I can tell you he reunites with an old foe!
It's like the whole drama made no sense as the plot unfolded.
The wife goes berseck when she returns to Korea, the eldest daughter is supposed to have an affair (but are they even sleeping together?) and the wife thinks it's alright to wish ill for a pregnant woman because she herself is barren.
And the brother who pratically forced the eldest daugther to marry him (let's not forget that) gets all jealous when his sister goes all "you're not a good father 'cause you didn't happen to be on the street when your wife almost had a miscarriage, but your bother-in-law passed by, which proves that the baby's not yours"... His wife begged him not to live in the family's (her in-laws) house but just the two of them, he said it was ok despite the whole affair thing, and then he gets all "let's move to the US!"... No sense whatsoever. The jealousy feels even worse than usual in this type of plot.
And I won't even get started on the Dad who's all about protecting his daugthers, even if it means marrying the wisest (? most wise?) by force to someone who knew she was having an affair.
The second daugther's plotline got all weird too... and we see where the third one's going but it takes ages for them to get there, the whole "I killed your dad but I love you and you love me but well who knows what will happen!" And so on and so forth.
And I hate the evil guy who thinks it's ok to steal his foe's ("old") neighbour's restaurant because he hates his foe. Yeah, yeah, ruin her life like that's her fault you hate the guy and then expects your children to respect you...
I don't think it's the shame that they're cutting the drama, the scripts really make less and less sense and don't even leave you wanting to know what happens next.
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