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Drama viewership ratings for the week of Feb. 1-7, 2016

We’re going to see a lot of pre-emptions coming up due to next week’s Lunar New Year, but this week, only cable drama Neighborhood Hero seems to be affected, having cut both episodes. Struggling weekend drama I Have a Lover, which has suffered through a few pre-emptions and schedule switcharoos already, moved its schedule yet again to accommodate both episodes on Sunday instead.

Otherwise, it’s still a good day to be cable, and to be tvN especially—both Cheese in the Trap and Signal are poised to break new ground for the network that can’t seem to do wrong these days. And with such quality programming, who can blame viewers for switching over?

While Cheese’s success isn’t so surprising, what with its winning romantic pairing and fresh take on the formula, it’s Signal’s steadily rising numbers that are shocking. In the good way, of course. Signal is really amazing television no matter which way you slice it, and while it may not be delivering on the romantic front, it’s a show that doesn’t have to. tvN has given us both ends of the spectrum with its weekly programming, so it’s actually just a good day/week/month to be a drama viewer in general.

 
Drama viewership ratings for the week of Feb. 1-7, 2016

Ep. # Station Rating
Monday, Feb. 1
Moorim School 7 KBS 3.5%
Dazzling Temptation 34 MBC 12.4%
Six Flying Dragons 35 SBS 16.3%
Cheese in the Trap 9 tvN 7.102%
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Moorim School 8 KBS 3.3%
Dazzling Temptation 35 MBC 12.4%
Six Flying Dragons 36 SBS 16.8%
Cheese in the Trap 10 tvN 6.545%
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Master of Trade—Inn 2015 36 KBS 11.2%
One More Happy Ending 5 MBC 6.5%
Remember—Son’s War 15 SBS 16.3%
Thursday, Feb. 4
Master of Trade—Inn 2015 37 KBS 11.4%
One More Happy Ending 6 MBC 6.9%
Remember—Son’s War 16 SBS 17.0%
Friday, Feb. 5
Madam Antoine 5 JTBC 1.058%
Signal 5 tvN 7.789%
Saturday, Feb. 6
Please, Mom 51 KBS 33.2%
Jang Young-shil 11 KBS 11.9%
Mom 45 MBC 20.0%
My Daughter Geum Sa-wol 44 MBC 32.6%
Madam Antoine 6 JTBC 0.657%
Signal 6 tvN 7.077%
Sunday, Feb. 7
Please, Mom 52 KBS 31.1%
Jang Young-shil Pre-empted KBS
Mom 46 MBC 19.1%
My Daughter Geum Sa-wol 45 MBC 30.5%
I Have a Lover 43 SBS 4.3%
I Have a Lover 44 SBS 8.3%

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So I was watching Bad Guys which I like but halted as I'm craving something lighter. And I knew it was a bad idea but I couldn't help it. I started watching Cheese. It's really good so far(ep 1) but Jung is now more suspicious in my eyes lol. I feel like he'll start stabbing Seol if they get alone together hahaha. I, by the way, don't regret it(for now). :D

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I hope you return to Bad Guys at some point. I recently finished it, and would rank it among the top of my all-time favorite K-dramas. And I think think PHJ is fantastic in both this and Cheese. I was watching them at the same time, but found that he portrayed the two dark, mysterious, and confusing characters very differently, making each one unique and compelling.

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I agree. I watched/am watching both at the same time too and I like how you can compare/contrast the two characters PHJ plays. He does a great job.

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tvN's Friday-Saturday slot has always produced its biggest hits after Answer Me 1994 established it, so Signal continuing the good work is no surprise - I'm glad it's doing so well.

The real shocker is Cheese in the Trap hitting those ratings on a weekday slot, cable hasn't seen numbers that high on weekdays since Answer Me 1997 (which used to air two episodes on Tuesdays). And Cheese's ratings are literally more than double Moorim School's, ouch.

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also, wow @the SFD ratings - Yoo Ah-in really is having a fantastic year, two hit movies (one the biggest hit of the year) and a drama with those numbers in an age where even double digit ratings are considered decent.

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Oh, that's interesting. I wonder if a lot are webtoon fans...going the online route. Not everyone having cable and all.

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Answer Me 1988 was clocking 90 percent (no, that is not a typo) online ratings by its end, so yeah, a lot of people do seem to be turning that way these days.

YFAS was more freely available to more people (SBS and all) and I guess it was still early days for online watching figures back in late 2013.

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Also looking on the late hour Cheese comes on at (11pm) and it's really surprising.

Moormin's numbers are just sad really. However I understand that. I watched and the acting by the second lead and the overall story line production value is cringe worthy.

So happy Signal is doing so well. I was scared that with the type of genre that is is, it wouldn't.

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so do we get to watch cheese this week??

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There's no Cheese this week :/

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*cries*

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It's quite unnerving how much my heart started pounding when I read about Cheese being on this week.

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*not being on

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Addicted to Cheese? I blame casomorphins ...

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Hur ?

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I just got really grumpy, ha.

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I miss my Cheese so I re-watched episode 1 again.

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Now that sounds like a plan!

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I've gotten to the point where I've re-watched so many times that I'm saying the lines along with them...

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Ha ha I lost count on how many times I have re-watched, my tumblr blog just full of the pictures from my Screen Shot the show all the way. Jaysus, even with Healer, I re-watched after it was done, so I binged watching it for once or twice after. But CITT, I lost count after 3x re-watched per episode. And the show has not even finished yet.

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Saved Mondays for me but tmr is going to be back to just another manic...and sad...Monday. :(

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Is anyone watching Madam Antoine? I'm tempted to start on it, or should I wait till it ends?

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i'm watching this drama and I love it. I prefer madam Antoine to Cheese for example.
you should watch it and make your own opinion ;)

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Start now. It might not be as compelling as Signal but it has that sweet, fluffy quality that makes it a good weekend watch :)

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Meh.. I tried. Gave up at ep3.

It actually starts off pretty good - heroine is smart and good at reading people. But by end of 2nd episode she is back to the usual k-drama helpless brainless damsel phase.

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It's fine. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but I keep watching. The actors are likable--even wooden SJ (playing way above his age...so weird).

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I'm having a hard time with Madame Antoine. The jerky male lead is Sung Joon at his jerkiest - lying, manipulating, being superior and smirky and so totally unethical ... I haven't hated a "hero" this much since A Gentleman's Dignity. He's got to be one of the worst psychiatrists ever, and this latest episode, where he tells bald-faced lies to the woman he supposedly loves, goes completely stalker without an ounce of self-realization, self-reflection, or remorse, and stands coldly by while a man wails at his feet, sobbing curled in a fetal position in anguish. There is professional distance and clinical detachment and then there is cold-blooded misanthropy, and he is very much the latter. He has so many psychological problems I might wish him on my worst enemy, but certainly not on the fairly decent human being he is currently torturing with his attention.

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I couldn't take it. The pseudo-psychology.

Misinformation is dangerous overall but in psychology, it can cause sooooo much harm. Ruin entire lives. Especially when it comes from an "expert" in the field.

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hahahaha. you fell into his trap...

if you follow his tactics/plans on how to get the lady lead's attention, it is part of the trick to tease and get her mad to a point that she'll miss him...

a turnover is about to begin. just hang in there, and just like the lady lead — you'l be confused as to which of the boys will you choose. hihihihi ; )

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Oh dear, idk if I can last that long.

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Only in Kdramaland would a grown woman choose a man based on how much he made her mad. Only in Kdramaland would a respected psychologist with a degree from "Standford" (LOL) run a series of sketch love tests on unsuspecting women all because mommy left him on the carousel.

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omg... signal seems overpowering interesting.. playing with emotion too much

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Is signal too heart wrenching and emotional? I want to start it after all those good reviews and comments. But is it too painful to watch?

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i wouldn't say so—at least, not yet. it's a crime thriller, of course, and i don't think we've reached the "heart" of the story yet. after the first episode, so far it's a case after case sort of thing, but they all seem to be connected and leading to the real core. once we get there, who knows.

so far though, not particularly heart wrenching or emotional. i personally found the reply 1988 ending more heart wrenching and emotional (in a good but oh so bittersweet way).

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All crime dramas are always like that. The first or the first few cases are always connected to the main case in the last part of the drama.

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watch it. you will not regret it

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Signal is great stuff! Watch it! Love the acting. Strong female and male roles. Intriguing, intelligent storyline. Not your usual time-travel romantic blah.

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I love Signal, hate Cheese in the Trap, real boring teenage drama.

Love Reply 1988.

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It has those cry-hard moments, for example, I was bawling in the middle of episode 6... then the investigation got back on track, I found myself intrigued instead of weepy.

I'd say the show has a balanced diet of drama and suspense. Please try the first two episodes! I was kinda hesitant to follow it at first but the show kept being good after each episode. I want to be a profiler now lol.

Now if only Remember's Jin Woo and Signal's Hae Young meet and work on Oh Jung Ah case together... then we'd be spared all the makjang stuff on Remember.

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Somewhat, yes. People you like actually die. But since this involves time travel (sort of), are they really dead?

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Eh. I think it's verging on slick but soulless territory. If you don't get emotionally involved in tertiary characters whose sole purpose is getting fridged for the case of the week, you should be okay.

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I'm currently watching cheese and signal. Cheese numbers are to be expected with its already existing fan base. Now signal's numbers? It is cause for an extended happy dance. It is a very compelling story, coupled with impressive acting and camera work. I love that cable is being rewarded for experimenting with its content. This means more addictive and compelling dramas to come. Yay for positive reinforcement!

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I don't think Cheese's numbers can be so easily dismissed as just a result of the webtoon fanbase, since it's now doubled the ratings it had at its premiere - if it was just the fanbase, they would have stayed consistent or not too far from what they were at the start.And webtoon popularity can easily blow up in a drama's face - look at Orange Marmalade.

tvN was probably expecting good ratings for Cheese, but I highly doubt they were expecting numbers to rival Misaeng from a drama on a weekday slot (more competitive than weekends).

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There's no way that tvN expected this. The most successful show so far in this slot was "Reply'97" that averaged around 3,x% in ratings.

They might have hoped to set a new record with Cheese, but to double the previous record ...

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exactly, no weekday cable drama since AM1997 - which pretty much everyone acknowledges as a game-changer - has had even comparable ratings to what Cheese is getting now, breaking a record that stood for over three years (1997's finale clocked 6-odd percent on tvN).

tvN might have hoped to break a 5 on Cheese before the end/get 3-4 percent throughout, but I do not think they expected to break the Answer Me record before Cheese was even halfway done. And none of the Cheese cast is even close to as big a deal as Kim Hye-soo in Signal, So yeah, the weight of expectations falls differently, and it wasn't really expected for CitT to do this well.

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Wow, interesting! Thanks for the info Pogo and Jon G!

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Signal is probably the best Korean crime drama in years.

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Agreed.

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Signal is benefiting from the success of Answer Me, but the show itself is great and carrying its own weight. tvN picked a great script for its 10th anniversary special.

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yeah, Signal is good in its own right.

It's reaping some of the benefit of being the Answer Me followup just as Emergency Couple did back in early 2014 after AM1994, but at least this time I don't want to throw things at the screen because people are being stupid.

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Yay Six Flying Dragons made new records :D I hope the story continue being awesome!

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Your nickname cracks me up!

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I get confused by ratings ... Why are (say) signal's ratings talked about when SFD or please, mom have double, triple the ratings ?

... And why are there so few shows ? Does korean tv have only 2 or 3 shows in a day ?

say 4-5 hours of primetime -> shouldn't that mean 4/5 shows per channel per day ? So shouldn't there be like atleast 20 shows/day in ratings ?

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Signal is a drama by tvN, which is a cable channel, while SFD is by SBS, one of the Big 3 of Korea. Big 3 channels' hit dramas at weekday prime time usually sees ratings in the teens, but for cable channels, hitting 1% is usually considered a good rating. Of course, this trend is currently changing with tvN successfully getting much higher ratings comparable to the Big 3, eg its successful Reply Me franchise.

Shows like Please, Mom is a completely different story. Please Mom is a weekend drama, and weekend drama traditionally gets extremely high ratings in the 20s to 30s. Extremely successful ones like Wang's Family and What Happens To My Family even get 40s or 50s. Comparing weekend dramas' ratings to weekday prime time drama is unfair because the demographics are so different.

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CHEESE IN TRAP SLOT IS 11 PM WHERE BIG 3 Drama list R FINISHED ... WHY K-BROADCASTERS AIR 1 DRAMA IN DAY LETS SAY MOORIM AIR AT 10 PM CANT THEY AIR ANOTHER DRAMA BEFORE THAT DESPITE HAVING SEPARATE SPORTS CH THEY AIR MATCHES SOMETIME

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I get confused by ratings … Why are (say) signal’s ratings talked about when SFD or please, mom have double, triple the ratings ?

SFD runs on a public channel, Signal on a subscription cable channel. That's like comparing CBS and HBO ratings.

SFD is doing a very good job on weekday prime time, 16% is nothing to sneeze at, but it's not something extraordinary either.

Signal on the other hand is one of the most successful cable drama shows ever (in terms of ratings).

… And why are there so few shows ? Does korean tv have only 2 or 3 shows in a day ?

No, they have additional shows, daily dramas for example, typically one in the morning and another one in the evening.

However, these shows are not in the scope of Dramabeans, they are usually produced rather cheaply and are typically not considered on the same level as the so-called prime-time shows (typically two episodes per week).

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Thank you all for clarifying my doubts. I had no idea how korean broadcasting actually works and what the numbers mean... It all makes sense now - how ppl are astounded by cheese and signals's numbers

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So proud of park Hae jin's success as a lead!!

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he is amazing!.. so scary one minute and the next minute i am thinking aww! poor puppy....

... i have just seen him before in MLFAS and bad boys .... Is this his first lead role ?

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He's been in some Chinese dramas too. At least in one he was the lead.

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PHJ was the lead male in Famous Pricess, By Land and The Sky, Hot Blood before and also in 2-3 Chinese dramas.

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Ah! thanks ... i'll check out his other dramas then ... but it does seem like he came into his 'popularity' in the past 2 years

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Damn, Cheese in the Trap is really doing good (but not without any reason though). This drama is so good I cannot seem to get enough of it. I cannot wait for the next two episodes <///3 K-Drama gods, do we really have to wait a whole week for the next ones??? :((( Anyways, I would probably watch Signal what with all the amazing reviews about it (plus the high ratings is proof). Madam Antoine is still on my list of to-watch just because Sung Joon is in it <3 HAHA

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remember keep slaying their asses, yoo seung ho fighting..

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You guys should really watch Signal is so gripping and the drama has a great story. Honestly STOP RIGHT NOW AND WATCH!!

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I suggest watching Signal on a big screen and having all the lights turned off because it becomes a movie-like experience with all of its fast paced twists and thrills.

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Interesting, that an episode with lack of Yoo Jung and plenty of In Ho got decreased ratings.

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Only at TNmS. AGB had it the other way round.

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No, it was AGB ratings that went down for ep 10 of CITT, the AGB number are what Headsno2 has listed here.

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TNmS went up (7.6%) and AGB went down (6.6%). I account the uptick on the audience's expectations of a bed scene from the previews. Thanks for trolling us, show! No bed scene...not even a blanket!

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oops, typo...AGB 6.5%. anyway TNmS was a little bit higher.

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Are we really going to do this...korean audience are in love like love to hate want as a friend not as enemy with the character of Jung (I mean Inho off course has his fans) and are here for Jung/Seol.

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I think SBS just wants I Have A Lover to finish its run, so that they can air the following drama and be hopefully be #1 again in the weekend slot. But the ratings doesn't reflect the quality of this drama at all! Stellar acting from Kim Hyun Joo & Ji Jin Hee!

I have glad that this drama at least has a great response from the international fans :)

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SBS weekend dramas have been getting low ratings since 2012 though. Their weekend dramas never do well, I Have A Lover is actually their highest rated weekend drama in many years.

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Wow...interesting fact. Thanks!

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so is the Signal cast going to be getting a trip too just like the Cheese cast is since both shows seem to be bringing in pretty much the same numbers?

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Am watching Signal, and, once again! am so impressed with tvN - the production values are (or seem) so high. Anyone care to fill me in how they manage this? Seriously, I had somehow assumed that they were working with smaller budgets but it sure doesn't look like it these days...

Really an excellent drama all the way around!!! (yes 3 exclamations!)

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Yay for Cheese! The drama deserves those ratings, now that's how you adapt a webtoon *side-eyes Orange Marmalade* and I just finished the first episode of Signal and it was bloody amazing, I know now why are people claiming they're watching a movie. Glad that tvN is on the roll today and with their upcoming dramas (Pied Piper and Chief Oh's Memory), I guess they'll be on a high note for a couple of months more.

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CITT yay for the awesome ratings~

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I'm always sitting on the edge of my seat while watching Signal. I enjoy each episode a LOT and I don't even mind the lack of romance. Unlike AM88 though, I don't follow forum threads or read recaps. I guess the difference is that it's a show I'm happy to just watch and enjoy by myself.

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I'm watching Signal and I like it. I wasn't interested in Cheese--so I read the recaps. (Sometimes, like Fool's love, I get into a show I initially think I'd watch by reading recaps) but so far, Cheese hasn't grabbed me.

No offense to all you Cheese lovers.

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Hmm...I do that for some shows too but w/ CITT, you really should try seeing Jung (and Seol) in action. It may change your mind.

I saw bits and pieces of the webtoon and wasnt into the hype for the show, so I came late for the party.

PHJ does a really good job. I was watching going "he's going to kill her(exaggerating)...no, he's misunderstood...no, wait...what?" And KGE is too: so awkward one minute and so lovely the next and you swear she's paranoid and then you swear she's insightful...

Anyway, it's a fun ride especially if you like mysteries and figuring stuff out, IMO.

Having said that, I kind of wish I had saved it all up for after it was finished...especially this week :/.

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Yay! After watching ep. 5-6 of Signal I was totally excited to see their ratings. I'm glad it's doing well! I echo comment 18, they totally ought to get a trip too. :)

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Everyone here loves Signal. Not one bad comment in sight. I saw the first episode and it was just ok ... Not sure if i should continue

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Continue if you have time it gets really good after episode 1, I sometimes even watch the episodes more than once, it really is an addicting show.

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and so i need to know, how many eps will remember have? 20 or 24? its confusing XD

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