Congratulations @oldlawyer

Six Flying Dragons and My Father is Strange are the only weekend dramas I didn’t fast forward.

SFD is a drama that really need 50 episodes to tell its whole story. Its politics, philosophy, action and romance were brilliantly written and well executed by the director and actors. You rarely find a saeguk drama that is unboring to watch because usually saeguk conflicts are the same which between the king and people who oppose him. This too have that plot but the king wasn’t the center of the story but instead the heroes of the kingdom who fought in war and palace court and ordinary people who wanted a reformation (or revolution) because they are victim of the system or simply because they wanted and deserved power and acknowledgement. They successfully present the politics issues as an interesting mind and psychological game between characters and you can’t help drawn into it. Also, they mix it with good swordsmanship which made it very entertaining and thrilling to watch. Still the best saeguk on my list till this day.

My Father is Strange has all weekend drama tropes (birth secret, rivalry between families and “forbidden” love between the leads) but it was beautifully packaged and directed. Of course the acting took a big part on making it very enjoyable to watch, but I like how everyrhing somehow despite the tropes wasn’t tedious or over the top. They have decent amount of idiocy in the story and characters unlike most weekend dramas. The siblings were entertaining to watch and when they weren’t together on the screen each sibling shine in their respective story. The interactions between family members was slice of life its relatable. Haven’t found any weekend family drama that even close to beat this one.

It's Beautiful Now is the only weekender I've watched. It had some really good and enjoyable moments but towards the end became such a chore to finish. I've since vowed to never watch another weekender again, it's just too many episodes.

I really enjoyed reading this! I'm still not sure that weekenders are for me, but I love your argument for them, and it makes me think differently about them than I did before.

I love this piece, thanks @oldawyer.

I just finished Beautiful Gong-shim, and though it isn't a weekender, its overall vibe and 20 episodes made me feel like it was one. I completely understand when you said there are time and space in weekenders. I agree that there are. And I think this is where the comfort comes from- comfort comes from being able to take a deep breath knowing that you won't miss much (the same way real life is). And because there are a lot of stories happening at the same time, it's almost guaranteed that some will strike a chord or two with you.

Because I really liked Beautiful Gong-shim, which I said earlier that it had a weekender vibe, and reading this post on your fan wall some days ago I gave a serious thought about beginning another weekender.

South Korean network viewers like their weekenders for a simple reason: predictability. There is a standard trope filled blueprint that most follow (including re-using many sets). It is part of Korea's couple culture: people are obsessed about "couples:" they like to talk about them, dissect them, judge them and predict how the relationship will go. Because of this, there are low expectations for a weekender which leads to a consistent 20 percent rating each week. Even when there is the classic unbelievable cross pollination between two families children, no one seems to be bothered. It is also one of those series that if you miss an episode you can easily pick up on what is happening in the next.

The big difference maker is the director and the cast performance. As mentioned above, the good ones like Father is Strange, Once Again or The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop elevated the genre. As I have said before, Dr. Cha had so many story lines I consider it a condensed weekender.

@old lawyer I am so glad that you put this together. I was very lucky to find a few of the decent weekenders by chance but I also got trapped in some that were not so good. If only I had known some of these tips then it would have saved me a LOT of stressful hate watching.

Because I am a binge watcher in my early days I couldn’t understand how some dramas were so much longer than others or why they had so many incidents of glasses of water being thrown, girl fights/shouting matches in public places like the reception of someone’s work place. The fat money envelops being passed on as a strategy also seemed odd to me, as the no brainer move would be to take the money and show it to the partner so they could call out their mum the fact no one did this was such a wasted opportunity.

I think everyone should experience an epic weekender and then decide from a place of informed decision making whether to walk away forever or watch the next big one.

The only weekender I managed to go through was WHAT HAPPENS TO MY FAMILY. I liked it quite a lot despite some necessarily FF usage, occasional makjang sprinkle (seriously, what was that with second son's ex and his-or-not son plotline? it came out of nowhere, wrecked havoc for a few episodes and then got dropped with lamest resolution ever), waste of space characters and story arcs, OOC moments, obvious writing fatigue later on due to extension etc. It felt good, it was - mostly - acted good and it certainly left me with a nice aftertaste, unlike many other shows. It's even perfectly rewatchable, which is no small feat for any kdrama, let alone one longer than 50 episodes. I've tried few other shows of this format, but couldn't make it past Ep1-2 with usually and thus gave up. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I watched SO MANY lengthy soap operas as a kid... Is it just me or they were really much more addictive in 80-90s? Current ones, no matter what country they're made in, just don't hold the candle to that level of tropey unapologetic crack)))

I love a good weekender but I think for me they’re best watched when there are several episodes stacked up that I can just rip through and watch the bits I want. I generally watch the first few episodes in full to get some context and then the FF button is my friend 😄

Ha, very insightful, thank you!
The Real has Come is the first weekender that got me invested in a long time. I was hooked from the beginning; I love the characters and their development. Liking the cast is a must too. It's almost 20 episodes in and it doesn't feel repetitive or draggy. (knock on wood!). Also drama endings can be very emotionally taxing and the withdrawal is oftentimes dreadful. So imagine having a drama go on for months longer. Unfortunately this is not how it works, getting to a closer is part of the journey. And having it be a happy ending is even more satisfying. And that's also the benefit of long dramas, the happy endings are (miraculously) really good. That must be how it feels to finish a marathon.

But the main issue about long dramas is indeed the length, it's really hard to keep up with the number of episodes! I was in a bit of a slump the past couple or so weeks and I'm already 5 episodes behind. And binge watching drama-dramas is mentally draining. I'm not even sure I got to the finish of Empress Ki and I liked a lot of its elements. Granted, this problem could be easily avoided with simple time management, but try to convince this ADD brain.

P.s Smile, You is the best! It's the only Weekender I've rewatched over time. That also applies to Jewel in the Palace, but that one aired on TV pre fast internet. Yes I'm old.

I have only watched 2 weekenders - Five Children and Once Again. Inevitably, I get bored at some point and then do a lot of fast forwarding to get though the rest of the episodes.

Weekenders require commitment!

I watched some of them but usually I liked the 10 first episodes and the middle look like fillers then the story becomes more interesting in the last 10 episodes.

My issue with them often is people can do very awful things but because the main theme often is family, at the end everything is forgiven.

Father Is Strange and Smile, You are two of my favorites, regardless of length. I also enjoyed Five Enough, turned me into a fan of Sung Hoon and Shin Hye-sun.

My intro to 50-ish episode shows was Hundred Year Legacy, which was also my intro to kdrama concepts like terrible mother-in-laws, amnesia, and traumatic loss of taste, and I must have enjoyed it yet stopped at episode 48 because I couldn't take anymore. That's generally my problem with long shows, my attention will drift and sometimes I can't even remember where I was, but on the other hand, I did spend more time on it than a regular 16-episode show.

Yay, more love for family dramas!
They're gold and they deserve the love.
Thank you, oldlawyer.

I haven't dipped my toes into Kdrama weekenders yet, but I keep adding them to my Mydramalist watchlist just the same, lol.

For me, it's a matter of length. I'm just put off by dramas that are that long, whether they deserve it or not. That's probably because I'm used to how the 16 ep format works, and I'm afraid of watching something longer knowing how easily shorter dramas can fall apart. I'm just a little gun shy, lol.