It makes my heart ache a little that its ratings are so bad.

Come to thinking of it, I don’t understand this common phenomenon either.

They don't necessarily watch the penultimate episode live but might want to know the end right away.

But it's more about on Saturday there are more dramas to watch with Revenant and Numbers than on the Sunday.

Not sure about SK, but TRP ratings use statistical sampling so it’s possible that the Sunday sample size is different from Sat there by showing different ratings.

Maybe it’s the same as flipping to the end of a book first before you decide to read it (in this case the watch it)? No surprising ending?
Of course I never heard of phenomena applied to television, I definitely don’t do this myself. Tho it would really make sense for the ANSWER ME series. Jealous of people who didn’t live watch it, and thus had no traumatic experience regarding which guy she’d end up with

I was surprised by the Tiger Balm PPL. Back in 1980’s my grandmother visited Singapore and she got all the relatives Tiger balm (a lot). My mom had frequent headaches so she would use this a lot. I grew up being used to that smell. I had no idea it was still a thing and that it need’s advertising 😱
Anyway, that PPL sent me on a nostalgic trip.

@linarrick: This is a gem of a comment!
I loved the silk dyeing scenes in SYIMNL even if they were the harbingers of tragedy.

I vote for too much departure from the source. The more popular a web comic is the more damage is done from changing the story.

Another reason is because Shin Hye-sun and Ahn Bo-hyun have no romantic chemistry. I never quite bought the romance.

KTL is an example of too much of a good thing. I can only speak for myself, and when I claim I want fluff, what I really mean is I want a depressed FL with money problems living with her vampire boyfriend in a gothic styled haunted mansion 😉

What makes a drama dated is an interesting question, without an easy answer. Maybe it is easier to say that good characters and a solid story is the difference between a good drama and a great one. People don't change. What was relevant 20 years or more ago is still relevant now in terms of people.

This is where KTL falls short for me. I like a silly, fluffy romance as much as anybody else, but I still need interesting characters and a good story story. Throw in witty humour and I am happy.

KTL has replaced wit with PPL (there are dramas that can combine the two!) and warmed up old tropes (dated tropes?), although I wouldn't be surprised if many of these tropes were already unpopular 20 years ago.

What I cannot understand is the recommendation to watch the drama with the brain turned off - then it is nice. I watch dramas to entertain and tickle my brain, not to switch it off - I do that when I sleep.

Well, the Sunday episode of King the Land has the highest ratings on the board except for the weekender. I think these ratings do show, as you say, that pretty people making out has a big appeal, as do some of those "old and tired" rom-com tropes.

For me, despite King the Land's very uneven, in fact sometimes disappearing writing, there are once and while scenes that are surprisingly good, as @vienibenmio says.

Regardless of my response to the show though, I think generalizations about the fading appeal of romance based on these ratings don't hold much value.

PLAYFUL KISS was miles better as manga/anime tbh. FL there actually had personality and her initial reasons to fall for ML were not as superficial as at least k-adaptation made it look. Now for why did she still stick to him after all he's done... Those were different times, girls just loved cold jerks more back then, I suppose))) It's also a genre-breaker story of sorts - teen/youth romcom that DIDN'T end with leads getting together/married, plot just kept going way after that point which was fresh and sensational at the time.

Maybe Heartbeat's ratings will increase since it won't be competing with Delightfully Deceiful anymore.

What's popular among Beanies very rarely aligns with what's popular among the Korean public, lol.

I think of Duran Duran

Sidenote: everytime I see Durian's Affair, I just think of durian, the fruit, haha.

OMG! Same! 😂

The fact that the heroine's name is also a fruit is an intentional joke, and yes, everyone in the drama thinks of the fruit as well - in fact, they are eating it when she introduces herself. It's part of the reason they think she - and her daughter-in-law whose name sounds like soju - are asylum escapees. Durian's Affair is probably my favorite show right now, just because it is taking all those old tropes we are complaining about and twisting them into pretzels.

🍾🥳Congrats on the transfer from loaning money to being on the brink of making it big time as an Entertainer in training. I think I either missed the announcement or have forgotten about the celebrations in the recent round of beanies levelling up so I am covering all bases better to congratulate twice than not at all.

"While I remain unhappy at the one-year time skip in THE REAL HAS COME it does look like it worked because ratings have risen." -- Same. I think it is doing somewhat better because there is SOMETHING happening, whether it makes a lot of sense at all

Am not watching KTL so can't comment but this article showed up on my feed. https://www.allkpop.com/article/2023/07/viewership-rating-for-king-the-land-drops-as-audiences-say-the-storyline-is-too-out-of-date