Love can make all the difference-especially when it comes to kdrama ratings. Viewers who are frustrated by a story line can have a change of heart when two characters come close to confessing their feelings for each other.
That's what happened with the KBS weekend drama "You're The Best Lee Soon Shin."
Until this week's fortieth episode, the drama's ratings had shifted between 28 and almost 30 percent. But then Episode 40 proved to be the charm, bumping the show's Nielsen ratings up to 30.1 percent.
It took 40 episodes for Soon Shin, played by IU, and Shin Joon Ho, played by Jo Jung Suk to confess their feelings for each other. And it also took 40 episodes for the characters to kiss. It was a kiss that many viewers were beginning to doubt would happen by the end of the drama's 50-episode run.
Some viewers also doubted that the show would ever break past the 30 percent rating mark, as previous weekend dramas, "Unexpected You" and "My Daughter Seo Young" had done. But the drama about the youngest and least successful girl in a highly successful family finally reached that goal. And so did the heroine. Soon Shin finally realized that her affections for the man of her dreams were not a delusion and she also began to be recognized for her acting talent.
The competition, MBC's "Scandal," reached ratings of 15.5 percent on Sunday night, while the SBS show "Goddess of Marriage," reached 9.1 percent.
In "Scandal," a young detective Ha Eun Joong, played by Kim Jae Won, meets a woman named Woo A Mi, played by Jo Yoon Hee, and becomes involved in a scandal. As a result, he learns he was kidnapped as a child. The man he thinks is his father is really his kidnapper.
"Goddess of Marriage" tells the story of four women who are in different stages of marriage and thereby have different views about it. The drama stars Nam Sang Mi, Lee Sang Woo, Kim Ji Hoon and Lee Tae Ran as the four women.
The weekend variety show ratings included 19.8 percent for MBC's "Dad! Where Are We Going?" and 16.6 percent for MBC's "Real Man." The SBS show "Running Man" earned 13.2 percent, while KBS' "1 Night, 2 Days" rated 10.2 percent and the SBS show "Barefooted Friends" only earned 6.0 percent.
