The drama "Basketball," about the only basketball team to play in the Olympics for a unified North and South Korea, will be shorter than originally planned. With ratings hovering around two percent, the drama failed to capture the cable network's young demographic. The drama's time period combined with the subject matter did not grab the audience. And the competition was strong. "Empress Ki," the historical drama about a Korean concubine who became a Yuan Dynasty empress, is doing very well.

But the producers of "Basketball" say they are not being penalized for the lack of ratings. They are simply making an editorial decision to end the first season at the best possible point.

The 24-episode drama will be cut to 18, with the final episode to be shown on Dec. 17.

According to the producers, the drama was originally planned as having 18 episodes before Korean Independence and six episodes after. All that will happen now is that the six episodes after independence will be cut. Having the six episodes expand into a second season is always a possibility.

"We decided that there was too much story after independence to be squeezed into six episodes, so for the sake of completeness, we decided to end the drama at 18 episodes," said a representative from the production company. "We are waiting to see the response to decide on a second season."

The drama is set in 1948 when the unified basketball team captured the dreams and hopes of a nation.

The drama stars Do Ji Han, who appeared in "Incarnation of Money" and the film "The Tower," as Kang San, the poor young hero with hoop dreams. Other members of the cast are Gong Hyung Jin, who appeared in "All About My Romance," Lee Han Wi, who appeared in "Level 7 Civil Servant" and Jo Hee Bong of "Good Doctor." Actress Lee Elijah plays Choi Shin Young, the rich magazine reporter that Kang falls for. Kang does not just dream about basketball success. He is also optimistic about his chances at love. Jung Dong Hyun, also a drama rookie, plays Min Chi Ho, Kang's popular fellow basketball player and Wonder Girls' Park Ye Eun, plays an optimistic maid who works for Shin Young's family.

The production company is currently re-shooting the final episodes. "Basketball" will be followed by a new comedy "I Need Romance."

The Monday-Tuesday drama is director Kwak Jung Hwan's first project in two years.