"Gu Family Book" remained the clear winner in the ratings war this week, reaching its highest ever ratings at 16.4 percent. The drama about a half-human half-mythical creature that longs to be human continues to hold viewers' interest. Reasons for the continued popularity include the draw of stars Suzy Bae and Lee Seung Gi and a storyline with plenty of action and plots twists. The drama has remained in first place since it began. The chief competition was the KBS series "God of the Workplace," which ended last week. That drama remained consistently in second place. Its final episode achieved 14.2 percent of the viewer ratings.
Last week's ratings for "Gu Family Book" were 15.9 percent.
"Gu Family Book" also topped seven online music charts this week as actor Lee Seung Gi released his contribution to the soundtrack, "Last Word," a ballad he co-wrote, helped compose and co-produced.
This show's new competition, the revenge drama, "Shark" starring Son Ye Jin and Kim Nam Gil, opened with decent ratings of 8.2 percent. However, "Shark" just began and it is in a highly competitive time slot, so the numbers are expected to rise. In this drama, Kim Nam Gil plays a man who plots revenge against the family of the woman he has always loved. He is prepared to use her to reach his goal of finding his father's murderer but finds he still loves her. Both Son Ye Jin and Kim Nam Gil have fans that have waited patiently for their return to the small screen.
"Jang Ok Jung," which only previously had ratings of eight and nine percent, managed to jump ahead to ratings of 11.1 percent. Those ratings moved the historical drama out of third place for the first time since it began. This week, Kara's Han Seung Yeon returned to the series as Maid Choi, the woman who gets the king to fall in love with her and bears him a son that will become the future king. That means Jang Ok Jung, played by Kim Tae Hee, has even more competition for the king's attentions. Maid Choi will side with Queen Inhyun against Jang Ok Jung, and help seal her destiny.
According to the Nielsen Media ratings, the KBS variety show, "Hello," scored 9.8 percent of the viewers and the SBS show, "Healing Camp" earned 7.1 percent.
