For Chinese, I think it's more on the tone of the speaker. gege in dramas are more in the endearing tone. But in daily life, I think it's very rare call friends or boyfriend gege. Normally use Ge for brothers and cousins and [first name] ge/gege for friends/seniors who are much older(>2 years?). It kind of closes the gap without being too informal or formal with Senior [first name]. For me, gege/ge is used more in the "bro" kind of situation.
the bad rating really makes me wonder if I should gave low rated dramas more chances, because this was nearly…
You totally should. I always find more joy in watching rather lowly rated dramas. Maybe it's because my expectations weren't high to start with and so the satisfaction after watching is rather high.