JulyMoon

Thank you! ^^
I tried to sort the criteria based on the order I usually follow when I discover a new drama and need to decide if I give it a go or not. It seems we have a similar approach. :)
Last year I sit through some dramas that I should've dropped but didn't for some reason (watch challenge, few good things...). But I got better at dropping too. Dropped a few dramas after only 2 episodes because I did not enjoy it at all and started questioning it from the beginning which is never a good sign. xD

Thank you for reading. I'm very happy to hear you enjoyed it. :) Thanks to Cho Na I have my hands full with article ideas now so look out for them. ;)

Same. Sometimes even one line in a review can encourage me to watch something.

That's totally fine. After all it's one of the, if not the first thing we notice of a drama anyway and honestly some of them are pure candy for the eyes.

That's true. When it comes to Chinese Dramas I take a look at AvenueX' channel for example. Recently she saved me from a few dramas I found potentially interesting. :)

And here I am feeling there might be people not taking me seriously if I rate a drama with 10 and also put it in my review because it does seem like I'm biased. xD I can't help it though, sometimes you come across a gem that leaves you speechless of how good it was. It's good though to look at low rating reviews because if they can reasonably explain what is bad about a drama it's quite helpful.

That's good, I encourage you to dive into something unknown though. You can encounter gems this way. :)

I used to think the same way and I still feel stressed when I see episodes being over an hour long but recently I watched Birthcare Center (episodes length around 1 hour and 8 minutes) and I can speak from experience now, it looks scarier as it is. ^^
On the other hand I've seen episodes that feel draggy as well on other dramas but then it's mostly a problem in scriptwriting and bad pacing in the entire drama.

1. Same. One needs to know what the drama is about after all.
2. Wow that's...dedicated. xD I read a couple at most. That's enough for me to decide though.
3. Amen. I never want to experience the pain of a drama where subbing was stopped and I'm stuck in the middle of it.
4. Don't we all have some sort of blacklist. I certainly do. One for drama tropes I can't stand, one for actors, one for genre/tags. xD
5. That will be part of one of my next articles. Dramas I should've dropped (when I still had the chance too). Sometimes you can just tell from the first episode that a drama will be bad or a couple lacks chemistry.

Thanks for your inspiration again. ;)

Actors develop and sometimes a script is the real killer of a drama not the cast. There are so many reasons why a drama is good or bad.
I trust my favorite actors and actresses but I still look at story and other factors before I decide to watch a drama. When there is a genre or tag I avoid I'm more cautious. That being said, I don't hesitate to drop a drama when it does not entertain me.

It's good to have someone with same/similar taste who can recommend you stuff to watch. Not everyone is blessed like that though. xD I'm the only drama watcher in my entire family and local friends also don't watch them. That's why a community like MDL is very much appreciated. :)

That's true, they can be deceiving. Not everything that looks good from the outside is equally good on the inside.
As for ratings I don't rely on them. Not every hyped drama is my cup of tea or as good as people say it to be. Looking at the production crew is something I only recently discovered for myself. In the future I'll pay more attention to it. ^^

You gave me more than one idea. xD Actually also an idea that came to me after reading your suggestions (which I like and definitely consider doing).
I could as well write an article on a drama I liked, aka "Reasons to watch ___". So now I have like 3 article ideas on hand when I'm still stuck on the one I currently write and lack inspiration for it. *help* Thank you very much. xD

Thank you for linking to the articles, Jeana's Unpopular Article lead me to her other "Jeana Vs Minarii: Drama Opinions" article and that's quite interesting because they picked dramas and shared their opinions on it, one liking it, the other rather disliking the drama.

I'm late to part 4 but I'm happy to be here and read it. ^^ Great as always, Cho Na. I love your series, it's so interesting and there are tons of articles worth revisiting.

I like your idea of writing a defense article for a drama/movie and I would've loved to write one for The King: Eternal Monarch if I wouldn't be one who actually shared her constructive critic for it as well. My rating was a 6.5 so I can't really defend it. xD

Love your article, Kate. <3
I wrote my first reviews here in February 2019 (til today 23 reviews) and my reason for it was to share my personal thoughts on the drama, be it an encouraging review for others to watch the drama because I liked it so much or a more critical approach if I noticed a lot of flaws and I'm not shying away from giving unpopular opinions.
There are still things that keep me from reviewing though.
For example when I read a review which I 100% agree with so I don't write my own "same" version of it since I consider it being done by someone else already or when I simply lack the motivation or inspiration of what to write. I think I'm not only a mood watcher but also a bit of a mood reviewer. xD

This reminds me of my earlier days in Chinese Drama when one guy kept referring to his brother as Didi and I was wondering why he didn't call him by his real name but this strange nickname? Didi is a nickname for a real German male name (Dieter).
Later I found a page in a book about relations of family and their names in Chinese.
Didi is simply meaning "Younger Brother". *facepalm*
So yes, I had my fair share of wondering about the terms. Great article and topic! xD

I agree. While I do not want to make Lee Min Ho sound bad I found the performance of Woo Do Hwan better in the drama.

I'm a bit sad Woo Do Hwan did not win the award. His roles in The King: Eternal Monarch were so lovely and well acted by him. If it wasn't for him, I might not have watched that drama completely. xD I'm really happy for Park Eun Bin winning the best couple award though. ^^
Congrats to all winners.

Congrats to the winners. I'm happy to see Lee Shin Young being one of them. I just discovered him in It's Okay To Be Sensitive 2 and liked him. ^^

Agreed. He was my favorite version of Wu Xie.

That was exactly my thought. After 50 episodes I was ready for another 50. ^^