emeraldarrows

I think we can all agree that the golden era was during 2016-2017 and that era is unfortunately over.

wait people DROPPED marry my husband omg that's probably one of the best dramas ive watched in the past 2 years

I miss the 2016-18 era of kdramas. That's when I entered here. It used to be like what not to watch therw were so many good dramas out there. But for a long time now. I'm like what to watch there is nothing worth watching. Actors don't have chemistry. Lead couples are mismatched. Stories don't have anything interesting or new

this my personal experience but i love romcom and fluffly comedic kdramas and its been hard finding new shows within the last year or so that are in that category (although the past month or so has done pretty well with "dreaming of a freaking fairytale" and "miss night and day"). I personally have noticed more darker kdramas, more drama kdramas and not a lot of silly lighthearted ones. Some of them are great but you can only watch so many serious kdramas in a row before you get tired and new something different, even the plot lines are similar. I feel there hasnt been an even balance between romcom ish kdramas and drama dramas.

totally agree! And Na In Woo is boy next door cute and so personable! Sad that people dropped the drama just because the ML is conventionally good looking :(

KDRAMA SCARICTY: BARELY ANY NEW SHOWS TO CHOOSE FROM. In 2022, there were almost 300 kdramas released for the year. This year only about 70 kdramas have been released so far which is on track to be 140 kdramas released in 2024. THAT'S LESS THAN HALF THE AMOUNT OF NEW KDRAMAS!!! (You can see these stats using MDL's search tools.)

No wonder viewers can't find shows to watch anymore. Many Korean networks are no longer airing weekday shows because the ratings were so bad. There's shrinkflation by making less episodes and shorter episodes so viewers finish them sooner. I read an article that in 2023 there were almost a 100 kdramas produced that couldn't find a network or streaming platform to release the shows yet so there's less production overall in 2024 because of the backlog. With fewer shows, it gives viewers fewer chances to find something they might enjoy.

I really miss those older kind of kdramas what had certain charm because they were more authentic
Boys over flowers, Sweet 18, Secret Garden, Playful Kiss, Shining Inheritance, Coffee Prince, Full House, etc.
Now it's so overproduced that it hits you differently.

Kdramas lost their charm for me like 4-5 years ago. Since then I've only adored a handful of drama. I wish they made more original stories but sadly they'd rather depend on star quality than good filmmaking. I've been waiting for the sequel to the Guest for so long now. Horror is one genre that needs serious exploration in Kdrama world.

Reality in my case. After seeing how much handsomer and more masculine cdrama actors are, it was bye-bye kdramas for me. I watch dramas for entertainment, not to be a member of an acting awards committee. As long as an actor portrays a role reasonably well, I'm happy as long as he/she is easy on the eyes. I sometimes get distracted while watching kdramas when actors start looking less masculine. Seems like kdrama actors have redder lipstick then females. And cdramas have more variety when it comes to story lines. I also love how imaginative cdramas are.

I think way too many kdramas are being made today, each platform basically wants to have their own kdrama selection... and there are maaany platforms. Too many. It simply becomes too much. And you cant expect solid writing in an over saturated market. I would say that like 70% of all dramas are poorly written, or maybe more. More than making a masterpiece, its more important to just pump out another kdrama.
While I love that more and more people enjoy kdramas (ive been around since we all waited for subs on d-addicts) and watched What Happened in Bali.... it, again, simply has become too much. My 2 very honest cents.

Completely agree with the westernisation of kdramas to cater to the global audience. And all the other things you've pointed out too. Thanks for writing this.

Building on "Reality no. 2" of the article, someone touched on it a little bit below,

TOXIC FANS are killing it's charm for me, manipulating ratings for their favorite, attacking people for their opinions instead of disagreeing like adults,
Some fans have unhealthy parasocial relationships with their favorites, I have my own favorites, but I don't chase away everyone who hates them or their work.
Down voting because they consider the actor/actress old or ugly...up voting for the opposite.

As far as I'm concerned, after Western money (and "values") have corrupted kdrama, my rule is to avoid everything produced by American multinationals (Disney, Amazon, Netflix). So I look at things distributed (but not produced) by Netflix like Business Proposal or King the Land that still have the Korean magic touch. Most of my entertainment is thanks to Viky, who is showing more and more Cdramas recently thankfully.

Btw that works for honestly all entertainment markets (worldwide) not just kdramas

I feel like producers nowdays are focusing in quantity and not quality when it comes to movies and tv series and that leads to disappointing and unoriginal stories . Unfortunaly the movie/tv show market is not really trying to make a story that resides with us, they just want to copy things that worked before and make big bucks out of it.