NEWS
Shine comes off Korean star writer
19 May 2020
Netflix is keeping time-travel series The King: Eternal Monarch on its top 10 watch lists, but the Korean drama’s domestic woes continue.
SBS’ highly-anticipated Friday/Saturday night drama dipped to average ratings lows of 5.8% for the first part of its run on Friday (15 May). (Source: AGB Nielsen Korea, nationwide)
Saturday’s (16 May) ratings recovered to 7.8% average for the second half of the episode.
But, already way past the half-way mark of its 16-episode run, expectations for the fantasy series have been slashed and confidence in the star power of writer Kim Eun-sook (Descendants of the Sun, Mr Sunshine) has been shaken.
The show premiered on 17 April to promising double-digit ratings of 11.6%. The finale is on 6 June.
The King: Eternal Monarch, produced by one of Studio Dragon’s labels, stars Lee Min-ho (Boys Over Flowers, Legend of the Blue Sea) as the modern day Korean monarch who crosses into a parallel universe and attempts to solve the mystery of his father’s death.
Early criticism of the show as historically inaccurate (mixing up Japanese and Korean architecture and then compounding the errors on warships), have been followed by comments about sub-par plot that’s too complicated to follow, lack of attention to detail, ill-drawn characters and lack lustre dialogue.
Producers apologised for the historical inaccuracies and explained that Covid-19 containment measures had disrupted their original plans and schedules.
Producer Baek Sang-hoon said the mix up over Japanese and Korean warships was unintentional. But he admitted that expert opinion had not been sought.
“I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused,” he said.
Korean critics aren’t letting up.
In addition to listing the series’ other failings, The Korea Herald pointed to excessive product placement as a reason for the show’s lacklustre performance.
The King: Eternal Monarch followed legal drama Hyena on SBS’ Friday/Saturday 10pm slot. Hyena ended on a ratings high of 14.6%. But most of the episodes attracted only s...
Netflix is keeping time-travel series The King: Eternal Monarch on its top 10 watch lists, but the Korean drama’s domestic woes continue.
SBS’ highly-anticipated Friday/Saturday night drama dipped to average ratings lows of 5.8% for the first part of its run on Friday (15 May). (Source: AGB Nielsen Korea, nationwide)
Saturday’s (16 May) ratings recovered to 7.8% average for the second half of the episode.
But, already way past the half-way mark of its 16-episode run, expectations for the fantasy series have been slashed and confidence in the star power of writer Kim Eun-sook (Descendants of the Sun, Mr Sunshine) has been shaken.
The show premiered on 17 April to promising double-digit ratings of 11.6%. The finale is on 6 June.
The King: Eternal Monarch, produced by one of Studio Dragon’s labels, stars Lee Min-ho (Boys Over Flowers, Legend of the Blue Sea) as the modern day Korean monarch who crosses into a parallel universe and attempts to solve the mystery of his father’s death.
Early criticism of the show as historically inaccurate (mixing up Japanese and Korean architecture and then compounding the errors on warships), have been followed by comments about sub-par plot that’s too complicated to follow, lack of attention to detail, ill-drawn characters and lack lustre dialogue.
Producers apologised for the historical inaccuracies and explained that Covid-19 containment measures had disrupted their original plans and schedules.
Producer Baek Sang-hoon said the mix up over Japanese and Korean warships was unintentional. But he admitted that expert opinion had not been sought.
“I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused,” he said.
Korean critics aren’t letting up.
In addition to listing the series’ other failings, The Korea Herald pointed to excessive product placement as a reason for the show’s lacklustre performance.
The King: Eternal Monarch followed legal drama Hyena on SBS’ Friday/Saturday 10pm slot. Hyena ended on a ratings high of 14.6%. But most of the episodes attracted only single-digit ratings.
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