Well most of kdramas are meh actually.
For me, i look for something’s different.
Something’s I’ve never seen in kdramas before.
That’s why i tend to stay away from usual daily life kdramas and watch fantasy kdramas instead. But it doesn’t mean all fantasy kdramas are good. I’m just looking for something’s different like When The Devil Calls Your Name. The idea of a guy selling his soul to the devil is interesting.
Arthdal Chronicles that goes tribal.
Descendant Of The Sun with military setting.
Kill Me Heal Me with multiple personality.
Hwayugi that is a Korean version of the monkey king story.
Duel with it’s human cloning plot.

Or maybe the drama idea isn’t that special but there’s something’s different in it.
Like ballet in Angel’s Last Mission.
Classical music in 30 But 17
Human allergy in I’m Not A Robot.
Male crossdressing as a female in Tale Of Nokdu.
A true psychopath in Strangers From Hell.

I want to look for a different kdrama.
But most of kdramas doesn’t have that different element that i look for.

Wow. This was a great article which broke down, eloquently and comprehensively, how I’ve been feeling recently about new dramas. I started off watching great classics, City Hunter, You Who Came from the Star, and those honestly blew my mind. Now, I’m struggling so much to find a good, wholistic drama which has elements of comedy, action, romance, good writing, good directing and good acting. For me, Healer will forever be one of my all-time favourites because of the seamless integration of all those factors, not to mention the added bonus of some eye-candy (Ji Chang Wook eeee!!!). I feel like our tastes are quite similar because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed several of the dramas recommended by you. I was just wondering whether there were any new ones, similar to Healer that you could recommend? I truly value your opinion so much, I don’t know where I would be without your blog! Thanks so much for putting your time into it! It has changed my drama watching experience for the better!! 🙂

Kdrama became worse and worse every year. i watching them from 2008 and i loved a lot of them at first (and i was really obsessed so i watch most of them)but i think maybe in 2013 it started to getting down the hill when they started to get less creative and more like hollywood . now i can’t even watch them any more. i watch only web series of low budget broadcast like “addicted” (Chinese) and also didn’t stop watching Jdrama i like all this year because they don’t change at all. the Most lovable K actors are almost dissapeared from the screen (Hyun Bin for example) and all the young annoying actors stays and the broadcast became more “white” “Western” it’s irritating so much i can’t even stand this because i inlove with korea and even i don;t like kpop and all those new drama i really think they should pull it together i return to themselves stop being something the aren’t at all!!! this is why i’m very sad. the last drama i watched was Jealousy Incarnate (2016_it was nice but not as Angry mom(2015)or Reply 1997(2012), i think the main problems is money when money is involve and there isn’t a soul there’s a real problem, that’s whay the future of good hight rating drama is in the web with low budget films that want to make something new and fresh with soul and love!!! if you want to watch some of them you can watch “Skam”( Norwegian) or “Addicted” (CHinese) you will see the difference

Love the subject and you raised some valid points. I will try to keep it short (no promise) and say that, I think that on a general scale older kdramas were better. Because there were more that were captivating, and there were less drama that felt rushed. That doesn’t mean I’m less of a fan today because I’m still a big fan, but let’s just say that I find myself dropping way more dramas than I used to. And I compare today to my post-honeymoon phase. Trends have always been part of the game, so I guess this can’t be the reason for me. Maybe the personal journey part can explain my perception, still I think it’s has a lot to do with many standards that are changing, when I want it to keep its “koreanness”. Some dramas have a little too much western invasion in them. I’m all for cultural exchange, naturally…but still. In small doses when it comes to the film industry. This industry always carries a country’s cultural codes. And I love differences of standards, cultures, etc.

I agree about adjusting our lens. I don’t mind flaws and inconsistencies if there aren’t too many, in other words, if there are few I don’t even notice them, the same can be said about the bulk of viewers. Those flaws have always been there and it’s not that serious. There is no need to bash constantly.

That said, those recent years there have been some good dramas, even this year (I’m addicted to MASK rightnow). I still think this is a very creative industry, and there are tons of genres besides romantic comedy, which is what the western audience seems to box Kdramas in for the most part. I love love love the genre, but I detest the generalization. there is so much more than romcoms in Kdramaland.

But the quality of dramas have dropped a bit I think, nothing dramatic and crazy, but it’s still noticeable. There are less and less hit dramas even locally. Watching the ratings last year and this year, I was surprised that so many dramas struggle to reach the 10% mark these days. Koreans themselves are bored. Yes there is the internet, so people are free to catch up later, but 6-7 years ago there was the internet too and for them subtitles were not needed. Several times I’ve heard koreans say they hardly watch dramas anymore. Just a few weeks ago a korean friend of mine who lives in Korea texted me when I asked her what drama she was watching “there’s nothing to watch”. That should tell us something.

I feel one of the problems is that kdramas today is very focused on dramas with twisted story-lines and/or main characters that have some special character or issue. Even if they are fun to watch, some more variation with dramas with a bit more realistic story-lines with normal real-life issues would not hurt. I think dramas like Reply 1994/1997 is good examples on how kdramas can be very good and still be about normal real-life issues.

Hi, kfangurl!
I saw a picture from Let’s Eat Season 2 in the end of your post. Are you currently watching this drama? I’m just curious: how do you find it? Do you like it? I hope you’ll remember me, I’m Serena, from Europe and about for two months I’m a subber on Viki. And guess, wich drama am I translating now? Let’s Eat (2), of course! This is my second project. I already finished a j-drama (Ghostwriter) and I work on a taiwanese one (The Crossing Hero). I can’t wait for High Society, wich I’ll translate as well, starting next week. I’m not a newbie anymore, you know, I got almost 8000 lines.

short answer: yes. long answer: it’s only normal since the main reason for their existence is (pure) entertainment. i think the human species is still adapting to the daily growing flood of information that technology has forced us to face. whenever we’re not sleeping, we’re subject to an ever growing amount of stimuli, the background noise of daily life is ever stronger too … and “home” (or “own room”) is more and more a sanctuary where one can escape from all that. what does one seek in a sanctuary? safety, peace and (thanks to technology) entertainment. so what does entertain us? well, after the daily overload of stimuli, i think anything simple does the trick.

would you watch a show where the romance between the main characters builds up on a complex dialogue about concepts of string theory and quantum physics? of course! but how would you feel after watching each episode? i admit: i would feel entertained (a bit) … dumb (a lot) and tired (even more than i was before i started watching). all that on a daily basis? no, thank you! i’m content with a documentary or whatever complex information i come across once or twice a week. we all want to relax and that usually translates into “for a (relatively) short time turn brain off and feeling on” … and that’s (imho) the foolproof recipe for any entertainment media produced for the masses (not an elite/select audience).

AaaaaHHHH finally it opens!!.. 🙂 hello Kfangurl nice to be here once again <3

This is another well written post Kfangurl! Before anything else, i would like to thank all those who have shared their views already…..i have read, think, and absorbed everything. As I read, I have to go deeper and loving it to pieces coz I learned new things from the comments. It always feels good that my brain picks up something worth reading for. And I agree with you with the YES and No answer. To me I think to fully understood of the query, if k-dramas are becoming dumber?" is to go beyond right when they started. I mean, I have only known k-dramas in the middle of 2006 and I have watched about more than a hundred already with different genres. I have seen all the cliches and stories with the same plot only with different actors, writers and how they are made. But beyond that I don’t know anything.

I do love how you enumerate your thoughts and differentiate each instance. It is very profound and on point. But concerning the query, I think the answer varies on how the viewers perceive the drama and what type of k-drama viewers are they. With all the submitted comments, I’d say that like you, all of them are a keen viewers and have methodical comprehension with the all the facets of story-writing. And with me, I am just a regular drama viewer. An i may give my views in a way I

Majority of Asian drama viewers are mothers, aunts, grandmas, those mostly who stayed home and after doing the household chores find their comfort by watching their favorite drama. I mean, some of them is intelligent enough to see whether the drama is good or bad, But honestly, like in the case of my own experienced, be it with my siblings, friends and even to my late mother. Those words mentioned in the comments such as "trifecta", “lens-focus”, lapses of logic", the "cliche" and among others, those are too profound for them. They maybe aware of those procedural method in a drama but they find it too weighty. They don't make a big fuzz out of it and refused of scrutinizing bits by bits on their drama preference. Why? Because they have their own perception on drama watching. As long as the drama pleases them and gives them a relief from a stressful and tiresome day then it’s fine with them.

I can honestly vouch that I am a shallow viewer and I say this every time! I don’t have a great sensitivity on how a drama is made or how it works. That I sometimes overlook the lapses of logic…that I love seeing eye candies, that I’d still love seeing the wrist-grabbing, back-hugging and piggy-back riding scenes and many more in my drama…..the clichés, the repeated tropes that you may say so tiresome to watch. But you see, it’s still as enjoyable to include those scenes as before. And I think with those old tropes in a drama with different implementation and with collaboration of fresh ideas from the maker, I guess it will still find its way to enchant viewers. 😉

I think the answer may have an element of selection bias to it.

We remember the memorable dramas and forget the snoozers. And so the past can look better and quicker than the present. Just a thought…

Great read, and well reasoned tho!

I agree with everything you said. The more k-dramas you watch, the more precise your taste becomes and you know what you want and especially what you don’t want to when you’re willing to give a drama 16 to 24 hours of your life. I know that I gave up on trying to understand Korean humor. It is just not my thing and I accepted it. On the other hand, K-dramas do provide some funny unexpected moments, so some of them can make me laugh. Like “Heard It Through The Grapevine”. I laugh several times, to my surprise. On the other hand, I’m half-watching “The Lover” and I just don’t… get it. Lol. dramajjang is reviewing it, so I carefully read the review to help me see the funny I miss. I still don’t laugh, BUT I do figure out what the drama is trying to do.

I don’t think k-dramas are getting worse or dumbed down. Of course there are trends, but I think you can call it also “cycles”. Fiction is never truly original, but what makes it stands out is how different it is from what was done before. It’s a matter of execution. I don’t think I have watched enough 90’s k-dramas to make the comparison, but what I feel is that lately, a few dramas have been daring to go for a different approach for the past couple of years and they’re the ones making other average K-dramas look even more average than they are. “Healer” is the most recent and best example for me. Every time I try to describe it to someone who has a little bit of Asian dramas culture, I always say “the writing, the pace, the acting didn’t feel like watching a K-drama. It wasn’t like a US show either. It’s both and completely different at the same time”. I don’t know how to freaking describe it, but it’s like, despite its flaws, the plot was well-written enough for me to not consider just the average K-drama…

I do think we are in a transition phase, though. I don’t think there are much more dramas being produced, although cable channels are doing a pretty good job at being an alternative. I think it’s more about diversity in dramaland and how the way of consumption is changing too. From the i-community perspective, ten years ago, you had to wait 2 or 3 days sometimes a week to get subs for a drama. You had to use clubbox, streaming was only if you was willing to let the page load foreverrrr. Now we can follow nearly EVERY night drama of nearly every channel with just one or 2 days of delay at the most which means we can potentially watch much more dramas and make a comparison much faster. As for the Korean audience, streaming services offer them the opportunity to watch their dramas when THEY want and not when broadcast stations want. I think it’s one of the reasons you see less and less the whole 5 or 6 episodes dedicated to childhood and teen years of the characters. 2 or 3 episodes at the most and the drama is ready to go b/c people want the story to unfold fast. (Maybe it’s also because the child actors from 5 years ago are now teenagers who are so good they can headline their own dramas and dramaland has yet to find a new set of 5 or 10 child actors?) Anywayyyyyz, what was my point again? I agree that K-dramas are actually being more exploring and daring today. I agree creativity is being hindered by the external factors you mentioned and it all comes down to personal taste. Sometimes, dramaland will give you three dramas you enjoy at the same time, sometimes you’ll have to wait for a few months to find something you truly enjoy.

I started watching last year when I happened upon Secret Garden. Then I watched the other dramas written by the same person and liked them (except for Heirs). More or less at the same time I started cherry picking from yearly best of lists. It’s only recently that I’ve started watching some as they come out. Certainly for me, if i was to compare the older shows with new ones, it would be unfair.

If I’d been watching for longer, I think the same would apply. I’d remember the ones I liked and tend to forget the clunkers.

I’ve thought the new shows that I’ve watched are on a par with the older ones. I enjoyed Healer and I think it compares well to City Hunter, I think the writing for the first few episodes for The Producers has been really good. And while I don’t think the first Warm and Cosy episodes compare well to Master’s Sun or Greatest Love, etc, I doubt it’s a trend. They did drive me to go watch Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang which I’m finding a lot of fun, though I suspect it’s an example of the rushed shoot syndrome.

About extensions, it’s curious, when I watched the Coffee Prince (which I understand was extended) the first time, some of the later episodes annoyed me a bit as they felt unneeded and contrived, then the second time, I actually liked them because I was just happy to watch the characters.

I do think what makes the dramas good is interesting & what gets in the way of them being good is also interesting.

I think there’s a fear here of getting jaded. Suppose a drama came out that didn’t break any new ground, reused old plot devices, (ruling out amnesia and other mental problems of course), but which was generally as good as one of my favorites, say My Name Is Kim Sam-soon. I’d probably like it now, but what about next year? I like to think that if it had a scene comparable to the eating cake at the piano while it rains outside scene, i’d die again.

Anyhow I enjoyed the post. It’s caused me to waste some time when I should’ve been working.

Love this post. I agree with each word written….the more experience you have as a viewer watching dramas the more you see the common tropes, but that still shouldn’t deter you from watching. There are new dramas out everyday, but in a way, the writers bring on a fresh twist to their stories. K dramas are not the only ones with these issues…taiwanese dramas even American shows have the same problems as well. It is how well we want to enjoy the drama without tearing it apart. It is good to analyze a show, but sometimes you have to suspend belief and go with the flow of the drama. It is called fiction for a reason. There are recent new dramas where I find myself enjoying the script due to the fact that the actors add their own spin to the characters. I do think that as more dramas are coming out and the TV stations are competing for viewers actors have that responsibility to add.more flare into their characters which is more fun to watch because you can tell when an actor is given that creative freeway to act in a certain way to get more out of the viewers. In my opinion, I am enjoying more new dramas because in a way, they are not as recycled as you think they are. For instance, second leads become the jerk and the first lead is nice and sweet and the girl still gets him. There needs to be a change in drama land writing, but overall these dramas are not meant to be analyzed deeply and are just for simple enjoyment.

I do agree with each an everyone of you on so many levels but I also have another perspective in few things. Since I grew up watching soap-operas and telenonelas, the whole new world of kdramas still seems exciting for various reasons.
The number of episodes is actually the no1 factor for almost no dragging whatsoever. With that said, it’s true some dramas do tend to hold on a “micro-vibration” plot-wise. But their season is so limited that everything is done with them within few months (6 months tops)
It’s true that (oh, poor) writers NEVER realize their initial idea in this bizzare world! Why? Actors who cannot act, idols who cannot act but insist on acting, pushy agencies that want to make money, pushy channels that want to make money by using PPL, scandals(?) that don’t let (good) actors perform bcoz the production will lose money…Wait, too much money, here. So people who make a living working in kdramaland have always the”living” on their mind and they do bid farewell to any artistic attempt! That’s the main problem globally, I think; fast-food entertainment while most members of any production team in any country are far more educated and real professionals than previous generations.
Are all writers equally good? Undoubtedly no! Are most of the writers decent? Definitely! If CEOs and other artistically deaf-and- dumb people around any project could have less to say, things would have been so much better!
That’s why everything that has been mentioned by you, guys, applies to this little rule. If money was not an issue, people would have been watching indie cinema exclusively, right?^^

I’m pretty new to the kdrama-verse and don’t have much chance to watch that many dramas, but I agree with all you’ve said in that the answer lies somewhere in between “Yes!” and “No!”

I would also agree with mary. We’ve grown and they’ve pretty much stayed the same and the gimmicks can get tiring.

However, there is really nothing original/new under the sun but I think, overall, it boils down to how well a drama is executed and, to a very large extent, personal preference & taste.

For example, you mentioned “Fated to Love” and “Marriage not Dating” as two romances with broad comedy. I found “Marriage not Dating” lol funny and very even-paced (it has become one of my favourite dramas), while “Fated to Love” started to grate on my nerves because I found Jang Hyuk’s acting a bit too over-the-top for my liking and the extremes of comedy and tragedy somewhat irritating – perfect example of ‘jarring tonal shifts’ as Timescout so eloquently put it.

I still love the kdramas, though. And if I read about one that seems to be universally liked, I will – in all likelihood – make a plan to watch it 🙂

I haven’t read your whole post yet but my opinion on the matter is always this: it’s your taste that’s improving, while dramaland stays the same (with a few notable exceptions).

Growing up or having a more refined taste in something isn’t bad. It’s a human thing. We sum up our experiences and form a better idea of what is the definition of a “good drama”. The problem happens when dramaland doesn’t improve along with your tastes. So you stop enjoying the same silly stuff you used to cry or giggle at 5 years ago. You drop more shows, because you can see where this is going. You don’t even check out this or that drama anymore, because you watched that premise before and know that you don’t like High School dramas or Switched Bodies dramas or the Hong Sisters.

After the 87th contract marriage trope, you’re going to think that marriage contracts are not funny, unoriginal, and a “cop out” on the writer’s part. “Marriage contract? Seriously? Who would do that?” — you probably ask this more often now, when you didn’t ask it years ago. (And if you DID hate it from the get-go, you probably never got deeply into kdramas in the first place, because it requires you to turn off your brain at some point and just enjoy the emotional play onscreen.)

Lee Yeon-hee’s cross-dressing in Hwajung plays with (in general) a similar set of jokes and problems as Park Min-young’s in Sungkyunkwan. Or YEH in Coffee Prince. Or Sulli in TTBY. Or PSH in You’re Beautiful. But now that it’s the 23rd time you’re seeing this gimmick, you’re going to groan and complain when you hear a new drama with the same premise in the works. Still, it doesn’t mean that the 99th cross-dressing drama is any dumber than the 1st. Again, they were all “dumb” to begin with.

Sorry for my long comment. This issue has always puzzled me. If you outgrew dramas, then mourn that you can’t enjoy them anymore. But move on. Find another hobby. Or, I dunno, go to Seoul and work for KBS and change the system so it will improve along with the rising standards of the long-time drama watchers.

You wouldn’t advice your bestfriend to keep seeing a dumb guy who doesn’t grow as a person, so why would you keep yourself attached to a hobby/fandom that you don’t enjoy anymore?

“I’m also a big advocate of adjusting one’s viewing lens in order to enjoy what a drama has to offer, rather than tear a drama apart for its flaws.”
Yes, I think that has to a prerequisite for enjoying the dramas.

” If you’re all about the romance and are able to overlook all other failings, you’d find a lot of dramas to choose from. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for the drama trifecta of good writing, good acting and good directing, then you’d probably be choosing from a pool of far fewer dramas.”
I would put myself in the second category. But it would depend what failings I would have to overlook.

On dramatrends. Sorry, I just had a skim through the post. So forgive me, if I’m repeating something you already said.
Things usually get copied, because they are a hit. So I can only assume that some time travel drama was a big hit. so others wanted to try the same thing.
It’s the same as when Star wars came out, a lot of sci movies tried to emilate it’s sucess.

As to whether dramas have been dumbed down or not, I have no idea. I tend to mix up my dramas in terms of period. I will say that recently I watched “what happens to my family” and “punch” I thought both were excellent. Punch might possiblly be the best korean drama since i started watching them. in my case, that was in 2011.

A very good post m’dear. Glad I could give you some food for thought. 🙂 I’d say all of the points you touched on this post are valid. Even in my case.

I was pondering upon this ‘disillusionment’ with kdramas few years back and my take then and now is that the quality of writing is the biggest offender. The part that has deteriorated, taking the rest down with it. There are the poorly written characters with no real growth or development, jarring tonal shifts, storylines that make no sense whatever or go around in circles, manufactured aaaaangst…. Plus too many overused tropes I’ve become allregic to. Most of the time there doesn’t even seem to be any real effort to make the stories stand out, originality and attention to detail are sorely lacking. It’s as if most networks are afraid of trying out something new, or even a new/fresh take on something tried and trusted. Guess it’s the bottom line thing, what sells and ‘no rocking the boat and scaring the advertisers/overseas buyers’.

Also, a swoony OTP is NOT enough if everything else sucks. So yeah, it does come down to preferences too. ^^

I’m sure time is another factor as well, the first flush of ‘drama-love’, when everything was ‘new and shiny’, has faded and the flaws are more noticeable now. I’ve never been very good at watching shows through adjusted lenses, so when something doesn’t appeal, it doesn’t appeal, no buts of ifs.

Gosh, that lemmings-effect is seriously annoying! I’ve started to dread the unveiling of the next popular ‘theme’. *g*

Despite of how I generally feel about these things I’m still hopefull that I can find gems in the sea of bland and boring. Dramas to enjoy and even to love. 🙂