In case you missed it, we’ve been enjoying a series of guest posts, by patrons on Patreon, and this is the finale poll, to top it all off!
You can find all the guest posts here: Shahz, JJ, Trent, Sean, Martina, lotusgirl & phl1rxd!
In case you’re wondering, yes, I will still be writing my usual Year-In-Review post, so stay tuned for that!
I hope you guys enjoy voting for your favorites!
A couple of important things:
1. These nominees have been gleaned from the various guest posts here on the blog, as well as the guest posts that have appeared exclusively on Patreon.
2. If you don’t see your favorites reflected among the options, you can add them in. When adding in your faves, please follow the format of the other options in the list, to avoid confusing others!
3. Only dramas that ended in 2021 are included in this poll.
I’ve always believed that it’s only fair to judge a drama after its completed its run, so shows that started in 2020, but ended in 2021 are included in this list, but not shows that started in 2021, but have not completed their runs.
Please bear that in mind, when considering whether to add a nominee to the lists!
4. You may revote, if you change your mind!
5. Voting closes at midnight, 6 January 2022, my time.
Edited to add: I realize that sometimes the votes don’t show accurately. We’ve determined that this is a server cache issue, and once I clear the server caches, your updates should be correctly reflected. I’ll be more diligent about clearing the server caches (so that they’ll be cleared more frequently than the automatic 30 minutes I’ve got it set for).
Still, sometimes it might take a while for your changes to show. If you give it up to 30 minutes and then refresh the page, your votes should be properly reflected! Thanks for your patience!
I’ll announce the winners in a separate post thereafter!
Best Drama
There are 39 contenders for Best Dramas, based on all the Top 10 lists that have been shared. Click on the 🔻 icon to expand the list! You may choose up to 10 options (so that you get to express your Top 10 too!). If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add it in!
You may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best Actor
These are the contenders for Best Actors, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add him! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best Actress
These are the contenders for Best Actress, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. The reason there are fewer nominees, is that a number of guest writers had the same pick, for Best Actress! It’s definitely not because there’s less female talent in Dramaland!
If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add her! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best OTP
These are the contenders for Best OTP, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your favorite OTP is missing from the list, you may add them! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best Supporting Actor
These are the contenders for Best Supporting Actor, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add him! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best Supporting Actress
These are the contenders for Best Supporting Actress, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. Again, there are fewer nominees in this category, because several of our guest writers picked the same winner, in their posts!
If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add her! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best Ensemble
These are the contenders for Best Ensemble, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. There are fewer nominees in this category, because a number of our guest writers picked the same winner, for this category!
If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add them! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best OST
These are the contenders for Best OST, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add it! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Best Song
These are the contenders for Best Original Song, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add it! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Most Underrated Gem
These are the contenders for Underrated Gem, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your favorite is missing from the list, you may add it! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Razzie Award
These are the contenders for the Razzie Award (the worst show, or the show that promised so much but delivered so little), based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your pick is missing from the list, you may add it! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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Most Worthy of a Rewatch
These are the contenders for the show considered most worthy of a rewatch, based on the winners picked from all the various year-end lists that have been shared, here and on Patreon. If your pick is missing from the list, you may add it! You may choose up to 2 options, and you may also revote, if you change your mind!
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..And that’s it!
I’m super curious to see the winners selected by you guys, as a community!!
Remember, voting closes at midnight, 6 January 2022, my time, so if you want to to revote, you can do so anytime before then.
As promised, I will announce the winners in a separate post thereafter, along with Editor’s Picks, just so you know where my votes would have gone, in each category.
Ah I am so out of step with everyone, but I will say this: inre Most Underrated Gem--On the Verge of Insanity, an office dramedy, which to my taste eclipsed everyone’s favorite over the past few years, Misaeng, by a country mile, maybe a country mile and a few leagues as well, with its top to bottom ensemble, cracky plot, and terrific music, by getting the small vote count it did only proves me more certain it was the most underrated drama of the year, a show I would have ranked as the best comedy I saw after Mr. Queen, and it was a more evenly presented show–certainly its plot better, and the fourth best show I watched all year.
Sisyphus was the worst tv show I have ever seen all the way through in my entire life, and the biggest waste of talent and production money, so my Razzie would have to go to that overblown piece of garbage.
Finally, I dropped Hometown Cha Cha Cha, early on (around 7 or 8) because the OTP seemed like a ridiculous pairing to me. What that Thoreau loving, drop out guy could have seen in that uptight, prissy gal, other than her physical attractiveness–will she go surfing with him? Just asking–is beyond me. Of course, it is easy to predict even from where I dropped show her road to redemption through him, but it begs the question, why on earth was this terrific guy not with someone really terrific before the dentist comes to town.
Where I am in tune with folks is with Shin Hye Sun, who delivered the single best performance of the year. She along with Cha Chung Hwa (who was also terrific in On the Verge of Insanity, but at least as far as I saw poorly directed–another reason I dropped it, what a waste of such a great talent–in Hometown Cha Cha Cha) and Choi Jin Hyuk carried along what was otherwise a rather pedestrian sageuk in high style.
I would only add this–the best K Drama I saw all this past year other than in our group watches was the 1990’s series, Sandglass. That it was produced even before the Sopranos was in the US, and delivered such an epic novelistic treatment of the troubled 70s and 80s decades in South Korea speaks to how cutting edge even then K Drama was. The performances by the leads were spectacular; the ensemble top to bottom just perfect; the plotting amazing; the ost haunting and atmospheric. And after seeing the show deliver such a gritty and realistic presentation of South Korean life from that period with the combo of tragic romance and bromance from childhood in great detail through youth and maturity and the by far best presentation of political corruption in South Korea, I have seen, the dystopic servings up of this year’s crop seem pale, thin, lazy by contrast. It was one of the great dramatic series I have ever seen, and one can only hope now that SBS is forming a special tv series branch, it will be recovered, remastered, and given first rate subs and delivered to international sources like Viki and Netflix so people can access it without going over to the darkside to do so.
For me 1-4
Youth of May
Navilerra
Mr. Queen* (*I was under the impression that this was largely considered a 2020 drama, but since we included it here, this is where I would place it)
On the Verge of Insanity
Wow, Sandglass does sound fascinating. Hopefully a way of witnessing it w/o having to reset to one of those icky sides would arise….
I am singularly unqualified to vote on this poll, having seen only two of all the shows mentioned above but I had to give Nevertheless the Razzie award even though it’s the only show of the ones listed I’ve seen. There was so much hype that I was very disappointed in the final product, mainly because of the OTP. I found the secondary relationships much more interesting.
This was super fun. Thanks kfangurl.
Anyone watched Kim soo hyun’s One Ordinary Day? It’s getting good reviews from critics and viewers. It’s considered KimSooHyun’s best performance. It’s intense. Only 8 eps. Totally recommend it. 10/10 for me.
Fun poll. I had to listen to some of the songs and OST to have an honest opinion on those.
What a fun exercise! Although I haven’t seen enough of these shows to vote, I will be interested in seeing the results as it will help me pick shows for next year. BTW, love the super slick graphics that go with the various categories! Sign KFG up for the Oscar design team!
I’ve really enjoyed getting to know some of our posters and Patreon friends this month – thanks so much for this cool manner of community cooperation.
One thing that struck me from all of these posts is that each and every participant seemed to have a good number of shows that they were very enthusiastic about. Some might even grow in stature in short order. For example, KFG listed 19 dramas in the past 5 years as “iconic” in her “Dear Fangurl” post a bit back. An acknowledged classic, My Mister, is barely four years old.
The point is that I’ve read many comments about how K-drama “ain’t what it used to be” over the last year or so, question the results of “westernization” or “Netflixation” on the genre, or ask if the field is getting too popular for its own good. All of these are certainly questions to consider or debate, and my intention is not to say that any of these opinions are invalid. However, what seems clear, based on thoughtful commentary and insightful watching on the part of some of our most active members of our community, that there are still quality shows being made and that they are worth watching.
All in all, I’d like to end a fairly crappy year with one positive thought, and this one is enough to put a smile on my face heading into 2022. Thanks to all.
Nice idea.
Too hard to vote. Would have to add shows and actors to the categorys for me to be satisfied but I don’t want to :DDD
The hardest was the Razzie Awards category. Having watched 5/10 of them, and dropped all 5, it was tough. Pretty evident that 2021 was an average drama-year for me… 😅
@CarpControl Ahaha if it makes you feel any better, I definitely dropped more than 5 shows this year! 😉
I dropped 10 of the 2021 shows I started I didn’t count how many of the shows from other years I dropped this year.
That was fun Fangurl!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, @phl1rxd!! ❤️
Thank you @kfangurl, for another year of awesome reviews. You have really helped me make my viewing choices! I enjoyed reading the guests’ posts too, thank you all! I voted for what I liked in this list but I felt I wasn’t being fair because I haven’t yet watched a fair number on it. Tsk tsk, too many dramas, so little time indeed. Also this year, I invested more time in Chinese dramas than Korean. I’ve been watching Luoyang – a cdrama mystery set in Empress Wu’s time – it’s been pretty good that I’ve followed it avidly. So I would add it as one of my picks this year for Best Ensemble cast and Best Series since it ends on time on Dec 30th. I loved The Long Ballad and its outstanding OST – I watched it twice and have the OST on my playlist! Sword Snow Stride has started off strongly and I have high hopes for it. For Korean drama, The Red Sleeve has been consistently great but that will be for next year’s poll too. I’ll be returning to My Roommate is A Gumiho soon (I like Hye Ri and Kang Ha Na in this!). Here’s to another year of entertaining and visually exciting dramas in 2022!
@Vivie Thanks for enjoying the blog and all the posts this year!! So glad you’ve found them enjoyable & helpful! ❤️
If you’d like to add your picks to the Best Ensemble and Best Drama categories, feel free to do so! You still have time to do that, because this polling system allows revotes!
Also, good catch, that The Red Sleeve should only be included in next year’s poll! I realize it’s already been included in the Best Supporting Actor category (my bad for not catching it! 🙈), and it’s also been added in by voters, in other categories. I suppose we can make a tiny exception for it, since it ends its run on 1 Jan..? 😝😅
It’d be a pity for it to have to wait till next year end! Technicalities, bah!
Yeah.. Missing the deadline by a single day! We ought to be gracious and allow it to play too 😁
Ooops! Yeah. I did include The Red Sleeve as an honorable mention in mine. I have enjoyed it so. I was just wondering if it ends before the end of the year or if I was missing something. Jan. 1. So close.
It is very strange but when I went in for the first time it shows me that I’ve voted in a few categories but not for others! A bit like what happened for the Group Watch. Strange!
Oh! I wonder if it could be a cache issue? I’ve just cleared the server caches, could you please refresh the page and see if it shows correctly? 😝😅
Ah yes ! Now it’s working! Thanks 🙂
Oh YAY! And PHEW! 😅😅 For a hot second I thought this whole poll wasn’t working. 😝😅 I’ll just have to clear the server caches more diligently, to help everything along. 😁
So Awesome!!! Thanks for putting this together KFG!!!!
@JJ Glad you like it!! ❤️
Done and dusted. This is an awesome polling and voting format, kfangurl 😊 I am looking forward to the result 😳😱🙀
@seankfletcher It’s a pretty cool plugin – but now I’m wondering if it’s working correctly, since MC says it wasn’t showing her votes correctly. 😱
It works now! So all is good!
We do have some early leaders!
@seankfletcher Yes we do!! Some big leads, right off the bat! But we still have time for things to turn around – as we’ve learned from our group watch polls! 😉😁
Done! Looking forward to the awards ceremony!
I’m curious to see who the winners will be! 😁