‘Hwarang’ flops in the debut, fail to attract audience
The highly anticipated period drama “Hwarang” has aired its first episode this week. An unexpected result emerge as the drama failed to attract sufficient audience despite its high profile cast members and a promotional effort.
In its debut on Dec. 19, the drama failed to fulfill the high expectation to score the good rating. “Hwarang” was only able to score a 6.9 percent rating nationwide in the AGB Nielsen Korea as reported by Yonhap News Agency. The SBS drama “Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim” stayed very strong with 22.6 percent viewership ratings.
While in the TnMS rating, “Hwarang” Episode 1 tallied 7.9 percent and declined in the next episode to 6.9 percent. “Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim” still takes the major attraction of the Monday and Tuesday night drama with 19.7 percent and 21.6 percent.
This surprising result highly on the opposite side of the expectation. In its oofficial statement , KBS World TV was confident to mention the drama has been the talk of the town before it began to air.
During the official introduction of the drama in a press conference on Dec. 16 in Seoul, KBS was assured the drama would be able to perform well.
However, the drama has only one attraction and the production company focused on that alone. That main attraction is the cast members which showcase five handsome actors play together in one series.
Three of those actors are idol group members from Shinee, BTS and ZEA which are Choi Min-Ho, Kim Tae-Hyung and Park Hyung-Sik. They play with two young actor Park Seo-Joon and Do Ji-Han.
Accompanied by two female cast members Go Ara and Seo Ye-Ji, the appearance of five handsome actors was expected to bring good ratings to the drama. But it turned out to be a bust as its first week average rating is only arond 6 percent. It is obvious that KBS needs to do something to boost the ratings of “Hwarang” for the next episodes.
Watch the highlight of “Hwarang” Episode 2 below:
