Crushology 101’s Ratings Drop (Photo Credit – Prime Video)
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MBC’s new drama, Crushology 101, features a trendy star cast including Roh Jeong-Eui, Lee Chae-Min and Cho Jon-Young. Ahead of its premiere, the series was quite hyped and created a lot of buzz everywhere but as soon as it aired, within two episodes, it saw the lowest viewership rating even for a Friday-Saturday drama. Even though it ranked no. 1 globally, the webtoon-based rom-com drama failed to attract viewers in South Korea.
For those who don’t know, before airing, the drama already was topping the charts in various countries in Europe and North America but for some reason it couldn’t make an impact on the Korean viewers. So much so that it recorded rating in the 0% range. Scroll ahead to know more about the drama.
As per Kakao Entertainment on April 16, Crushology 101 reportedly made a popular debut globally as it aired on 106 countries simultaneously. It kicked off on April 11 and 12 with first two episodes. And so far, despite the craze, it recorded the lowest viewership rating for an MBC drama in South Korea. Although it’s too soon to judge the drama, this week two more episodes will be out and then the critics can make a judgement about it. However, having the hottest cast, including Roh Jeong-Eui, Lee Chae-Min and Cho Jon-Young, it was expected to surpass all the ratings but the outcome was disastrous.
According to a report by Nielsen Korea, the first episode of Crushology 101 recorded 1.3% viewership while the second episode drew in only 0.9%, dropping even further. This is even lowest than MBC’s another Friday-Saturday drama, Kokdu: Season of Deity whose episode 15 recorded 1.3% in viewership rating. Critics are pointing out that neither the storyline nor the casting are aligned to the preference of TV audience.
For those who don’t know, Crushology 101 is a story about Ban Hui-Jin or Bunny (played by Roh Jeong-Eui), who gets her heart broken by her ex-boyfriend as he reveals his inner ugliness and leaves her in trauma. However, after her breakup, when she finds herself entangled among a group of attractive and charming men, she gets confused to detect for whom her heart races more.
However, the drastic disappointing domestic viewership numbers create quite a contrasting review as it ranks No. 2 on overall KOCOWA+ and on Japan’s U-NEXT platform. But as per the critics, the reason behind this lowest rating is cited to the storyline’s lack of appeal. The drama is failing to provide those elements that keep a viewer hooked. And even though the first two episodes show Bunny getting her mixed feelings towards a bunch of good-looking men, which could have ignited sparks among the viewers, reviewers argued that it wasn’t shown in a compelling way.
Have you started to watch Crushology 101? Stream it on Viki, Kocowa, TVING or Wavve at 9:50 PM KST (6:20 PM IST/8:50 AM EST).
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