“Gu Family Book” Keeps The Lead In The Ratings

Yesterday's ratings for the latest crop of Monday night dramas offer no surprises. Little has changed since last week except that the overall percentage of viewers has declined.

The winner in the Monday night ratings race continues to be MBC's "Gu Family Book," but it leads the KBS series, "God of the Workplace" by only a few points.

Although the fantasy saeguk "Gu Family Book" dropped from last week's Nielsen Media research score of 15.1 percent to this week's 14.4 percent, it still edges past "God of the Workplace" which drew only 14.0 percent of the viewers.

Each of the shows lost a few percentage points in ratings.

More viewers may have turned in to "Gu Family Book" last week to see how the delayed introduction of the stars Lee Seung Gi and miss A Suzy would shape the direction of the drama. Lee Seung Gi plays Choi Kang Chi, the hero, a half-mythical/half-human creature who wants to become more human. Suzy plays Dam Yeo Woo his fighting partner and love interest. The first few episodes told the story of how Choi Kang Chi's parents met

"God of the Workplace," the story of a super temp who impresses her workplace superiors, is still going strong. "God of the Workplace" stars Kim Hye Soo as super temp Miss Kim and Oh Ji Ho as Jang Kyu Jik, her workplace superior.

The only obvious loser in this week's ratings race is the SBS series "Jang Ok Jung." The anticipated series has apparently not caught on with fans, despite its popular stars Kim Tae Hee and Yoo Ah In, the gorgeous period costumes and historical content. That drama only earned a 6.9 percent rating yesterday.

No one is sure why the drama lags so far behind. It may be that drama fans have just seen the story of Jang Ok Jung one too many times, since there have been at least seven previous film and drama versions. In this drama version, Kim Tae Hee plays Jang ok Jung, the courtesan executed for plotting to poison Queen Inhyun. Yoo In Ah plays her lover, the King Suk Jong.

Netizen reactions to these three series have been mixed with no overwhelmingly obvious favorite.

Meanwhile, the ratings for the KBS drama, "Cheer Up, Mr. Kim" remained steady, earning 28.7 percent, while variety shows, KBS' "Hello," earned 9.8 percent ratings and SBS' "Healing Camp" earned 5.3 percent.