As January comes to a close, we have some new dramas, new ratings, and thanks to You-Know-Who (and no, I don’t mean Voldemort), new records. It’s great to see that the excitement from the beginning of the year is still alive.
Unfortunately, there are still a lot of shows struggling to keep their audiences. Numbers for Bad Detective and My Strange Hero are trickling down, as are the numbers for An Empress’s Dignity. The latter’s latest competition, Spring Must Be Coming, didn’t do much better, premiering at 2.2 percent. The good news, though, is that Song Hye-gyo and Park Bo-gum’s drama Boyfriend ended with a solid 8.9 percent.
Due to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, JTBC only aired one episode of SKY Castle and moved the finale to next week. This, of course, didn’t stop the show from breaking its last record with 23.2 percent. Next, we had Romance is a Bonus Book premiere, which (being a huge Lee Jong-seok fan) I need to watch right now. Not listed is zombie sageuk Kingdom, a 6-episode Netflix original that’s already garnered praise.
Drama viewership ratings for the week of Jan. 21-27, 2019
| Ep. # | Station | Rating | |
| Monday, Jan. 21 | |||
| Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2 | 9 | KBS | 4.7% |
| Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2 | 10 | KBS | 6.3% |
| Bad Detective | 25 | MBC | 5.4% |
| Bad Detective | 26 | MBC | 6.5% |
| My Strange Hero | 23 | SBS | 4.6% |
| My Strange Hero | 24 | SBS | 5.1% |
| Clean With Passion for Now | 13 | JTBC | 2.1% |
| The Crowned Clown | 5 | tvN | 8.1% |
| Tuesday, Jan. 22 | |||
| Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2 | 11 | KBS | 3.8% |
| Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2 | 12 | KBS | 5.0% |
| Bad Detective | 27 | MBC | 3.9% |
| Bad Detective | 28 | MBC | 5.0% |
| My Strange Hero | 25 | SBS | 3.2% |
| My Strange Hero | 26 | SBS | 4.7% |
| Clean With Passion for Now | – | JTBC | – |
| The Crowned Clown | 6 | tvN | 7.6% |
| Wednesday, Jan. 23 | |||
| What’s Wrong Mr. Poong-sang | 9 | KBS | 7.5% |
| What’s Wrong Mr. Poong-sang | 10 | KBS | 8.8% |
| Spring Must Be Coming | 1 | MBC | 2.2% |
| Spring Must Be Coming | 2 | MBC | 2.2% |
| An Empress’s Dignity | 35 | SBS | 11.0% |
| An Empress’s Dignity | 36 | SBS | 14.0% |
| Boyfriend | 14 | tvN | 8.0% |
| Thursday, Jan. 24 | |||
| What’s Wrong Mr. Poong-sang | 11 | KBS | 7.0% |
| What’s Wrong Mr. Poong-sang | 12 | KBS | 8.0% |
| Spring Must Be Coming | 3 | MBC | 1.5% |
| Spring Must Be Coming | 4 | MBC | 1.9% |
| An Empress’s Dignity | 37 | SBS | 10.9% |
| An Empress’s Dignity | 38 | SBS | 13.9% |
| Boyfriend | 16 | tvN | 8.7% |
| Friday, Jan. 25 | |||
| SKY Castle | – | JTBC | – |
| Top Star Yoo Baek | 11 | tvN | 2.9% |
| Saturday, Jan. 26 | |||
| My Only Ally | 75 | KBS | 32.2% |
| My Only Ally | 76 | KBS | 37.6% |
| A Pledge to God | 33 | MBC | 13.2% |
| A Pledge to God | 34 | MBC | 15.1% |
| A Pledge to God | 35 | MBC | 15.0% |
| A Pledge to God | 36 | MBC | 15.7% |
| Fates and Furies | 29 | SBS | 4.9% |
| Fates and Furies | 30 | SBS | 5.4% |
| Fates and Furies | 31 | SBS | 6.1% |
| Fates and Furies | 32 | SBS | 7.0% |
| SKY Castle | 19 | JTBC | 23.2% |
| Romance is a Bonus Book | 1 | tvN | 4.3% |
| Sunday, Jan. 27 | |||
| My Only Ally | 77 | KBS | 35.5% |
| My Only Ally | 78 | KBS | 39.9% |
| My Healing Love | 57 | MBC | 10.3% |
| My Healing Love | 58 | MBC | 14.1% |
| My Healing Love | 59 | MBC | 14.1% |
| My Healing Love | 60 | MBC | 14.9% |
| Romance is a Bonus Book | 2 | tvN | 4.4% |