“The Heirs” Reaches 20 Percent, While “Pretty Man” Has Promising Start
With the melodrama "Secrets" no longer in the competition, Episode 13 of "The Heirs" rose to the top of the ranks with a rating of 20.6 percent. That's a 4.7 percent increase from the previous episode.
Part of the reason for the escalation in the ratings is due to the fact that "Secrets" ended but the teen drama has also gained viewers due to the increasingly passionate romance between characters Kim Tan, played by Lee Min Ho and Cha Eun Sang, played by Park Shin Hye.
Lee Min Ho who has been filming in cold weather and through a bout of the flu was pleased to hear his drama had finally reached number one in the ratings.
In second place, with 6.3 percent of the ratings, was the new drama "Pretty Man," starring Jang Geun Suk, IU, Han Chae Young and Lee Jang Woo. The manga-based drama began with a strong first episode in which Jang Geun Suk's character Dokgo Mate uses his good looks to charm women and get ahead in life.
The actor watched the first episode with more than a thousand fans from Korea, Japan and China. Subtitles were added so foreign fans could see the episode at the same time as their Korean counterparts.
While this created a certain amount of extra pressure for the actor, it went well. Every time the actor appeared on the screen, his fans cheered.
"It's a little nerve-wracking to see the drama with my fans, friends and family for the first time," said Jang Geun Suk. "I will do my best to grow as an actor along with my 'Pretty Man' character."
IU also appeared in the first episode as the ordinary girl who has a one-sided love for Dokgo Mate.
But even though the drama only rated 6.3 percent of the ratings, the first episode was still ahead of the MBC drama "Medical Top Team," starring Kwon Sang Woo, Jung Ryu Won, Ju Ji Hoon, Oh Yeon Seo and SHINee's Choi Minho. It's hard to say why this drama has languished so far behind except that it suffered from the competition of the melodrama "Secrets" and the highly anticipated teen drama "The Heirs."
How it will stack up against "Pretty Man" remains to be seen but Jang Geun Suk and IU have a lot of fans, so it seems unlikely that the medical drama will manage to pull out of third place.
