New Dramas Divide Ratings

Two new dramas began to compete for viewer ratings this week. Last week, the competition was waged between the fantasy historical drama "Gu Family Book," the historically inspired drama "Jang Ok Jung," and the revenge drama 'Shark."

This week "Shark" is up against two new contenders, the historically inspired "Goddess of Fire Jeongi" and the present-day drama, "Empire of Gold."

Shark, which had long remained third in the ratings got a boost from the absence of its previous contenders and jumped to second place at 9.4 percent ratings. But the clear winner of the night was "Goddess of Fire Jeongi" which achieved double-digit ratings at 10.7 percent. That's considerably lower than the last episode of "Gu Family Book" but close to the ratings received for its first episode.

It's no surprise that "Goddess of Fire" attracted attention with its star-studded cast that includes Moon Geun Young, Lee Sang Yoon and Kim Bum. The first episodes of the saga of a female porcelain maker focus on the history of the characters. If making tea cups seems an innocent enough occupation, these episodes taught viewers that a Joseon era ceramic maker could be arrested for making a tea cup if the person who drank from it got sick.

In second place, the moody "Shark," which stars Kim Nam Gil and Son Ye Jin, is the story of a man so consumed by the desire for revenge he does not care if he hurts his childhood love. He has spent his whole life pursuing the man he believes responsible for his father's murder and it has left him lonely and miserable.

"Empire of Gold," which came in third at 8.5 percent, is the story of the rise of a conglomerate.

Ko Soo, who plays Jang Tae Joo is a self-made man who created an empire. As he had to fight hard to achieve what he has, he will not easily surrender anything to his rivals. He falls in love with the heiress Choi Seo Yoon, played by Lee Yo Won.

The tvN show, "Dating Agency: Cyrano" scored 0.129 percent in the ratings.

Among the variety shows, SBS Healing Camp came out ahead with 9.7 percent. The show featured actress Han Hye Jin and soccer player Ki Sung Yueng. The recently married couple discussed their love story.

The KBS show "Hello" achieved 8.4 percent.