'Reply 1988' Follows In The Successful Footsteps Of Previous 'Reply' Dramas

The first "Reply" drama set in 1997 was a hit. The romantic comedy, starring Seo In Guk, Jung Eun Ji and Infinite's Hoya, recorded the highest ratings of all time for a cable k-drama. Then the second "Reply" drama, set in 1994, was a also a hit.

That drama, starring Go Ara, Yoo Yeon Sook and Jung Woo, also broke cable channel records.

And now it looks like the third installment in the series, "Reply 1988"  can also be called a k-drama success. According to the Korean media outlet Korea Times, the drama's fourth episode recorded an all-time high cable drama viewership of 8.7 percent, peaking at 10 percent on November 14.

Each drama delivered its own brand of nostalgia, taking viewers lovingly back in time, but always delivering a mystery romance to keep viewers guessing. In each of the "Reply" dramas a young woman is friends with a few young men but viewers don't get to find out which young man she will marry until years later.

"Reply 1988" is a little different from the previous two "Reply" dramas as that it focuses more heavily on the five families that the young characters come from. There's more family drama.

Sung Deok Seon is the heroine of the drama.  Played by Girls Day's Hyeri, she's the second daughter of a man with a lot of debt and a gossipy mother. She's not fond of her sister and prefers to spend her time with her male friends.

Her four friends are Kim Jung Hwan, played by Ryu Jun Yeol, Sun Woo, played by Go Kyung Pyo, Choi Taek, played by Park Bo Gum and Ryu Dong Ryong, played by Lee Dong Gwi. Friendship will turn to romance and she will eventually marry one of them.

The drama is set in 1988, a pivotal year in Korea. That was the year when Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics and families got together to watch the ceremony on TV.

As well as being modeled on the previous "reply" dramas, "Reply 1988" was also inspired by the MBC drama 'Three Families Under One Roof," one of the longest running Korean dramas of all time. "Three Families Under One Roof" ran from 1986 to 1994 and focused on the stories of three families who lived in the same apartment building.  

Are you watching this Friday-Saturday drama? What do you think?