"Empress Ki" Reigns Over The Ratings

The romantic saeguk "Empress Ki" led the ratings in its very first episode and by its second episode the ratings were even higher.

The 50-episode historical drama about a woman who rose from a concubine to the empress of the Yuan Kingdom earned 11.6 percent ratings for its inaugural episode with ratings rising to 13.6 on the next night. The drama stars Ha Ji Won as the empress and actors Ji Chang Wook as the Yuan Emperor and Joo Jin Mo as Wang Yoo of Goryeo.

The drama wasted no time on Empress Ki's early childhood and jumped straight into the interaction between the lead characters. The first episodes revealed a plot by the Yuan Emperor to take down Prince Wang Yoo and end the Goryeo dynasty. The prince first meets the future empress when she is disguised as a boy and carrying a sword.

The Suspicious Housekeeper," starring Choi Ji Woo and Lee Seung Jae, held first place in the ratings for a few weeks but could not compete with the action and romance of the dazzling new saeguk. The story about a suspicious housekeeper with a tragic past earned 9.3 percent of the ratings on its first night but fell to 8 percent on its second night, despite the unveiling of more compelling mysteries.

Choi's housekeeper, who has remained unemotional throughout the series, is now finally starting to break down when confronted with a possible villain from her past. The focus of the series has shifted from her helping the dysfunctional family recover from the death of their mother to their helping her recover from the deaths in her past.

In third place was the drama "Future's Choice," which is also known as "Marry Him If You Dare." Despite its all-star cast of Yoon Eun Hye as writer Na Mi Rae, Lee Dong Gun as television announcer Kim Shin and CNBlue's Jung Yong Hwa as cameraman Park Se Joo, the drama only achieved 6.5 percent ratings its first night. But with romance developing between the lead characters, the ratings jumped to 7.4 percent by the week's second episode.

In the latest episodes, Na Mi Rae and Kim Shin found themselves alone together when they tried to escape a dangerous situation. Despite the predictions about future marital disaster that Na Mi Rae received from her future self, she cannot avoid falling for Kim Shin.

Will the romance help the ratings rise further? What do you think?