Intensifying competition results in trashy dramas

A scene from “Secret Love Affair” on jTBC

The rating success of television dramas has always been vitally important to major broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS. The race for top ratings intensified when cable channels like jTBC, TV Chosun, MBN and Channel A entered the drama industry a few years ago, becoming major forces in K-drama.

The ratings war drives many broadcasters to keep churning out dramas that are becoming more and more shocking.

”The ones that have radical storylines get more attention and more ratings,’’ said media critic Kim Kyung-ho. ”People criticize them, but at the same time they have the urge to watch them. That’s why broadcasters keep making these kinds of dramas.’’

To get ahead in the ratings race, many insiders believe that the fascination with scandalous dramas from producers and writers will get stronger in the years ahead.

Tougher competition, however, has not resulted in quality. To attract more viewers, many soap operas are resorting to storylines that often revolve around sensational elements ― adultery, murder, extreme verbal and physical violence.

For sure, Korean dramas are not the only ones carrying such horrifying themes. The highly popular U.S. political thriller “House of Cards,” which debuted on the streaming service Netflix last year, features a lot of violence and crime.

In the beginning of the second season, which premiered in February, the main character, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey pushes a newswoman toward an oncoming train at a Washington D.C. subway station and covers up her death as an accident. This is one of many heinous crimes Underwood commits on his way to becoming the President of the United States, which he achieves by the end of the second season.

The online-only web television series is a rare case where good writing and sublime acting came together to make a high-quality drama, despite some elements of crime and violence contained in the storyline. The series swept Emmy and Golden Globe nominations last year and has been a critical success.

One obvious difference between such dramas and the trashy ones aired by Korean broadcasters is the originality in the writing.

Nowhere is the lack of novelty and focus on cruelty more apparent than in morning dramas, many of which center around adultery and irrational behavior. In one popular SBS morning series, a man secretly gets married again while his wife is out of the country on a holiday and shows no remorse when confronted by his first wife.

New works from cable channels that have stirred up huge media hype are no exception to this lack of originality. In “Secret Love Affair” on jTBC, which began airing in March, a 40-something married woman commits adultery with a pianist almost half her age. Many viewers have been disenchanted with predictable writing and weak acting in the drama. Written by Do Je-hae, The Korea Times