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After completing a drama, the next big question that every kdrama addict faces is what will be their next drama. There are numerous factors that decide our choice for the succeeding venture and I thought of compiling a few of them here. Let’s see what is your reason or method of choosing your next drama:
1. Mode of drama watching
One can either chose a live drama to watch or a marathoning of something that has already completed its run. Usually a new kdrama addict prefers the latter mode where he spends days and nights watching more and more dramas (my record of completing a drama in shortest time is 3 days.) One eats, sleeps and breathes dramas whole day! But if you are busy in your real life, live watching is the best option: only two episodes a week and you can’t help but wait for the next episodes. Meanwhile, one can continue with the daily, more necessary affairs.
2. Google is your best friend
This is the best option for newbies. In my starting days, I was not aware of the blogs and sites on dramas and thus my best option to search for best dramas out there was google and it really helped me a lot as I could see tons of viewers recommending same classic popular dramas like Coffee Prince, You’re Beautiful, Goong, Boys Before Flowers, Playful Kiss, My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, Full House etc. I also discovered Dramawiki, which was all I wanted as it contains summaries, star cast, posters, number of episodes, genre, etc. and it was my first step to reach my very first drama Delightful Girl Choon Hyang as I’m a sucker for ‘marriage of convenience’ themes and after reading so many synopsis, I finally found it and rest is history.
3. Dramawiki
It is the best site to give you an insight about a drama and it is greatly useful when you are searching for a kind of story or filmography of an actor to go for your next drama. Ratings are tabled as well.
4. Dramabeans
Favorite site of all drama lovers and it actually has an awesome ratings page. More often than not their ratings have proved to be a lot useful to me. But there were times when I liked a drama a lot more than those ratings (Playful Kiss, for example) and there were cases where I didn’t like a show as much as the writers there. And after becoming an experienced watcher, I think viewers don’t rely much on that and decide for their own flavor of the drama they want to watch. Still, Dramabeans is the best place to get a review about what one should watch if in a dilemma.
5. Actors
One thing is as sure as gravity that everyone has their actor biases and they can endure an awful drama just for that one actor and who knows even love it! C’mon now, I’m sure you must have gone through this phase sometime during the dramaland ride. Therefore, the choice of the next drama can hugely depend on the actors involved and in most of the cases of a drama aficionado, this is the main factor.
6. Synopsis
This is one of the major factors that plays a role for me in choosing my drama. Sometimes it does happen to be like walking on a thin ice because a lot depends on the execution as well.
7. Genre
Rom-com, thriller, melodrama, comedy, family: you name it, K-drama world is full of all the genres and the next drama can sometimes depend on the mood we are in to watch a particular type of show.
8. Popularity
I’m sure the popularity buzz always plays a major role for the selection of our dramas. “Love it or hate it but you can’t ignore it” aptly applies to dramaland. Every year we have at least a few shows that are rated very high on the popularity meter and you can’t help but try it as everyone else is watching it and you don’t want to miss the fun (or boredom)!
9. Reviews
Another good factor. If a show is garnering rave reviews on the net, it will take no time to land on your next drama spot.
10. Miscellaneous
There can be various miscellaneous reasons as well: suggestions from your real life friends (most unlikely), suggestions from your internet friends (most likely), people are even using randomizer app (LOL), just picking up a random drama from the ‘plan-to-watch’ list, etc.
11. Behind-The-Camera team
Now this factor is only for the experienced viewers who are well-acquainted with the PDs and writers of dramaverse. If you have a favorite, you will definitely watch their next dramas. For me, I do take notice but except my favorite Hong Sisters (You’re Beautiful, Delightful Girl Choon Hyang, My Girl fame), this factor is among the last ones I consider.
The Drama Corner 
DramaWiki was my best friend back in the day, hehe. I used to always use it to fish for what I wanted to watch next! That’s not so much the case anymore, but it’s still an extremely helpful go-to resource whenever I want to look something up in a jiffy. 🙂
Oh Dramawiki….I used to keep on browsing it for more and more dramas: yearwise, actor wise, alphabetically…lol….before that, I didn’t even know there was this whole wide world of kdramas and that site was perfect at that time….now, the usage has been reduced a LOT but still a go-to site for proper info on a drama/actor 🙂
OMG, that was totally me too!! Oh, how things have changed.
I know! The rate of improving as a drama expert is very high… 😉
Excellent list!! 😀 For me, I think it’s a bit of everything that you’ve mentioned, filtered through my mood. I’ve realized that mood is essential. I’ve disliked dramas purely coz I wasn’t in the right mood for them.. and that’s such a huge pity. So now I make sure to ask myself whether I’m in the right mood for that particular drama ^^
Thanks 🙂
Mood is very important for me too….I can even drop a good drama if the mood is not right for it…..even I have moods for actors now after knowing most of them…haha 😉
I definitely rely on reviews and comments from other watchers. If it’s been universally panned, I’m not going to watch it, obviously. That’s also why I marathon less and less and watch so many more live shows, because every time I google a show, i always end up reading the bad reviews and it puts me off. But if I’m watching it as it airs, I can’t read bad reviews first.
LOL @ googling and facing bad reviews 😀
That is definitely a new take on live watching that we are prevented from negative reviews and can form our own opinion 🙂 Marathoning an old drama brings somewhat a biased outlook…..also it can be disappointing if we had high expectations due to the positive reviews it got!
I agree with most method but I have to say dramabeans is a definite go to before marathoning or for me, it is a part-marathon, 2 eps a day sort. Real life has been sort of more REAL lately and I find myself having so little time. I try to limit watching live shows as much as possible because I don’t want to start watching a show then drop it in the middle, because come on, it’s just a few episodes more, maybe the writer has something awesome planned somewhere. That’s the reason why I finished watching (struggled to finish) the horror that is “Marry Him if You Dare or Mirae’s Choice.” Sometimes I still ask myself why did I watched that show?
Ohh….so many people were disappointed and angry with Mi rae’s Choice…I did start it live but then the interest disappeared and I dropped it after 4 episodes…
There is a risk with live watching that the drama might turn out to be a total mess after a while but it’s best if one is busy with real life….in case you can manage a controlled marathon (like you said), then it’s best! As for me, if I start a show, there is this continuous back to back watch….I keep on watching as much as I can…..lol 😀
I should have dropped it that time, it’s just that my roommate insists that we watch, she’s a fan of Yoon Eun Hye. We both ended up regretting that we watched it. I try my best to manage it that is. LOL! Although if I get overly engrossed, I end up going to work all bleary eyed and consuming twice my regular coffee consumption (6 cups.) The price of being addicted is very high. Ahahahaha
I just saw this post and thought, “you read my mind!!”. Lol. But seriously though, I have been wondering the same question of what drama I should watch next.
Back in the ‘ol days, Google was my buddy. And back in the ‘ol days, I watched all my dramas on the site aznv.tv (which is now kinda inactive) and they have this drama index where you view them by their popularity rank (though I’m not sure how exactly they rank the dramas), and it guided me on what I should watch next.
Nowadays, I just look at sites like Dramabeans and see what dramas are being recapped. I recently discovered something (but I’m not sure if it’s true or not)– if Javabeans or Girlfrifay is recapping a drama/or recapped it before, it usually means the drama is somewhat good or has the potentials. But don’t quote me on this, it’s just something I noticed. 😀
I also filter out what dramas to watch next based on the hype surrounding it. Though it usually backfires (eg. Secret Garden: it was an obstacle just to get through the first episode. Ended up dropping after 3 eps, and Full House– yeah, never finished it.).
Sometimes the actors/actresses playing the leads can also determine whether I’d want to watch the drama or not. And the writer behind them and their team!
These days however, I just follow my own instincts since I consider myself an experienced drama watcher. ^_^ 😀
Hahaha….yes! we have become the experienced watchers…lol 😀
That’s true….most of the times, the ones JB or GF have liked/recapped, I have loved those shows but there are many (mostly oldies) that I came to love as well without their recommendation…also, sometimes the love didn’t match to the same level as them….now I decide on my own mood….actors are one of the major factors to start but if the show doesn’t continue to interest me, I drop it even if it has my favs…
I did drop Secret Garden after ep 1 but later picked it up again and found it really funny if not completely awesome….
Full House was one of the earlier dramas that I watched and liked it but it left me a bit disappointed on certain levels….oh the untapped potential of a contract marriage theme…
This was one of the posts I glanced at and thought, “I must come back to this…” and I have!
It really is fascinating how drama-picking shifts as you gain experience. I never did run across Dramawiki as a drama-picking sight (I use it to find out cast members and search an actors history). But HULU had a rec list based on what you’d just watched. It wasn’t perfect (mainly based on what actors were in what) but it gave me a line to follow.
Then I discovered Dramabeans! 😀 I used their “Year in Review” lists a lot back in the day. Pretty much until I’d exhausted them. And their review list was helpful, too. I was actually able to figure out what things didn’t work for them but did work for me and use the list that way as well. (So, they didn’t like “Secret Garden” as much, but their reason was something that I recognized actually worked for me. One person’s bug is another’s feature. 😉 )
Now, of course, I’m plugged in with other bloggers and their rec’s, and the combined buzz they’ll generate gives me a good heads up on whether or not a drama is worth trying out. (“Heartless City” came to me via that route.)
And I’ve finally reached the level of #11. Sometimes it burns me: “Gu Family Book” came from a writer that had entertained me quite well in the past with “Baker King Kim Dak Gu”. But sometimes it really pays off! (Currently watching “Miss Korea” because of its “Pasta” credentials, and it’s working out so far. “Two Weeks” attracted me partially from the writer credit. Though… the pics of Lee Joon-ki didn’t hurt a bit. 😉 )
You spelled it all the process really clearly, snow_white! 😀
Aw…that’s so sweet of you to come back here as it was posted quite a few days back:)
I’ve used Dramawiki a LOT for reading the synopsis and choosing what attracted me before I discovered Dramabeans….the site actually opened a whole new world where I could see that the drama industry is so large and has been there from so many years….of course then the rating and reviews from DB was the next thing that helped me….blogosphere came after that…
As of now…I simply choose whatever looks intriguing and that depends on so many factors….you are so right about GFB….the writer wrote one of my favs Dalja’s Spring and it was hard to believe that the two shows were penned by the same writer!!
Thanks for dropping by and sharing the experience 😀