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alexandralI like making lists and tables and all such things. It seemed a good idea to start my Korean dramas ratings list - I find other people's lists to be a very useful source of recommendation.
I tried to be fair, ignore any of my subjective feelings for one or another drama, but at the same time I took into consideration my more objective feelings on, for example, how well women are portrayed? or can this drama benefit from cutting some of the unnecessary scenes and improving pace?. Also I tried to apply the general criteria of how good the story, humour, dialogue, acting, direction and characters are and how much sense the ending makes (but poor ending doesn't mean sad ending - sad ending might make sense too). Some other criteria I applied are: innovativeness ,cinematography and cultural impact. I also tried to take into consideration the average opinion of the fans, where I knew it.
The list only contains the dramas that I have seen in their entirety (but sometimes I used fast forward). There isn't many dramas that receive less 5 out of 10 on this list - this is just because I don't usually continue watching a drama that I don't find good to a certain degree. I will be adding more dramas and comments as I continue and link the dramas to their Drama Wiki pages. I want to add Japanese drama ratings later too.
| Drama title | Drama ratings (out of 10) | Comments |
| 9 End 2 Outs | 8 | Fresh, different, funny, witty and romantic. |
| A Love To Kill | 8 | A rare Dostoevskian psychological drama. |
| Air City | 5 | Has it's ups and downs. Good actors. The ending doesn't make sense at all. |
| All in | 6 | A nun and an ex-convict fall in love in a casino. |
| April Snow | 4 | One of those dramas that sound much better than they are. |
| Auction house | 6 | Interesting drama about Korean art and much UST between Yoon So Yi and Jung Chan. |
| Bad guy | 6 | The ending that will make you want to pull your hair out. |
| Baker King, Kim Tak Goo | 7 | Will-be-classic makjang with ratings soaring up to 50%. |
| Beautiful days | 8 | Pulls at you heart strings like no other drama and has the best kisses. |
| Boys Before Flowers | 6 | Great fun if you are 10. My daughter's favourite so far. |
| Brilliant Legacy | 7 | Good family drama, especially if Lee Seung Ki is your idea of hot. |
| Capital Scandal | 9 | Awesome costumes, awesome unusual story and two awesome couples. |
| Cinderella's sister | 7 | Well-written drama about family, healing and love. |
| City Hall | 7 | Small-town politics can be very hot. |
| Chuno | 9 | I willl need more time to express the awesomeness that is Chuno in full. |
| Coffee Prince | 7 | Great cross-dressing drama in slice-of-life style |
| Conspiracy in the Court | 8 | A bit too complex at times, but awesome nonetheless |
| Crazy for You | 6 | Get hankies ready for lots of angst. |
| Creating destiny | 6 | Lovely main couple, the rest pretty forgettable. |
| Dal Ja's Spring | 6 | Main herouine looks very odd. She falls in love with a younger man. |
| Daemul | 7 | Well-acted and well-written. heavy on politics |
| Damo | 8 | For the lovers of strong female characters - one of the best historical dramas there is. |
| Dear heaven | 7 | Solid old-school family drama with Yoon Jung Hee. |
| Delightful Girl Choon Hyang | 5 | Second half dragged and dragged and dragged. |
| Dream High | 6 | As pretty and as sweet as multicolored candy. |
| Fantasy couple | 7 | Slightly hyperactive but the chemistry between Han Ye Seul and Oh Ji Ho makes all things very very good. |
| Family's honour | 7 | The best family drama I have seen so far - I want subtitles! |
| Fly High | 7 | It is never late. All you need is determination. |
| Full House | 7 | Very lovable. |
| Get Karl! Oh Soo Jung | 5 | The main herouine is a gold-digger and the whole drama is set to prove that it is fine to be one. but Oh Ji Ho is gorgeous. |
| Goong | 9 | Absolute classic. |
| Great Inheritance | 7 | Good family drama. |
| H.I.T | 7 | Interesting serial-killer story with a strong lady cop and a prosecutor in love with her. She saves his life at least twice.. |
| Hello My Teacher | 7 | Forbidden love between a teacher and her pupil. |
| Hello! Miss | 5 | Somewhat odd, but worthy of watching for the second couple's sake. |
| Hero | 6 | Funny, with several engaging characters. |
| Honesty | 6 | Not for you if you don't like Ryu Shi Won. |
| Hotelier | 6 | Korean "Pretty Woman". |
| How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor, | 6 | Park Shi Hoo is insanely pretty. |
| Hong Gil Dong | 6 | Good at the beginning, but has some problems from the feminist POV and poor ending. |
| Iljimae | 6 | Solid historical drama, but nothing out of ordinary |
| Jejoongwon | 6 | |
| In-Soon is Pretty | 4 | Two main leads have no chemistry together whatsoever. |
| Last Scandal | 8 | Loved it |
| Lawyers of The Great Republic Korea (The) | 6 | Quite good drama, but lags. |
| Let's Go To The Beach | 6 | Quite adorable drama with Lee Wan. No kisses. |
| Lovers | 7 | Romance! Romance! Romance! |
| Lovers in Paris | 7 | For the lovers of romance stories, but the second half is not as good as the first. |
| Lovers in Prague | 6 | Feels less engaging than the other "Lovers!" |
| Marry me, Mary | 7 | Not the best as far as writing goes, but made me grin from ear to ear , all the way through. Extra point for lovely music. |
| Mawang | 10 | Perfect drama. Watch it! |
| Money's Warfare | 8 | Like no other drama I have seen. |
| My girl | 7 | One of the best traditional dramas: a love story between pseudo-siblings with abundance of strange fashions. |
| My Lovely Sam-Soon | 8 | Very unusual, more like a Western romance story. |
| My sweet Seoul. | 6 | A breath of fresh air, but it is pity that "a girl over 30 has to be dying to get a man" storyline is so terribly overdone. |
| Nine Tailed Fox | 7 | Do you like vampire stories as I do? |
| One Percent of Anything | 6 | Good family drama with Kang Dong Won (who should make more dramas) |
| Partner | 7 | Great chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Kim Hyun Joo |
| Pasta | 6 | Lee Sun Gyun's voice is so soft and velvety |
| Piano | 6 | Piano! Angst! Stepsibling Love! Angst! More Angst! |
| Powerful Opponents | 6 | This could have been so good if not for the most confusing ending of all times. |
| Prosecutor Princess | 6 | The leads are excellent. |
| Queen of Housewives | 7 | Much better than the title implies. |
| Resurrection | 7 | They make very good revenge dramas in Korea |
| Scale of providence | 5 | Good actors, "all over the place" plot and unresolved shipping |
| Secret Garden | 7 | Romantic makjang. Cousin Oska is adorable and makes the drama. |
| Sign | 7 | Starts a bit shaky, but becomes really good in the second half. For someone who wants something different. |
| Snow White | 7 | Good traditional "Cinderella story" drama. |
| Soul | 8 | Like "A Tale of two susters" 10 episodes long, and just as good |
| Star's Lover | 6 | Choi Ji Woo , Yoo Ji Tae and lots of chemistry. |
| Still, marry me | 6 | Nice girly drama. |
| Take Care of the Young Lady | 6 | Messy but adorable |
| Temptation of an angel | 7 | For the fans of traditional melodrama. Revenge, illegitimate children, comas and plastic surgery abound, everything is deliciously over the top. |
| Terroir | 6 | Can you love two people at once? |
| Thank you | 6 | Slightly emotionally manipulative. |
| The Legend | 10 | Perfect period fantasy drama |
| The Painter of the Wind | 8 | Paintings are cool!!! |
| The Scale of Providence | 5 | Great chemistry between the two main male characters. Forgettable female leads. One of the most direction-less dramas that I have seen. |
| The Snow Queen | 7 | Terminal illness drama done right. With Hyun Bin. |
| The Vineyard Man | 4 | The ugliest male lead - where did they find him? |
| Thorn Birds | 6 | Family drama crossed with makjang. Good points: totaly adorable kid and Han Hye Jin a. |
| Time Between Dog and Wolf | 6 | Gangsta story with lots of hot romance and Lee Jun Ki. |
| Tree of Heaven | 7 | I start weeping from just thinking about it. |
| Triple | 6 | Poor ending. |
| What Happened in Bali | 6 | Very depressing. |
| What's Up Fox? | 5 | Unconventional and cheeky. |
| When It's At Night | 7 | One of the best female characters in Korean drama. |
| Who Are You? | 6 | The screen time devoted to the unfunny father is the time lost. |
| Wish upon a star/ Pick the stars | 6 | Guilty pleasure. |
| Winter Sonata | 7 | Korean first lady likes it. |
| Will it snow for Christmas | 6 | Angst-fest with most gorgeous Goo Soo. |
| Witch Amusement | 6 | Lovely but no substance. |
| Women of the sun | 6 | Revenge, lost siblings, hot guys, childhood loves, angst etc. |
| You are beautiful | 7 | The best in the "young love" category. Also very funny and has exceptionally beautiful music. |
These are the dramas I have watched in full (there are quite few dramas I gave up on but I don't think it is quite fair for me to judge a drama without finishing it). I will appreciate any new drama recommendations.
