Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Update to the Autumn 2012 drama ratings race

And here we are again for the weekly update:

1) Doctor X - 17.83%
2) PRICELESS - 17.18%
3) Aibou Season 11 - 16.60%
4) Akumu-chan - 11.86%
5) Kekkon Shinai - 11.60%
6) MONSTERS - 11.31%
7) Tokumei Tantei - 10.50%
8) TOKYO Airport - 10.05%

The positions are pretty much unchanged with a new addition this week because TOKYO Airport managed to crawl back into the top 10% group with a surge of 2.3% for its 8th episode. However, the average is just 0.05% above the 10% mark so anything going wrong this week will send this drama tumbling out of the top 10 again.

Just when you think that PRICELESS has a chance at the No.1 title because it got 18.1% in its 6th episode, Doctor X retalliates with an even better 18.6% for its broadcast within the same week. The problem with PRICELESS boils down to consistency and Doctor X has been doing so well that it will take a far bigger increase for PRICELESS to have a chance at overtaking Doctor X as we head to the end of the season. It also has to keep its eyes on No.3 Aibou which has been hovering between the 15% and 16% range but may just take over the No.2 spot if PRICELESS suffers a huge dip in its numbers even for a couple of weeks.

Akumu-chan, Kekkon Shinai and MONSTERS are still firmly in the 11% range but the order may change anytime if anything happens during the last few weeks of the Autumn 2012 season. Personally, I'm rooting for Kekkon Shinai to get the No.4 spot but Akumu-chan is doing quite OK that it will be an uphill climb for Kekkon Shinai.

And now for the below-10s...

9) Osozaki no Himawari - 9.70%
10) Ooku - 8.71%
11) Perfect Blue - 8.06%
12) Going My Home - 8.04%
13) Tokyo Zenryoku Shoujo - 8.00%
14) Koukou Nyuushi - 6.78%
15) Resident - 6.74%
16) Poison - 3.57%
17) Girls Talk - 2.26%
18) PIECE - 2.22%
19) Sugarless - 1.73%

There's been quite a fair bit of publicity for Osozaki no Himawari recently which may have to do with its lacklustre ratings so far. Generally, reviews for this drama seem OK but I really wonder what could be the real reason behind its poor showing. Coincidentally or not, the other Tuesday drama on FujiTV is also doing rather badly which leads me to guess if there might be a strong competitor program on other channels.

Actually, if I remove the midnight slot dramas from this ranking, Resident would be the last drama in the ranking for primetime offerings. Is the story that bad or has it got to do with the fact that the main cast are still too raw and not very well-known to pull in the viewers week after week? And talking about coincidences, the only TBS drama in the top 10 group is MONSTERS while Resident, Perfect Blue and Ooku are all in the single-digit zone.

There's talk of TBS losing a lot of its ability to pull in viewers with its dramas in recent years but it may have a potential winner in the Minato Kanae novel turned into drama starring Suzuki Kyoka. I just wonder if it can live up to its expectation though because dramas have to be relatively toned down for the general TV-viewing audience and if it can't be as controversial or dramatic as Kokuhaku (starring Matsu Takako) or even Shokuzai (starring Koizumi Kyoko), it will turn out to be a half-baked attempt and definitely lacking in satisfaction. That would be a waste of the original material especially since Minato is one hot writer these days with so many of her works being dramatised or made into movies alongside with Higashino Keigo.

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