1) Otto no Kanojo - 3.8% (TBS / Autumn 2013)
Starring Kawaguchi Haruna
HEAT - 3.8% (FujiTV / Summer 2015)
Starring AKIRA
3) Kazoku no Uta - 3.9% (FujiTV / Spring 2012)
Starring Odagiri Jo
4) Message - 4.4% (NTV / Winter 2003)
Starring Mannaka Hitomi
5) Kazoku no Urajijo - 4.5% (FujiTV / Autumn 2013)
Starring Zaizen Naomi
6) Lion Sensei - 4.7% (NTV / Autumn 2003)
Starring Takenaka Naoto
Tatakau! Shoten Girl - 4.7% (FujiTV / Spring 2015)
Starring Watanabe Mayu & Inamori Izumi
8) Risk no Kamisama - 5.1% (FujiTV / Summer 2015)
Starring Tsutsumi Shinichi
Asunaro Sansannanabyoshi - 5.1% (FujiTV / Summer 2014)
Starring Yanagiba Toshiro
10) Keiji Ichiro - 5.2% (TBS / Winter 2013)
Starring Kato Haruhiko
11) Regatta Kimi to ita eien - 5.5% (TV Asahi / Summer 2006)
Starring Hayami Mokomichi
12) Hito Natsu no Papa e - 5.6% (TBS / Summer 2003)
Starring Ueto Aya
13) Ranpo R - 5.7% (NTV / Winter 2004)
Starring Fujii Takashi
14) Masshiro - 5.8% (TBS / Winter 2015)
Starring Horikita Maki
15) Omotesando Koukou Gasshobu - 5.9% (TBS / Summer 2015)
Starring Yoshine Kyoko
Based on the results above, here are some trends I would like to highlight:
- 10 out the 15 dramas come from the last 5 years i.e. 2010 to 2015. This coincides with the general view that drama ratings have been really low in recent years.
- The number of dramas from each of the Big 4 private networks in ascending order: TV Asahi = 1 / NTV = 3 / TBS = 5 / FujiTV = 6 i.e. TBS and FujiTV are in the race for the most number of low-ratings dramas. Surprisingly, TV Asahi's only entry was Regatta in 2006 which had hogged the No.1 title for a long time before "Kazoku no Uta" came along to be referred to as a textbook example of a lowly-rated flop in the drama world. Now, this undesirable title belongs to "Otto no Kanojo" and "HEAT". This also means that TV Asahi has been doing so well in the ratings game at least in the last 10 years or so even though it was lagging behind the other three for a long time.
- Big and small names alike are not spared the low ratings curse. Apparently, it was rumoured that Odagiri was so sick of being under the ratings pressure brought about by "Kazoku no Uta" that he has reportedly vowed to stick to late-night or WOWOW dramas from now on.
- In terms of the season which has the most worst performers -> Winter = 4 / Spring = 2 / Summer = 6 / Autumn = 3. This seems to coincide with the general observation that summer dramas tend to do badly because people are outside enjoying the summer holidays.
- Being bad at the ratings game doesn't necessarily mean that it is a critical flop too. The most recent example was "Omotesando Koukou Gasshobu" which did rather badly in ratings but its female lead who is a newbie Yoshine Kyoko actually won the Best Leading Actress award in the Drama Academy Award. Baffles me how it happened but she must have won over those who watched the drama and voted for her.
Just an ending note, out of these 15 dramas, I've only watched the first episode of "Risk no Kamisama" which really spooked me so much that I didn't want to continue. It's not that I consciously shy away from these dramas because of ratings but I guess there must be something about them which turns me away.
How many of these dramas have you watched? And do you think they are really as bad as the ratings reflect?
The only one I watched was "Kazoku no Uta" and it was pretty bad. But I'll watch anything with Odagiri Joe in it.
ReplyDeleteOmotesando Choir Group wasn't bad at all, instead it is pretty entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI also love that drama, shame on the ratings.
DeleteDrama ratings are getting lower and lower and two digits ratings seems to be harder to obtain no matter the lead. Some actors/actresses still have their loyal public but habits are changing (and plotwise dramas are quite repetitive, which probably won't help).
ReplyDeleteI also checked airtime just to get an idea of how low the ratings really are...9 of them aired at 22:00; 2 at 20:00 and the rest at 21:00.
I had the chance to partially watch Omotesando Kouko Gasshoubu and it was boring... I watched more than one episode because there was nothing else to watch at the same timeslot and I mostly kept the TV going while waiting for something else to start. >_>
Otto no Kanojo was wonderful! Definitely recommend it despite the ratings. Kawaguchi Haruna was so fun to watch when her character switched places. She is underrated as an actress. I liked her in Tantei no Tantei as well.
ReplyDeleteOmotesando is quite enjoyable and I'm not surprised Yoshine Kyoko won, she did great for a newbie. Personally I think Risk no Kamisama's first episode was quite good but then it just went downhill and I dropped after ep4. Time slot plays a role too and the competition at the same time slot as well.
ReplyDeleteRatings don't usually influence me because they don't necessarily mean the quality of the show. Some dramas are just overrated and some underrated. At some point, I also don't understand Japanese's interests in dramas as they bewildered me. Personally, I just watch whatever I like.
I thought Suzuki Sensei is the lowest average rating drama on prime time slot, though indeed it's highly appreciated among TV industry. Does they not count TV Tokyo drama?
ReplyDeleteNowadays, the problem of low ratings is not restricted to late night dramas only because it's the primetime (7pm to 9pm) dramas which are finding it difficult to achieve double-digit ratings. That's why the old argument of unfavourable timeslots does not hold ground at all. The problem now boils down to the fundamental issue of whether the drama's story, casting, acting, production quality, directing and presenting can attract viewers. However, it doesn't look like the TV stations are able to grasp viewers' preferences going by the hits and misses we see in the last 10 years.
ReplyDeleteTV Tokyo's drama timeslots are mainly reserved for foreign productions such as those from South Korea and US. Using this season as an example, the only in-house productions are the episodic-type of mystery dramas on Wednesdays and Sundays while there are only two drama series i.e. Tsuribaka Nishi and Kodoku no Gurume on Friday nights. As such, due to the low number of in-house dramas from TV Tokyo, they are usually not compared to the Big 4 when it comes to ratings of dramas because the latter do produce dramas of a certain quantity per season on an ongoing basis. WOWOW never releases its ratings while NHK is primarily subscription-based so the playing field is not level if you compare them to the private networks.
From the responses, it does look like even the dramas with low ratings have their fans. Even I do have my favourites among some of the dramas considered as flops in the ratings game. In this era where on-demand viewing, live-streaming, watching recordings at a later time etc is prevalent but not factored in the ratings calculation, I think we'll continue to see the trend of poor ratings for most dramas unless something can be done to tweak the calculation process and reflect the true popularity of the dramas.
All valid points, although my unscientific observation is that most people inside Japan don't stream but instead watch the programs during their regular broadcast time-slots.
ReplyDeleteMore to the point is the tired and repetitive format of most dramas -- I mean, how many times-slip dramas can a person watch..?!? Don't we ever get tired of watching someone in a samurai costume expressing amazement about riding in a car..?
Also, the fact the TV Tokyo's only in-house dramas are Tsuribaka and Kodoku no Gurume tells you that no effort is being expended to create anything new.