Ji Chang-wook‘s new drama Melting Me Softly premiered Saturday night on tvN with a modest nationwide TV rating of 2.5 percent or an estimated 652,000 viewers, data from Nielsen Korea show.

This figure is considered good based on the benchmark for the average rating of Korean dramas. However, when compared to the first episode ratings of other cable dramas in 2019, Melting Me Softly‘s 2.5 percent is way below average.

So far this year, at least 35 primetime Korean dramas had made their premieres on cable TV, whose first episode ratings average out to 3.2 percent. Overall, Melting Me Softly‘s record is in the top 21-25 bracket of the ranking of 2019 cable dramas based on first episode rating. Among tvN dramas, it is within the bottom 3, placing 14th out of 16 series.

As shown in this chart, Melting Me Softly is in the bottom 3 of the tvN drama ranking based on first episode ratings. On the other hand, Hotel del Luna and Arthdal Chronicles, its predecessors, occupy the top two spots.

Melting Me Softly is the fifth cable drama to premiere in September. Three of the first four series obtained ratings higher than 2.5 percent—Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency achieved 4.3 percent, Pegasus Market 3.2 percent, and Miss Lee 2.6 percent.

Written by Baek Mi-kyung of Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and Woman of Dignity, Melting Me Softly tells the story of a variety show producer (Ji Chang-wook) and a TV broadcast station’s part-time employee (Won Jin-ah) who agree to be frozen for 24 hours as participants of a televised experiment called the Frozen Human Project. When they regain consciousness, they realize 20 years have already passed and they somehow time traveled into the future where they must keep their core body temperature at 33 degrees Celsius (91 F) to survive.

Main poster of Melting Me Softly featuring Ji Chang-wook and Won Jin-ah.

Meanwhile, SBS’s Vagabond, which is headlined by Lee Seung-gi and Bae Suzy, has maintained its impressive rating performance on its latest broadcast. Its three new episodes recorded 6.8, 8.1, and 10.2 percent and drew up to 1.9 million viewers. The series is broadcast an hour later than Melting Me Softly‘s timeslot, which starts at 9 p.m. Korean Standard Time every Saturday and Sunday.

Read the full ratings report for September 28.

ONGOING KOREAN DRAMAS: 18 Again (NEW) | Alice | Do You Like Brahms? | Flower of Evil | Homemade Love Story (NEW) | Lies of Lies | Missing: The Other Side | Record of Youth (POPULAR) | Stranger 2 | When I Was the Most Beautiful | Zombie Detective (NEW)

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