JTBC's ambitious attempt to dominate weekend viewing with a two-episode Friday block is stumbling badly in the new year. The network billed the night as a premium drama slot powered by star casting — but the ratings are brutal.
The 'Friday Series' launched last summer with Lee Dong-wook and Lee Sung-kyung's The Innocent Man, moved on to Song Joong-ki and Chun Woo-hee's My Youth, and now airs Seo Hyun-jin and Jang Ryul's Love Me. All three leaned into mellow, low-key romance. But binging nearly two hours in one sitting on a Friday may work for high-intensity genres — not for slow-burn melodramas.
First up, The Innocent Man leveraged Lee Dong-wook's star power but only managed a peak 3.2% and a low of 1.7% (Nielsen Korea). Viewers found the premise dated and the tonal balance unconvincing. Things got even worse with My Youth. Even playing the Song Joong-ki card — after JTBC's synergy on Reborn Rich — the series hit a humiliating 1.5% low. Many felt that classic melodrama tropes like first love, family woes, and terminal illness just didn't deliver enough pull to lock in loyal viewers.
Current title Love Me also shows little sign of a turnaround. Adapted from a Swedish series and shaped by PD Cho Young-min's signature style, it debuted at 2.2% but slid to 1.1% by episode 6. It has since inched up to 1.8%, yet it still hasn't recovered its premiere rating and is already heading into its finale.
The story follows OB/GYN Seo Jun-kyung (Seo Hyun-jin) as she builds a relationship with her next-door neighbor Joo Do-hyun (Jang Ryul). Rather than a simple "healing romance," it digs into raw, uncomfortable emotions among family, lovers, and friends. While that realistic weight can be a strength, critics argue that two back-to-back episodes on a Friday night can feel heavy and tedious to close out the week.
The heart of the debate is the 'Fri-Fri' scheduling — two consecutive episodes every Friday. Typical K-dramas air across different days (Mon–Tue, Wed–Thu, Sat–Sun), which helps establish viewing habits. For a genre that needs time to build emotional rhythm, forcing a binge on Fridays may actually erode focus.
Producers see it differently. PD Cho Young-min of Love Me explained that airing two episodes a day "reduces frustration and lets viewers watch straight through." But judging by results so far, the binge format has acted less as a selling point and more as a barrier that pushes audiences to skip live viewing altogether.
After Love Me ends on the 23rd, JTBC will pause the Friday Series, then take another swing in March with Park Jin-young and Kim Min-ju's The Shining. If JTBC wants Friday nights to be the new starting line for dramas, they'll need more than big names — they must rethink scheduling and pick genres that fit the format.