'The Judge Returns' predicted a Friday-Saturday drama craze from the very beginning of its broadcast.
On Jan. 6, according to FUNdex, the official platform of Good Data Corporation, a K-content competitiveness specialist organization, MBC's Friday-Saturday drama 'The Judge Returns' (planned by Jang Jae-hoon / written by Kim Kwang-min / directed by Lee Jae-jin, Park Mi-yeon / produced by OH Story, Slingshot Studio) ranked 5th in TV-OTT drama buzz for the first week of January. It ranked first in the news institutional sector, and lead actor Jisung rose to 3rd in TV-OTT drama performer buzz, generating a strong reaction.
In addition, as of Jan. 4, according to Kinoights, an integrated OTT content search platform, topping today's TVing and Wavve rankings and simultaneously claiming first place in the OTT trend ranking clearly proved the rising momentum of MBC's Friday-Saturday drama 'The Judge Returns'.
Ratings surged to a peak of 6.9% (provided by Nielsen Korea, based on metropolitan households), announcing the emergence of a dark horse in the Friday-Saturday drama battle. The top minute came in episode 1, with Lee Han-young (played by Jisung), who fell from judge to prisoner, desperately screaming in the ending, "(I am) not the culprit, not the culprit," amplifying viewers' interest in the next episode.
Meanwhile, episodes 1 and 2 depicted a whirlwind development in which corrupt judge Lee Han-young, who delivered biased rulings for his own gain, was framed and met death, then returned to 10 years earlier. In his newly obtained second life, Han-young, determined not to repeat past mistakes, faces the question of what gambit he will play against Kang Shin-jin (played by Park Hee-soon), the absolute villain in the judiciary who ordered his murder. Also, it is an unmissable point of interest which case will lead to an alliance with Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office prosecutor Kim Jin-a (played by Won Jin-a), who was entangled with him in a past ill fate before his return.
'The Judge Returns' is a justice-implementing regression drama in which corrupt judge Lee Han-young, who lived as a slave to a giant law firm and returned to 10 years earlier, punishes great evil through new choices, and it airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 p.m.
[Photo] MBC 'The Judge Returns'
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