I don’t know, maybe I have selective memory loss when it comes to this drama. I went to MDL and it got a score of 5,4 from 10 and only 14 votes, it does tell something, or not?
Haha, at another page not even a single person made a voting.
Madly in Love got a 6,6 at MDL
Yes, I was curious so was poking around these sites, (in China?) it’s called Green Fish, ha ha maybe they can give it different colours depending on the region it’s licensed to.
Yes, that is another name for the drama. LOL It reminds of my mom and me, we have this one towel, she says it’s green and I say it’s blue, to be precise it is turquoise (Wow, first time I got that word correct in English in the first try it is way shorter in German - türkis.)
DRAMAS
Level Up (2019). That was much worse than Melting Me Softly AND The Undateables. Possibly even worse than I Picked Up a Celebrity on The Street. I think if I had to vote for the absolute worst I’ve watched, it would take the medal.
But you can’t go wrong with anything featuring Sung Hoon as a lead. They are one worse than the other.
My Secret Romance is also a strong contestant.
Infuriatingly old-fashioned and predictable. Horrid acting too. Watching while doing other things, crocheting, eating, is ok. I could never give it undivided attention, it would be too boring. Even looking at a good-looking man gets boring after a while if there’s nothing interesting going on. he has this blank face with a total toolbox of two or three expressions. When there are so many good-looking Korean actors who can also act.
The writer didn’t have what to fill the episodes with and made them shorter. The real content starts at 1:45 and finishes at 43:45. So the actual content is 42 minutes out of the supposed 1 hour. If you take out the flashback, what will be left? Half an hour? These writers have filled up episodes with zero ideas. Everything is stolen from other dramas and romantic comedies/melodramas from all eras and all countries. It could be a telenovela, a Hollywood rom-com, or come from any other country in the world.
We all knew since episode 1 what would happen next - only a few details may change, otherwise it’s like “painting by numbers”, or “cookie cutter screenplay”. Towards the end there were no ideas whatsoever, so in ep. 10 a fake and unbelievable misunderstanding was inserted. This episode was on a new level of stupid. The excessive and “in your face” fan service will get on your nerves. Little details carelessly executed. Dialogue repetitive and not leading anywhere, scenes awkwardly cut. And the ending scene seems to come directly from the Fifties. I thought I was in a time-machine.
This drama is so bland, predictable, full of worn clichés, that it is perfect after a stressful day. It numbs your mind and makes a good transition between working out your brain and sleep. This doesn’t make it a good drama, though. It’s like eating junk food, nothing more.
But I do have to mention The Undateables… How can a list of worst k-dramas exist without it?
Handsome guy and Jeung Eum (a.k.a. The Undateables) (2018)
I had to force myself to go on and eventually finish this drama. The story was cliché, predictable and completely unrealistic.
The main actress was extremely irritating with her clownish over-the-top acting especially in the first half of the show (not to mention the terrible styling, which got better towards the end). I would suggest she sticks to dramatic roles like The Secret, because when she goes in rom-com mode one wants to slap her hard. Even my beloved Namgoong Min was wooden, expressionless and boring. And the two of them had ZERO chemistry - like two co-workers who politely go through the motions to finish a chore they were paid for. I actually found myself not wanting them to kiss, can you believe that?
The secondary characters were nothing to write home about. They were okay and all, but you actually didn’t care about their fate very much. The Zero Members were fun sometimes, but they were completely forgotten for a good half of the episodes in favor of the uninteresting love triangle.
And what about the cheesy, cringe-worthy lines at the ending? I genuinely felt sorry for the actors who had to say such things.
I hope Namgoong Min chooses more wisely his next project and Hwang Jung Eum forgets about romantic roles. And I will take note of the script writer’s and director’s names, so that I know to avoid them next time.
WEB DRAMAS
Web dramas are mostly terrible, especially the Viki Originals, but here are the three contestants for first place.
The Facetale: Cinderia (2016) (10 6-minute episodes)
Poor Choi Tae Hwan. Is his career in such a slump that he had to do this lame excuse of a show? A makeup tutorial wrapped in a cliché Cinderella story. But even as a makeup tutorial it doesn’t work, because the person talks so quickly and the subtitles fly so fast that you’d have to pause at every sentence to make sense of what they are saying. If I want a makeup tutorial I can go to youtube, thanks. Short as it is, it’s still a waste of time. It does have some slightly humorous moments but you mostly laugh at yourself, wondering why you’re watching this.
The Universe’s Star (2016) – 6 eps
A very plain actress with a beautiful smile, and an idol male lead (Suho) who cannot really act, try to convince us in an absurd story with elements taken from popular dramas. I don’t think this is on Viki, though.
Traces of the Hand (17 seven-minute episodes)
It must have seemed interesting as a 1-page synopsis, but the execution was very poor, both from the screenwriter and the director.
It started as a bland, uninteresting youth romcom which you could watch only while doing something else at the same time like eating or crocheting, and in the last 3-4 episodes it suddenly remembered it wants to take a dark turn and give a serious message about greed. Although the latter was unexpected and thus slightly more interesting, both registers (the romcom and the dark) were awkwardly executed, none of them really worked, and the transitions were too abrupt, hard to believe.
The actors were meh as well and failed to make us take any interest in their character’s fate. Totally forgettable. I regret spending time on it.
The Miracle (2016) (12 fifteen-minute episodes)
The story was a rehash of things done again and again, a collection of story ideas picked up from other dramas without a hint of originality, and the way these copied things were pasted together was not skillful, because there were many situations and reactions that were not psychologically realistic at all - including the ending which was kept ambiguous on purpose, because the writers put themselves in a corner and couldn’t figure out a way to get out of it. Everyone was a stereotype: the two sisters, the k-pop star, his manager, the school bullies and the poor excuse for parents - cartoons have more depth than these supposedly real-life characters. The comedy was of the very crude kind (think elephant sounds when the fat girl walks), and most of the actors mediocre. The main girl is an experienced actress, but again she lacks subtlety. The male main lead, although visually interesting, has still lots to learn as an actor, and… let’s be kind and stop there.
What’s With Money? (6 thirteenish-minute episodes)
My notes on it were short:
Remind me never to watch something written and directed by this guy. WTH? It’s totally ridiculous and unfinished.
FILMS
Princess Hapyung’s Weight Loss
Childish comedy about an extremely fat, kind-hearted but also very stupid woman who decides to marry a man she loves without thinking that he is not in love with her. When she realizes the situation, she decides to shed weight and puts on a brave effort. But the ending will leave you seething with anger and disappointment. Not that the rest of it, full of silliness and cringe-worthy slapstick, is anything worth spending one hour of your precious life for. I sincerely regret it: cleaning behind the refrigerator would have been much more enjoyable, and it would have left me with a sweet sense of achievement, whereas this has left me grumpy and irritable for having wasted my time. Ugh!
Star: Radiant Love (2012)
Why oh why didn’t I trust the reviews and skip this one? One of the most ridiculously written scripts in Korean entertainment.
Good lord, that is quite the comprehensive list there! I’m going to have to check some of them out but a couple jumps out for initial comments.
My Secret Romance I’ve already seen. I’ve only joined Viki since February and had not seen that many dramas then, I think I started a few (this being one) from some recommends somewhere and with such a cheesy title gave it a go. I didn’t think it was bad as such, just ok but that might have been because I was still a newbie to dramas and everything was shiny and new, having only seen a small sample of shows to not be able to see recurring themes. Maybe it was a forgettable show if what I recall most of it was I liked the tune to one of the OST and was humming it for weeks and how chuffed I was reading the lyrics the thump,thump, thump of my heart and was able to sync it with the sung words kong, kong, kong.
I just looked up something about that show and it’s Sung Hoon AGAIN! Is he following me around?
(I didn’t pay any notice to who the actors were then)
Level up (that Sung Hoon again? He’s everywhere!) being worse than The Undateables? Now that’s going on the next list! I started watching The Undateables because you had posted this elsewhere
With such a stellar opinion I had to check it out and two or three episodes in my reaction to her ability to do comedy was something like
@irmar-- I share your pain – and even worse than just watching was to have committed to be on the team on several of the dramas you list – working on a series when I couldn’t understand the plot after working on every episode, praying for the broadcasting station to announce episodes were going to be cut
Add My Heart Twinkle Twinkle https://www.viki.com/tv/25936c-my-heart-twinkle-twinkle- I could never figure out the relationship between the title and the drama. I was the channel manager! Can you guess the story is about the fast food fried chicken business? The story started with three sisters but there was a scandal about the middle sister so her part was cut out and she just disappeared from the story. And it turned out in real life the actress who was cut out of the plot was actually a victim and not the perpetrator. The number of episodes were cut. The producer did not even bother to publish the OST. One of the reviewers wrote “Seriously the worst show I have ever watched, without a doubt. Unbearable. Spent half the time skipping, hoping it would get better and the female characters would redeem themselves. It didn’t and they didn’t.”
Add Playful Kiss (Korean version) https://www.viki.com/tv/504c-playful-kiss – This rom com is enormously popular at viki but I thought it was just silly.
I watched both the Korean and the Japanese version and I really can’t decide which one is worse. It’s the kind of female character I hate, and it gives such a bad example to youngsters: that if you’re clingy and pathetic and beg the man, he will become yours at the end.
I watched the Japanese version (S1 & 2) over on Cruncyroll, for some strange reason they had a handful of dramas along with all the anime’s.
It’s a good watch to get a fix of the underdog always winning or if you’re a down on your luck gambler because she has better luck than the Irish and an uncanny ability to fend off all love rivals to win out in the end, deflecting them off better than the shield to the Death Star. Hooray for happy endings!
Ah-- I forgot probably one of the most expensive to produce awful dramas
Arthdal Chronicles! I’m told it was a poor take off of Game of Thrones but I can’t say because I didn’t watch Game of Thrones as I don’t subscribe to the service which produced it. It was like Song Joong Ki was an Asian Pict - except instead of painting himself blue he literally had blue blood, and was a horse whisperer. He played a “primitive” enslaved by the tribe led by Jang Dong Gun as well as the son of Jang Dong Gun. Kim Ji Won was a vestal virgin. Jang Dong Gun played a warrior king whose birth secret is that he also bleeds blue. As I watched the series I kept on thinking every weekend, I should be doing something productive. I kept on hoping it would get better but it didn’t – the ending leaves you in the air with the hint there might be a season 2.
I simply had to Google this from your description and there’s a lot of chatter about the release date of season 2, so it looks like your wish has been granted! You’ll have to put off de-fluffing your belly button for another day.
Was going to read the webtoon first then watch the drama for comparison. But the webtoon only had 6 chapters, the rest nowhere to be found (on desktop browser) but I did get the look and feel just on those chapters. I thought I’d see if the show was any good standing on it’s own two legs. Having just finished it, have to agree 100% about it being all over the place.
Just comparing the bits of the webtoon and the shows version of those chapters, I could see why the show was nowhere near the quality of the webtoon.
The really poor editing of the end of episode 4 left me completely baffled for the entire 5th episode with me rewinding to see if I hadn’t fallen asleep and missed a crucial plot point that would explain away the ??? now floating above my head.
Struck by lightning - got it, Falls into sea - right, Rescued - sure, Cuts to 2 months later - ooooh kaaay,
Ma Ri sits next to Jae Min like in ep 1 - ok I can see what they’re hinting at… Ep 4 ends.
EP 5 -Joseon period drama - Wait what? Let me jump back to Ep 4, I must have missed something MAJOR! Nope, next 5 episode is two months later but recounting the past.
5 episodes is a hell of a long recounting, but just as I’m getting the hang of who is who across the times and their story. BLAM the “mini” story ends and we have to join it all up to what happens next.
Someone just poured a big bucket of ??? over me!
I just installed the Android app and found the missing webtoon chapters (behind daily pass so only 2 chapters per day, but I’ll take it!) even there the thumbnails doesn’t have remotely anything looking Joseon period?!
You’d have to mess things up pretty badly if even Twilight was probably better put together than this!
Yes, unfortunately the webtoon is now locked past ch 6. It didn’t use to be that way, but now it is. It’s a way so webtoon can get more money… It’s possible to get it from a third party website, but I prefer webtoon. But here’s the link to the whole thing on another website Orange Marmalade hopefully that helps… Also for those wondering, there is nothing to do with the Joseon period in the webtoon, it was just something unnecessary that the writer for the kdrama thew in.
Just like me, haha, I didn’t finish it, I would need to look up what I wrote down about it either 4 or 6 and I was - o u t!
Finally got to the end of The Undatables, most of it with a 
obligation expression to the comedy that didn’t work (Jeung Eum mistakenly chucking handsome guy into the river and the dad fight raised a giggle I’ll give them that) the show also failed in getting across the emotions of the romances or breakups that were quite central to the show.
It’s one thing to watch a High School drama because you know what age the characters are supposed to be, but it’s quite disconcerting when a lot of the supposed 30-40 somethings are skipping and acting with the mannerisms of a 5 year old child (some deliberate to deliver a gag) dose not equal youthfulness. again.
Then there was the fate connection between the characters, a friends since childhood and a dash of didn’t know x was actually young x from long ago plot maybe, but practically everyone sharing some connected fate? They were more intertwined than the rats nest of cables under my desk!
Shame really, the show had potential had they approached it slightly differently and concentrated on the matchmaking a bunch of misfits concept, as the show improved slightly later on when they gave that aspect more air time.
So all in all, quite dire. Thanks!
Now, Level Up was worse than this? Computer, open the airlocks, I’m going in!
Haha, Viki just told me I did 30% of the conversation here. So I make a shout out to the rest out there join the game with dramas that made you shudder, gave your hair more spliss, made you bite your desk, ruined your toes because you either hit the wall or whatever, …
Dear Viki, it’s not me giving the others no chance to share their experience, they are not giving this chance to themselves.
So what, did I originally wanted to write? Ah, Level Up, I watched it … And I forgot about it. Do I have a virus? I don’t know since a few weeks my biological hard disk fails more often on me. Sometimes I think maybe I should watch this drama and then I find it on my already watched list. I can’t help it.
Btw, Sung Hoon is in it, that much I recall. I wished you could watch him in New Tales of Giseng, his debut. There was a weird twist in it torwards the end, but even that couldn’t ruin our enjoyment.
Anyway, if my brain doesn’t even give me one scene that I recall, it can’t be too good.
Have “fun” watching!
This probably doesn’t qualify as the worst drama suggestion, but it is one of the drama’s that frustrated me so much because of what the characters are doing. Like someone described in the reviews - it’s like watching a car wreck you can’t look away from.
I actually wanted to check the Dutch subtitles for this show again, but just thinking about having to watch it again (I don’t like editing in the Bulk editor)/ reading the subtitles, makes me rethink that decision 
.
Yes, I joined you in subbing that show halfway because it still seemed decent then. I was really glad when it was finished and I haven’t felt the need to watch it again
I don’t really have a worst drama suggestion. If I don’t like a drama I just slowly lose interest and often I will drop it before I’ve seen all episodes and forget about it.I’ve actually seen some dramas in recommendation lists that I had dropped and it made me wonder if they were as bad as I thought they were or if I should give them a second chance.
Hahaa yes, I was so happy with your help 
True. I noticed I take a lot more “breaks” now between and during dramas. Sometimes I’m not in the right mood for a certain drama. If I come back later, I will enjoy it more.
There is one drama that I’ve tried to go back to multiple times, but I just can’t stand to watch more than 10 minutes of. It had never happened to me before, but I just can’t finish watching it. It’s on Ntfx, can’t remember what it’s called… I have mentioned it elsewhere
That’s a good rating system for a show. The more frustrating, the lesser of your desk remains!
I’m 2/12 episode in and not really much has happened to make it a bad show, but that’s the problem, it’s so in the middle it’s no wonder you can’t remember much of it. Sung Hoon’s character has just decided to rescue Joybuster so things may change. Hope it’ll get worse to get better!