SEOUL-- SBS' romantic comedy "One the Woman" has posted the highest viewership rating among high-profile weekend TV series here in South Korea, industry data showed Monday.
The series, starring Lee Hanee of the smash-hit comedy film "Extreme Job" (2019), hit a viewership of 12.7 percent for its third episode Friday and 12.6 percent Saturday, according to the data by Nielson Korea.
It is about the life of an elite prosecutor who wakes up from a coma caused by a car accident to find herself in the family of a big business group.
Premiering on Sept. 17, "One the Woman" beat the spy thriller "The Veil," which began broadcasting on the same day on MBC, posting 9.8 percent and 8.3 percent in viewership for its third and fourth episodes, respectively.
Starring bankable actor Namkoong Min as a top secret agent, "The Veil," one of the most anticipated TV projects of the year with a 15 billion won budget, won the competition in its first week but lost the lead the following week.
Meanwhile, weekend TV series on cable channels lagged far behind the two shows released by the terrestrial networks.
Webtoon-based "Yumi's Cells" on tvN, starring Kim Go-eun of the mega-hit fantasy "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" (2016), logged a viewership of 1.8 percent for its third episode on Friday and 2.5 percent for the following episode.
The TV adaptation of the popular namesake webtoon, featuring the daily life of a female office worker in her early 30s from the point of view of inner minds, "cells," is the first combination of live action and animation in a South Korean TV series.
As it is also simultaneously available on Tving, tvN's sister online streaming platform, "Yumi's Cells" is apparently struggling to achieve tangible results on small screen.
JTBC's melodrama "Lost," whose seventh and eighth episodes aired last weekend, had lower-than-expected results of 1.3 percent and 2.1 percent in viewership for Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
It also was one of the biggest TV projects this year for the collaboration of Cannes-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon and star film director Hur Jin-ho, who has many hit melodramas, including "One Fine Spring Day" (2001) and "Christmas in August" (1998), under his belt.
But it failed to catch the eyes of Korean TV viewers to win the heated-up competition of weekend primetime TV shows.
Source: Yonhap News Agency