MBC Records Historic Low Ratings: “Crushology 101” Plummets to 0%, Worst Performance in 4 Years
MBC has posted its worst Friday-Saturday drama performance in four years, with “Crushology 101” dropping to a shocking 0% viewership rating by its second episode — despite airing in the prime-time weekend slot on public broadcast.
Premiering on April 11, “Crushology 101” follows the romantic misadventures of the main character Bunny (played by Roh Jeong-eui), who, after a disastrous first love, gets entangled with several attractive men. The drama is adapted from a Kakao Webtoon of the same name. While the leads’ strong visuals and close alignment with the webtoon provided some visual appeal, the juvenile and overly comedic storyline disrupted immersion, making the show feel like an online fiction and alienating viewers.
The ratings reflect its struggle. The premiere garnered just 1.3% viewership — the lowest first-episode rating ever recorded for an MBC Friday-Saturday drama (excluding one-act plays). Episode two dropped further to 0.9%, setting a new all-time low and surpassing the previous 1.3% record set by Kokdu: Season of Deity in 2023.
“Crushology 101” also failed to generate online buzz. None of the lead actors ranked in Fundex’s top 10 drama buzz list for the second week of April. The show barely made it to 10th place in combined TV-OTT drama rankings. To make matters worse, the second episode aired against SBS’s “Buried Hearts” finale, which reached 15.4% in viewership, and tvN’s new medical drama “Resident Playbook.”
From the beginning, the series raised concerns within the industry. Critics questioned the decision to air a campus romance with low-profile male actors during the competitive weekend slot. MBC’s entire 2025 Friday-Saturday lineup has underperformed so far — “Motel California” (starring Lee Se-young) ended with a 3.4% low, while “Undercover High School” dropped to 5.6% despite marking Seo Kang-joon’s return from military service. In contrast, SBS’s “My Perfect Secretary” and “Treasure Island” both surpassed 10% in ratings, proving their success.
Looking ahead, “Crushology 101” will compete with SBS’s “The Haunted Palace,” a fantasy rom-com featuring a shaman (Kim Ji-yeon) who resists her fate and an imugi trapped in her first love’s body (Yook Sung-jae).
Both dramas target younger audiences, and industry watchers are now curious whether “Crushology 101” can rebound from its humiliating start.
