“Crushology 101” Stumbles Out the Gate with 0.9% Ratings, MBC Faces Another Drama Crisis
According to Nielsen Korea, the second episode of MBC’s Friday-Saturday drama “Crushology 101,” aired on April 12, scored a nationwide rating of just 0.9%, plunging below even its own rerun’s 1.3% rating. This follows a modest 1.3% for its premiere the day before, making it MBC’s lowest-rated Friday-Saturday drama debut to date.
A New Low for MBC Dramas
The drama has now surpassed the previous record held by “Kokdu: Season of Deity” and entered the dreaded “zero-percent club” of terrestrial TV dramas. It joins KBS 2TV’s recent flop “Kick Kick Kick Kick,” which ended in March with a dismal 0.3% finale rating.
Compared to MBC’s preceding Friday-Saturday drama, “Undercover High School,” which ended with a respectable peak of 8.3% and finale rating of 5.8%, “Crushology 101”’s performance marks a sharp downturn.
On the same night, rival dramas outshined “Crushology 101” by a wide margin. KBS 2TV’s “For Eagle Brothers” led with a whopping 19.0%, while SBS’s “Buried Hearts” concluded its run with a series-high of 15.4%, capping off a successful season.
JTBC’s “The Art of Negotiation” held strong at 7.182% ahead of its finale, and tvN’s “Resident Playbook” averaged 3.7%, peaking at 5.2%, and led its cable time slot.
What Went Wrong?
Based on a popular Kakao Webtoon with over 170 million accumulated views, “Crushology 101” seemed poised for success. The story centers around Bunny (played by Roh Jeong-eui), a young woman whose messy first romance sets off a chaotic entanglement with several attractive men. The drama also stars Lee Chae-min and Jo Jun-young.
However, the webtoon’s popularity has not translated to TV ratings. Critics point to weak promotional efforts, genre saturation, and lack of star power as possible reasons for the dismal turnout.
With only two episodes aired, it’s too soon to declare total defeat. Dramas like “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” and “The Good Bad Mother” also began with modest numbers before gaining traction through word of mouth and digital platforms.
Still, the pressure is on. If “Crushology 101” cannot rebound quickly, it risks becoming MBC’s biggest drama flop of 2025, and further deepening the network’s primetime woes.
All eyes are now on the coming weeks to see whether this campus romance can rise from the ashes, or become another cautionary tale in the fiercely competitive K-drama landscape.
