[HanCinema's News] New Dramas Aim to Improve on Already Strong Year for tvN

Last year was a particularly strong one for tvN, as its dramas "Crash Landing on You" and "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" proved huge hits both domestically as well as in foreign markets. To date, "Vincenzo" has been the only comparable hit for tvN in 2021. But the television network has been doing strongly with distinctive, smaller titles such as "MINE", "Doom at Your Service", and the recently released "My Roommate Is a Gumiho".

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But tvN is now regularly releasing new dramas about which the network expresses fairly strong confidence, whether it be based on strong concept or being able to make good use of an existing brand. "Hospital Playlist Season 2" and "Voice 4" are both upcoming standouts that will retread previously successful formulas for the network. "The Devil Judge" will have a markedly different approach, focusing on a justice oriented variety television show.

The sheer variety of options is the cornerstone of tvN's current strategy. Whereas "MINE" is amed squarely at older women viewers, with its deliberate take on past life choices and surviving social scrutiny, "Doom at Your Service" and "My Roommate Is a Gumiho" are romances aimed squarely at younger women. The supernatural rules of these dramas likewise appeal better to international markets, with "MINE" having a strong domestic performance.

And yet a project like "The Devil Judge" allows tvN to avoid pigeonholing its own brand too much, featuring higher stakes action and a deliberate emphasis on social justice rather than mere escapism. The decision to make further sequels to "Hospital Playlist" and "Voice 4" also show that tvN will stick with what works, and is highly responsive to viewer reaction. Even as this aggressive strategy leans toward high budgets, so too has it been reaping greater rewards worldwide.

Written by William Schwartz