“49 Days,” “Royal Family” compete for 2nd week on TV chart

SBS series "49 Days" [SBS]

Competition has become stiff for Wednesday and Thursday primetime dramas with SBS series “49 Days” leading on one chart while MBC’ series “Royal Family” heads the other, as shown by two media research companies on Friday.

According to a data by Total Multimedia Research Statistics (TNmS), SBS’ romance fantasy was designated the winner of this week’s primetime slot for second consecutive time after posting an average viewership rating of 10.4 percent.

Following “49 Days” was KBS melodrama “The Thorn Birds” that scored an average viewership rating of 10.2 percent this week, going up in rankings for the first time since its premiere in early March.

MBC’s “Royal Family,” which ruled the chart for three straight weeks from mid-March to early April, plunged down to last place, after yielding an average viewership rating of 9.3 percent.

In the meantime, AGB Nielsen Media Research declared “Royal Family” the winner for the fifth week, having collected an average viewership rating of 12.8 percent on this week’s poll.

“49 Days” came second with an average viewership rating of 10.6 percent and “The Thorn Birds,” at third with 10.5 percent.

In this week’s episodes for“49 Days” wandering soul Ji-hyun (Nam Kyu-ri) prepares to leave the mortal world, convinced that nobody will shed tears for her that are needed for her return to her body. She bursts into tears however, after seeing how her father postponed his brain tumor surgery to see her wake up and acquires the first of the three-needed tear drops.

In “Royal Family,” Ji-hoon (Ji Sung) decides to forgive In-sook (Yum Jung-ah) who was the cause of his father’s death a long time ago after persuasion by his mother and remembering the moments of how she stood by him when he was accused of murder.

“The Thorn Birds” showed Yoo-kyung (Kim Min-jung) getting shaken up by the engagement between her former lover Young-jo (Joo Sang-uk) and friend/rival Jeong-eun (Han Hye-jin) whom she abandoned seven years ago. Seeing Yoo-kyung's response, Jeong-eun realizes Young-jo is the father of her adopted daughter from Yoo-kyung.

MBC series "Royal Family" [MBC]

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