New JTBC Saturday/Sunday drama Heavenly Ever After, Episode 1 premiered last night to solid ratings.
Ratings that were especially good considering the Korean drama’s first 20 minutes aired at the same time as the already-popular supernatural drama The Haunted Palace, which premiered on SBS on Friday night.
The Heavenly Ever After, Episode 1 nationwide rating, for instance, was 5.76 percent on Saturday night.
That is also heading towards double the rating its predecessor The Art of Negotiation earned in the same time slot (3.30 perecent) for its first episode.
Meanwhile, Heavenly Ever After, Episode 1’s Seoul rating was even stronger, with 6.78 percent of the viewership.
Both ratings also meant the JTBC drama was in the #1 spot in its time slot.
International ratings for Heavenly Ever After
While we won’t know about true international ratings until Netflix releases its data on Tuesday, 70 users of My Drama List are currently awarding the Korean drama a solid 8.0 out of 10.
Not a spectacular rating, and from only a small number of people so far, but still pretty decent considering how often the first few episodes of new dramas on that site are deliberately rated down by trolls.
Comments about the K-drama’s first episode are also almost all positive.
Heavenly Ever After stars Kim Hye Ja, Son Suk Ku, Han Ji Min, Lee Jung Eun, Chun Ho Jin, and Ryu Deok Hwan.
It follows the story of an elderly woman (Kim Hye Ja) who dies and, upon arriving in heaven, chooses to be in her 80s for all eternity instead of a younger version of herself.
The reason? Because her late husband once told her she was even more beautiful at that age than when she was younger.
But, when she is reunited with her husband (Son Suk Ku) she is shocked to discover he has chosen the 30s version of himself.
The Korean drama’s next episode airs on JTBC later on tonight, and streams internationally via Netflix.
Update, April 21st — After a wonderful start, the second episode of Heavenly Ever After premiered on Sunday night to even higher ratings.