The new JTBC drama Welcome to Samdal-ri, Episode 1 premiered last night in South Korea to higher ratings than Strong Girl Nam Soon, the now-completed drama whose time slot it took.
According to Nielsen Korea, Welcome to Samdal-ri, Episode 1 aired to 5.19 percent nationwide, which is higher than the 4.29 percent Strong Girl Nam Soon earned for its first episode on October 7th.
In Seoul, the Korean drama earned 5.28 percent, which is higher than the 4.82 percent for Strong Girl Nam Soon, Episode 1.
In other words, Welcome to Samdal-ri got off to a very promising start on Saturday night and, if the rest of the drama is as good as its first episode, this one could easily be another JTBC hit.
International viewers and Welcome to Samdal-ri
Sure, only one episode of the Korean romantic comedy has released so far, but international viewers on a couple of platforms are already awarding it high ratings.
On IMDB, with just 73 people rating, the K-drama already has a 9.5 out of 10 stars.
Over on My Drama List, where Asian dramas are often rated much harsher than on other sites, Welcome to Samdal-ri is currently showing a very strong 8.4 out of 10 rating from 215 users and with almost 13,000 people watching.
And on X, where the hashtag #WelcomeToSamdalri popped up in my timeline soon after the drama aired last night, comments are overwhelmingly positive.
Welcome to Samdal-ri stars Ji Chang Wook (If You Wish Upon Me) and Shin Hye Sun (See You In My 19th Life), and with the superb supporting cast of Kim Mi Kyung (I’m all-in for any drama starring the first two alongside Kim Mi Kyung, how about you?), Seo Hyun Chul, Shin Dong Mi, Kang Mi Na, Yu Oh Seong, and Kang Young Seok.
The Korean drama airs every Saturday and Sunday night at 22:30 (KST) on JTBC in South Korea, with TVING also streaming it in Korea, and with Netflix streaming the K-drama in some international regions.
You can watch the first episode of Welcome to Samdal-ri on Netflix, with Episode 2 available for streaming later on today.