[News] 'Thorn Birds' contemplates an extension.

[News] 'Thorn Birds' contemplates an extension.
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KBS’s Wednesday-Thursday melodrama Thorn Birds was contemplating an extension, but I’m not surprised that they’ve opted to stick to its original plan of 20 episodes, given its ratings performance. According to a source with the production, the series had been in talks to add four episodes, and had even gone as far as gaining the cooperation of the cast and staff — contingent upon good ratings, that is.

The show has hovered consistently at the 10% mark, however, and its two competitors are pulling in better numbers. MBC’s Royal Family has even been given a 2-episode extension, while SBS’s 49 Days improved this past week (when the story got particularly good) to hit its ratings high.

(Caveat: If you look purely at the numbers there isn’t a lot of space between the dramas, so there’s some media manipulation at play. For example, the latest narrative is that 49 Days is hot on the heels of a faltering Royal Family. The numbers? We’re talking about 11.2% versus 13.1%, with Thorn Birds taking up the rear at 10.6%.)

Still, the bottom line is that Thorn Birds hasn’t performed as strongly as they’d need to get the extension, so those intentions have been scrapped.

The rep added that even so, “The mood within the production and the drama’s quality are really great. As the show enters its latter parts, the loveline between Han Hye-jin, Joo Sang-wook, and Kim Min-jung will strengthen, things get more interesting, and the [fan] mania is increasing. Everyone is filming with pride.”

The drama will end as planned on May 5, which sets up the next series, the maids-and-their-rich-bosses rom-com Romance Town, for a May 11 premiere.