Who will be the final winner of this year’s SBS Drama Awards
In 2023, SBS has broadcast “Trolley,” “Model Taxi 2,” “Romantic Guest house,” “Dr. Romantic 3”, “The Escape of the Seven,” “My Demon” and more. Among the lead actors, Lee Je-hoon, who played the role of Kim Do-ki in “Taxi Driver 2,” is mentioned as a leading candidate for this year l’s Daesang. Previously, Lee won the Top Excellence Actor Award at the “2021 SBS Drama Awards” with ”Taxi Driver 1.”
“Taxi Driver 2” was highly praised both in terms of ratings and popularity. The last episode of the drama had a rating of 21% (based on Nielsen Korea’s national household standard), and just 10 days after its release, it became the most-watched drama on the platform Viu in 16 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
In addition to Lee Je-hoon, Han Suk-kyu, who returned with season 3 of SBS’s mega hit “Dr. Romantic,” and Kim Tae-ri, who showed her acting transformation with a new genre in “Revenant,” which combines folklore and horror, are also mentioned as the main candidates of the trophy.
While they are expected to compete for the acting Daesang, people’s interest in the fate of “Payback” starring Lee Sun-kyun is also increasing.
The Friday-Saturday drama “Payback” recorded 8.7% of ratings in its first broadcast, breaking the highest first broadcast rating record among SBS dramas since “Penthouse 3” in 2021. The drama maintained a solid popularity since then, maintaining an average ratings of 9%-10%.
However, lead actor Lee Sun-kyun’s involvement in a drug scandal in October seems to have negatively affected the “Payback” cast. Lead actress Moon Chae-won was mentioned as a candidate for this year’s Daesang as well, but her attendance at SBS Drama Awards is uncertain.
Moon Chae-won was invited to the 2023 SBS Dram Award, but her agency has not contacted SBS since the invitation. SBS said it is continuously checking whether all of the cast, including Moon Chae-won, will attend.
In addition, “Payback” also made the public raise eyebrows as it had the biggest pay gap between leading and minor roles among the nine dramas that aired on SBS over the past two years.
Meanwhile, the 2023 SBS Acting Awards will take place on Dec. 29 at SBS Prism Tower in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Source: Newsen
