‘Guardian’ ends chart run with hurrah, ‘Missing Nine’ debuts at No. 3

SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) — “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God,” which recently rewrote cable TV ratings history, secured a four-week winning streak on a benchmark TV popularity chart, while new castaway drama “Missing Nine” debuted at No. 3, data showed Tuesday.

tvN’s “Guardian,” which ended its 16-episode run on Jan. 21, scored 301.2 points on the Content Power Index (CPI), becoming the No. 1 among TV programs during Jan. 16-Jan. 22.

CPI, developed by entertainment company CJ E&M and Nielsen Korea, measures the popularity of TV shows based on the number of views of related news stories, online search tallies and buzz on social media.

A promotional image for “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” provided by tvN

The show is a modern take on Korean goblin and grim reaper folklore by Kim Eun-sook, who penned KBS 2TV’s “Descendants of the Sun,” coupled with a tragedy-romance plot that incorporates reincarnation and moves back and forth in time.

Gong Yoo stars as Kim Shin, an unbeatable military general 900 years ago who turned into an immortal goblin after being executed by his young king on unfounded charges of treason. His opposite, Kim Go-eun, is the modern-day high school “goblin bride” Ji Eun-tak, who is able to break Kim free of his immortality curse.

The show’s two-episode finale rewrote cable TV ratings history. The show aired on Jan. 21 recorded an average 20.5 percent viewership rating, beating the previous 19.6-percent cable TV record held by “Reply 1988,” another tvN production aired from late 2015 to early 2016.

SBS TV’s weekday medical series “Dr. Romantic,” which also enjoyed rave reviews and high ratings, shot up three steps to second place, chalking up 234.8 points, and MBC TV’s “Missing Nine,” a new drama in which the survivors of a private jet crashing into the sea become castaways on a deserted island, debuted at third place with 231.2 points.

Jun Ji-hyun’s mermaid drama “Legend of the Blue Sea,” which also ended last week, slipped place to fourth, and KBS 2TV’s “Hwarang,” an idol-studded period drama, dropped a notch to fifth place.

Also included among winners were tvN’s new Monday-Tuesday drama “Introverted Boss,” debuting at number six, and late night talk show “Radio Star,” which climb from 10th spot to seventh on the popularity chart.

MBC TV’s Saturday comedy show “Infinite Challenge” took a nosedive, dropping six steps to eighth place, and Sunday singing competition program “King of Mask Singer” also took a beating, tumbling to ninth from sixth place.