"20th Century Boy And Girl" Suffers From Strike, To Air Final Four Episodes Consecutively

On October 27, MBC officially stated, “’20th Century Boy and Girl’ will conclude after the airing of four consecutive episodes from November 20 through November 23. The drama is not concluding early.”

“20th Century Boy and Girl” previously aired on Mondays and Tuesdays. However, MBC announced that the drama would air like a daily drama on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before wrapping up.

The last four episodes of dramas are critical in concluding the storyline, so the production crew usually puts more time and energy into those episodes. However, by airing the last four episodes consecutively, with the last episode airing on a day that is not its normal time slot, the drama may lose the opportunity for its usual last spurt.

“20th Century Boy and Girl” aired after “The King Loves,” with its first episode initially intended to broadcast on September 25. However, because the MBC strike began on September 4, filming was temporarily halted and then resumed again, with the first episode’s broadcast pushed back a week. But the new premiere date was also a part of the Chuseok holiday, so it was pushed back yet again, and finally aired its first episode on October 9.

The drama was also forced to air its first four episodes in a row on October 9, as the next day’s broadcast conflicted with the World Cup preliminary rounds. Due to such complications, the drama came in last in viewership ratings for its time slot at 3%.

“20th Century Boy and Girl” will be replaced by Jo Jung Suk and Hyeri’s new drama “Two Cops.” Because it was already decided that the latter would be airing on November 27, the former had to adjust its schedule. An industry insider stated, “Because the schedule for ‘Two Cops’ couldn’t be changed, ’20th Century Boy and Girl’ was originally supposed to air around eight episodes consecutively in the beginning and then end in November. However, because of the World Cup preliminaries, the situation didn’t work out and the broadcast schedule was changed.”

Regarding the rumors of early conclusion, they stated, “If the drama had ended early, that would have been bad for the broadcasting station, production crew, and of course the actors as well, and it would have cost the production crew more money. Because it would have caused a lot more damage, they decided to merely change the broadcast schedule instead.”

Another problem throughout this situation is that MBC has not been taking responsibility. It is unprecedented that a drama’s broadcast schedule has been changed to this degree, and to make matters worse, they did not notify the cast of these changes. The industry insider commented, “A few actors from the cast knew that there was a possibility of doing consecutive episodes. However, they believed it was due to the World Cup preliminaries, and they had no idea that the broadcast for the last episodes would be changed like this. They were very taken aback after they learned about it through the news.”

According to another broadcasting insider, MBC had a very offhand approach to the changed broadcast schedule. They stated, “Huayi Brother, who produced ’20th Century Boy And Girl,’ and People Story Company, who is producing ‘Two Cops,’ previously co-produced ‘Ruler: Master of the Mask.’ The broadcast schedule is ultimately up to the broadcasting station, but MBC left it up for the production companies to decide, and they were unable to properly conclude the issue. Obviously the production companies had conflicts of interest, and as rumors kept getting out, MBC finally laid down a decision.”

Meanwhile, you can watch the latest episode of “20th Century Boy and Girl” at the link below.

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