Update to the Autumn 2012 ratings race - 16 Nov 12

Here is the ranking based on the average ratings:

1) Doctor X - 17.87%
2) PRICELESS - 17.33%
3) Aibou Season 11 - 16.82%
4) MONSTERS - 12.48%
5) Akumu-chan - 12.08%
6) Kekkon Shinai - 12.0%
7) Tokumei Tantei - 10.82%
8) TOKYO Airport - 10.12%
9) Osozaki no Himawari - 10.08%

10) Ooku - 9.32%
11) Going My Home - 8.90%
12) Perfect Blue - 8.25%
13) Tokyo Zenryoku Shoujo - 8.00%
14) Resident - 7.48%
15) Koukou Nyuushi - 6.50%
16) Poison - 3.53%
17) PIECE - 2.25%
18) Girl's Talk - 2.23%
19) Sugarless - 1.74%

PRICELESS has overtaken Aibou to occupy the No.2, thanks to its huge jump from 15.2% (Ep 3) to 18.4% (Ep 4). However, Doctor X maintains its lead with a 17.4% for its third episode so in terms of consistency, this drama seems to have an edge over PRICELESS for the time being. Aibou is not doing too badly as well but it's been on a downward trend and picked up slightly for its 5th episode.

MONSTERS stays afloat in the 11% region thus manages to keep its average of 12.08%. Akumu-chan went up quite a bit for its 5th episode (from 10.4% to 12.8%) and has swopped positions with Kekkon Shinai which had also gone back to the 12% region in its 5th episode. At the moment, it looks like these three dramas might be shuffling their positions in the No.4 to No.6 range if their averages continue to be so close to one another.

Tokumei Tantei, TOKYO Airport and Osozaki no Himawari are the next group of 10% contenders with the latter two in serious danger of slipping out of the above-10% category if their single-ratings streaks continue. TOKYO Airport scored its lowest to date i.e. 8.3% for its 5th episode while Osozaki picked up from 8.0% to reach 8.9% in its 4th episode.

As for the below-10% group, there aren't any significant changes but Going My Home looks like it might be losing steam very quickly with its 5th episode getting just 6.5%. Considering the lineup and credentials of its director, it's quite alarming to see such figures. And not surprisingly, fingers are being pointed at Yamaguchi Tomoko who made her return to dramaland with this production but honestly, this genre is something which doesn't attract everyone so I don't think she's solely responsible for the slump. Besides, reviews of her performance and chemistry with Abe Hiroshi have been generally favourable so far.

Before the autumn season began, I had hoped to see improved ratings compared to the sluggish summer season but as you can see, the above-10% group is actually smaller than the below-10s and looks set to get worse if those borderline cases slip further down. It's very disappointing to see this despite seeing a bit of action in the above-10s where we don't have a runaway winner and everything else lagging behind. I just hope that things in the above-10s can get more exciting to make up for the lacklustre drama scene in general.