Singer Kim Jaejoong recently marked his 20th debut anniversary with the release of a new album.

However, fans won’t be seeing him perform on terrestrial music shows this time around.

According to Star News on the 26th, despite dropping his 20th debut anniversary regular album titled “Flower Garden,” Kim Jaejoong won’t be gracing major music ranking programs like KBS 2TV’s ‘Music Bank,’ MBC’s ‘Show! Music Core,’ or SBS’s ‘Inkigayo’ this week.

Although he’s been actively promoting his new album through various channels, music show appearances aren’t part of the plan.

While music programs have seen declining ratings, Kim Jaejoong’s potential appearance holds significant symbolic value. Since leaving SM Entertainment in 2009 after his TVXQ days, he’s been absent from music show stages.

Fans who were eagerly anticipating his comeback stage for the 20th anniversary are once again left disappointed.

After parting ways with SM Entertainment, Kim Jaejoong continued his career with JYJ—a group formed alongside fellow TVXQ members Kim Junsu and Park Yoochun. Despite settling disputes with SM through an agreement in November 2012, JYJ still faced challenges in broadcast activities.

The Fair Trade Commission even issued corrective orders in 2013, accusing SM and the Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association of hindering JYJ’s legitimate business activities. In 2015, the “JYJ Law” was proposed in the National Assembly to penalize broadcasters unreasonably blocking specific entertainers from appearing on programs.

During this period, Kim Jaejoong and other JYJ members occasionally made appearances on terrestrial dramas and cable entertainment shows, operating with less influence from SM.

Kim Junsu returned to terrestrial broadcasting after six years on EBS’s ‘Space Sympathy’ in 2015, while Kim Jaejoong took on the role of a special DJ for MBC FM4U’s ‘Kim Shin-young’s Hope Song at Noon’ last year—marking his first terrestrial radio appearance in 14 years.

Recently, Kim Junsu broke the ban on terrestrial entertainment by featuring on KBS 2TV’s ‘The Return of Superman.’

In a commemorative interview for his 20th debut anniversary on the 25th, Kim Jaejoong clarified, “My relationship with SM isn’t bad.” Last year, attention was drawn to the controversy surrounding SM’s congratulatory wreath sent to the opening ceremony of Kim Jaejoong’s Encode Entertainment.

Despite the challenges, Kim Jaejoong remains undeterred. He attributes the lack of TV appearances to “the revenue structure of terrestrial channels.” According to him, “There are people uncomfortable with me appearing. From the perspective of terrestrial broadcasters, it’s more profitable for the entire SM IP to be featured rather than just me alone.”

On the day of his album release, Kim Jaejoong made an appearance on MBC FM4U’s ‘Kim Shin-young’s Hope Song at Noon’ to actively promote his comeback.

He also has plans to appear on various YouTube entertainment shows and is gearing up for an Asia tour.

Starting in Seoul on July 20th and 21st, he’ll take his music worldwide to connect with fans.

Source [1]

tvN’s weekend drama “Resident Playbook” is getting more and more love each week — and its latest episode just broke the 5% ratings mark!

On April 20, episode 4 of Resident Playbook recorded 5.8% average viewership in Seoul (with a peak of 6.5%) and 5.1% nationwide (with a peak of 5.7%), according to Nielsen Korea. This made the show No.1 in its time slot across all cable and general programming channels, including public broadcasters.

Among tvN’s main target audience — men and women aged 20 to 49 — it also scored high with 2.9% average and 3.3% peak nationwide, showing strong support from younger viewers.

Fans are now asking: is this the “Go Youn Jung effect” at play, or are viewers tuning in for the emotional storytelling and cameos from Hospital Playlist characters?

In the latest episode, the rookie residents — Oh Yi Young (Go Youn Jung), Kim Sa Bi (Han Ye Ji), Pyo Nam Kyung (Shin Si Ah), and Eom Jae Il (Kang Yoo Seok) — continued growing closer as teammates and friends. Their emotional ups and downs, along with heartfelt moments between characters, touched the hearts of many.

One major moment was when Yi Young, dealing with a difficult case, bravely asked Kim Sa Bi for help despite earlier tension between them. The two ended up working together and comforting each other — and viewers were moved to tears.

Another scene that drew attention was the cameo by Kim Jun Wan (Jung Kyung Ho) from Hospital Playlist, who joined the medical team for a rare case. His appearance brought back nostalgia and added even more depth to the story.

Fans are loving the mix of emotional healing, growing friendships, and realistic hospital life, calling the show a warm follow-up to the Hospital Playlist universe.

With ratings rising and buzz building, many are wondering just how high Resident Playbook will climb. New episodes air every Saturday and Sunday at 9:20 PM KST on tvN.

Source: [1]