So, i'm new into this drama rabbithole. excuse my unknowingness please.

what i'm looking is the most popular genre of drama and the best drama of its genre.

like in Anime/Manga, the generic of it is like "Isekai" and "Fantasy" genre, where the top charts are like "Frieren", "Mushoku Tensei", "Fullmetal Alchemist", "Made In Abyss" and so on

and in Manhwa, theres "Regression" and "Gates" genre, where the top lists are like "Solo Leveling", "Doom Breaker", "SSS-Class Suicide Hunter" and so on

those series are very much generic because theres alot of series that are similar to them, yet they stood out above the rest. 

i'm looking for those series in drama. something that Sparks my interest and scratch my itch like those.

so far, i've completed "Love Revolution", and "Its okay not to be okay".

i've also watched "Descendant of the sun", and "My Dearest" but only halfway because i lost interest, although, My Dearest is pretty good in my opinion, might continue that later. 

and i also know about "Goblin" since my sister watched it and i know the rough plot of it, but i ain't watching it again since i already know of it.

It might seems like that i only watched romance dramas, that's because it was my safe genre to dip my toes in.

so, with all that, what's the best generic drama out there? 


Disclaimer: if its romance, it's better be straight. also i don't want love triangles, idk i just want to cut the bullshit

I don't know if this is considered generic, but I do know that in C-Dramaland Eternal Love is known as a popular one in the xianxia genre I believe. I'm no expert though

Classics that exemplify the ROMANCE genre and tropes, and are popular and widely viewed:

Taiwanese:  

Devil Beside You (this onscreen-couple is taiwan-famous, very well loved actress and actor)

Meteor Garden 

Mars

Korean oldschool:

Autumn Tale 

Boys Over Flowers (This and secret garden are probably the most watched and well-known k-dramas)

What Happened In Bali (this is a pure love triangle. it's terrible but a total classic)

My Girl

Secret Garden (***it was so popular and iconic that lots of other k-dramas afterward have cultural references to parts of this drama)

Korean newer:

Crash Landing On You

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Flower of Evil

Doom At Your Service

Japanese:

Hana Yori Dango

Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi

Kakafukaka (it's terrible, but a classic, everyones seen it.  kind of a triangle, kind of not)

Chinese:

Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms/Eternal Love

Eternal Love of Dream

Till The End of the Moon

Story of Yanxi Palace

Hidden Love (very new, but won a bazillion awards and is already an instant classic, very popular)

Love Like The Galaxy

Well Intended Love (exepmlifies the "batshit crazy" sub-genre of romance, lots of people have seen it)