Japanese drama ratings?

I wanted to find the answers by Search, but since it is now disabled...

How do the ratings go in Japanese drama series?

Usually I see ratings nearly topping until 20, others beneath 10. I'm a bit confused.
Do different series genres have different ratings? or regions have different ratings?
I ask this because, I see for example Hokaben: Viewership rating: 8.1 (Kanto), which I don't know if that's really good or lower than average?
I always need to know which drama's are really good or bad.

P.S.: I wasn't sure where this topic fits in, so I used the general Japanese forum section...

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:58 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I don't know if this help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_television_drama#Importance_of_ratings_in_Japanese_drama

Just tried little google..

EDIT: Found interesting topic Wub

http://jdorama.com/viewtopic.5651.0.htm&sid=e0f518344d3774253398f76d5df4ecda

EDIT: Video Research had the top 20 ratings for dramas from 1977 to 2009~

http://www.videor.co.jp/data/ratedata/junre/01drama.htm

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:01 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Japan which seems technologically advanced, they seem to fall behind Korea and US. From reading the wiki page, it seems they don't see the importance of online media. In Korea, there's been a huge drop in ratings since 5-10 years ago. They've had ratings go up 50-60%. However the best ones now get 30%. Falling around 15% is already good. Most people are using other methods to watch tv such as online streaming, cell phones, downloading, etc.

As for Japan's wide range in viewership, I think it's a mixture of idoling and story. Teenage dramas are popular with teens. Historical dramas are popular with adults (they usually get high ratings). It's hard to grasp their preferences. Sometimes I enjoy dramas which have low ratings. Sometimes I enjoy some dramas with high ratings, but I don't agree that all dramas with high ratings are good. Maybe different tastes between Japanese and gaijins.