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True to their commonly used moniker, many K-dramas (South Korean scripted television programming of any genre) can get quite melodramatic at times. Even the most uproarious Korean comedies know when to add some raw, emotional moments between the laughs, and the pure drama shows swing even harder with their tearjerker scenes. Korean television has been expertly crafting sad stories for years, with some of the best K-dramas of all time being outright tragedies. As K-dramas continue to find popularity with international audiences, there are plenty of shows to choose from if you just need a good, cathartic cry.

From period piece epics to intimate love stories cut tragically short, melancholy K-dramas span a wide breadth of genres and narrative premises. The unifying element in all these shows are how utterly depressing they are, with their soul-crushing endings likely leaving viewers emotional wrecks for days. At the same time, there is...

Although diversity on TV, both on and off camera, continues to improve each year, significant roadblocks for female and minority creators continue to exist in the industry — chief among them budgets.

According to a new study from UCLA’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, nearly half of all TV shows created by white men across broadcast, cable and television received a budget of 3 million or more per episode. On broadcast, 41.5 of shows created by white men had episodic budgets higher than 3 million, while that figure increases to 48 and 61.3 when looking at cable and streaming. In contrast, show creators of color had show budgets above 3 million per episode 28.5 (broadcast), 29.2 (cable), and 33.3 (streaming) of the time. Meanwhile, only 13 of broadcast shows and 13.3 of cable shows from white woman creators had episodic budgets over 3 million — streaming was significantly better, at 48.7, but still lagging far beyond their male counterparts.

Published Wednesday, the study authored by UCLA’s Dr.