I agree with the above poster on thinking of them as "extended movies." I have just recently begun watching them and the stories are somewhat short (only about 11 1 hour eps) and they actually complete something as opposed to soap operas which go on while just making up shit so the soap won't end.

I havn't seen any Korean dramas yet only J-Drama but out of the nes I've seen I've enjoyed 3/4 and the 1/4 I didn't enjoy that much was still OK. Maybe you are watching the wrong ones? I just go to the "recommended j-dramas" on this forum and/or d-addicts and download those.