Doctor X tops Korean Gallup chart two weeks in — 3rd-highest SBS drama preference score ever
Kim Ji-won's medical noir hit 9.8% preference in the Oct 20-22 survey, the third-best score any SBS drama has recorded in the poll's history.
9.8% in two weeks
닥터X: 하얀 마피아의 시대 landed at No. 1 in Korean Gallup's preferred broadcast program survey just two weeks after its premiere. The October 20–22 poll of 1,001 adults aged 18 and over — conducted nationwide, with respondents allowed up to two free-answer picks — gave the SBS Friday-Saturday drama a 9.8% preference rating.
Only two SBS dramas have ever scored higher in this monthly survey. 김부장 hit 18.9% in July 2026. 별에서 온 그대 reached 11.5% in February 2014. The 9.8% also towers over recent SBS hits. 천원짜리 변호사 peaked at 6.6%. 모범택시2 landed at 5.2%. 굿파트너 managed 5.0%. 모범택시3 got 4.5%.
What the show is
Kim Ji-won plays Gye Su-jeong, a genius surgeon from a doctor dispatch agency who gets sent to Seonam Hospital at Seoseo University and systematically dismantles the institution's entrenched malpractices and power cartels. The series is a Korean remake of the Japanese franchise 닥터-X: 외과의 다이몬 미치코, which ran from 2012 to 2021. Son Hyun-joo, Lee Jung-eun, Kim Woo-seok, Lee Jin-hee, and Heo Jun-seok round out the ensemble.
The rest of the top five
The gap between first and second is steep.
- 2nd — tvN's 20th anniversary Sunday-Monday drama 100일의 거짓말 (4.0%), a 1932 colonial Seoul spy romance starring Park Jin-young and Kim Yoo-jung, with Kim Hyun-joo and Jin Sun-gyu in support
- 3rd — KBS 2TV weekend drama 사랑이 온다, starring Ha Seok-jin and Ahn Hee-yeon (3.8%)
- 4th — KBS 1TV daily drama 엄마가 미쳤어요, starring Jung Min-a and Dong-ha (3.1%)
- 5th — KBS 2TV variety show 1박 2일 시즌4 (2.1%), the highest-ranked non-drama program in the survey
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