Doctor X Episode 2 Ratings: 14.9%; Attorney Minami Oct. 19
SBS's "Doctor X" reached a 14.9 percent nationwide rating on Saturday, up from 11.4 percent for its premiere a night earlier. Nine days later, Japan will begin broadcasting a remake of "Extraordinary Attorney Woo." The two dramas are crossing the Korea Strait in opposite directions.
Episode 2 of "Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia" averaged 14.9 percent nationwide and 14.7 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area, with a peak of 17.4 percent, Starnews reported, citing Nielsen Korea. The Oct. 9 premiere drew 11.4 percent nationwide, 11.2 percent in the metro area and a 12.9 percent peak, the highest premiere for any miniseries this year, Soompi reported. The Korea Herald reported that Netflix said the series took the top spot on its Top 10 Series chart after the first episode and has held it. SBS airs the drama Fridays and Saturdays and streams it on Netflix under a content partnership.
"Doctor X" remakes TV Asahi's "Doctor-X: Surgeon Daimon Michiko," which ran for seven seasons starting in 2012, according to the Hankookilbo. Kim Ji-won plays Gye Su-jeong, a freelance surgeon at Guseo University Hospital who takes on its corrupt hierarchy. She keeps the original's catchphrase, "I never fail."
The reverse trade starts next Monday. Fuji TV and Kansai TV will premiere "Extraordinary Attorney Minami" on Oct. 19, a remake of ENA's 2022 hit. Mana Ashida plays Minamida Minami, a rookie lawyer on the autism spectrum, and the remake recreates the original's palindrome self-introduction in Japanese. Netflix Japan said in August that the show would stream on Oct. 19. A What's on Netflix listing gives a global start of Oct. 18, with 10 episodes released weekly.
The Woo name carries weight outside Korea. The original topped Netflix's global non-English TV rankings within a month of release and stayed in the global Top 10 for 21 weeks, according to the Korea Herald and the Hankookilbo. Park Eun-bin won the grand prize at the 59th Baeksang Arts Awards for the role.
More swaps are coming. tvN's "Unnatural," with Lim Yoona as a forensic pathologist at a fictional autopsy center tied to the National Forensic Service, is targeting a premiere next year. It continues the universe of a 2018 TBS drama of the same name. The Hankookilbo traced the shift in remake taste to 2018, when Japanese versions of "Signal" and "Good Doctor" succeeded and the focus moved from romances such as "I'm Sorry, I Love You" and "Boys Over Flowers" to genre dramas set in courts and hospitals.
Yun Suk-jin, a drama critic and professor at Chungnam National University, said the key for any remake is "cultural translation," because medical and legal problems are universal but each country's view of them is not.
"Doctor X" airs its third episode Friday at 9:50 p.m. KST. "Extraordinary Attorney Minami" opens Monday, Oct. 19.
