What kdrama should I watch? Press the button and three South Korean dramas come up, drawn from the Best Drama nominees of the Baeksang Arts Awards and other well-documented series. No cast names, no review scores.
Read the full guide
Choose what kdrama to watch by era or genre
The menu under the button keeps the draw to one era: before 2010, the 2010s or the 2020s. More filters adds Genre: Romance, Historical, Crime and thriller, Fantasy, Family and everyday life, or Work, which holds the hospital, court and office dramas. Lock a drama you want to keep and press again to change the others.
Where the list comes from
It starts with every Best Drama winner and nominee on Wikipedia's Baeksang Arts Awards page that has an article of its own, then adds the longest articles from Wikipedia's list of Korean dramas. Year, network and episode count come from each drama's article.
Tips
An episode count covers every season, so a long count can mean a drama that came back.
Sixteen episodes is the most common length on this list; the weekend family dramas run to 50 and more.
Questions and answers
What kdrama should I watch?
Press the button and take one of the three. To narrow it, choose an era in the menu, or open More filters and choose a genre. Every drama under your choices has the same chance, and each card gives the premise in one line.
How long is a Korean drama?
On this list the most common length is 16 episodes, with 20 next. Weekend family dramas run to 50 episodes and more, and nine of the historical dramas here have 50 or more. Each card prints the count from the drama's own article.
What is the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Drama?
It is an award presented each year at the Baeksang Arts Awards ceremony in Seoul. Wikipedia's page for the award lists each year's winner and nominees, and those with an article of their own open this list.
Why is a famous drama missing?
It may be left out on purpose. Dramas were cut when the article names a 19 age rating or marks the story as horror, revenge, adultery, abuse, suicide or serial murders. Otherwise it was neither a Best Drama nominee nor among the longest articles read.
Are these dramas suitable for children?
Not all of them. Some of the darkest stories were cut, but many of these dramas were written for adults, there are murder cases and wars among them, and a card prints no age rating. The broadcaster or streaming service gives the rating.
Alone in Love2006. SBS, 16 episodes. Two ordinary people come to terms with their relationship, in a story from a Japanese novel.
Bad Housewife2005. SBS, 18 episodes. A married couple, their daughter and their neighbors, in a show that jokes about drama habits.
Be Strong, Geum-soon!2005. MBC, 163 episodes. Geum-soon trains as a hairdresser, is widowed young and raises her son with her in-laws.
Beethoven Virus2008. MBC, 18 episodes. A feared, perfectionist maestro meets a violinist and a young police officer with a gift for music.
Behind the White Tower2007. MBC, 20 episodes. A brilliant, ambitious assistant professor rises through the politics of a university hospital.
Brilliant Legacy2009. SBS, 28 episodes. Go Eun-sung returns from New York to take her brother abroad to study music.
Eyes of Dawn1991. MBC, 37 episodes. A story that runs from the Japanese colonial period through World War II to the Korean War.
Fashion 70s2005. SBS, 28 episodes. Four young people grow from childhood in the Korean War into the fashion world of the 1970s.
Hwang Jini2006. KBS2, 24 episodes. The life of Hwang Jini, the most famous gisaeng of 16th-century Joseon.
Show all 157 dramas (148 more)
Before 2010, continued
Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin2004. KBS, 104 episodes. The life of Yi Sun-sin, the Joseon admiral famed for his victories in the Imjin war.
Ireland2004. MBC, 16 episodes. Lee Joong-ah, adopted into an Irish family as a child, journeys to her homeland.
Iris2009. KBS2, 20 episodes. Two best friends from the special forces are recruited into a secret South Korean agency.
Jewel in the Palace2003. MBC, 54 episodes. An orphaned kitchen cook becomes the first female royal physician of the Joseon period.
Jumong2006. MBC, 81 episodes. The life of King Dongmyeong, founder of the kingdom of Goguryeo.
Last Scandal2008. MBC, 16 episodes. A 39-year-old housewife finds love with a top actor after a painful divorce.
The Legend2007. MBC, 24 episodes. A fantasy built on the legends of Dangun and Gwanggaeto the Great, with four guardians.
Likeable or Not2007. KBS1, 175 episodes. Baek-ho and Dan-poong keep running into each other, then end up at the same food company.
Lovers in Paris2004. SBS, 20 episodes. Kang Tae-young, the daughter of a film director, studies film as her father wished.
Mom's Dead Upset2008. KBS2, 66 episodes. A weekend family drama about the Na household that drew record-breaking ratings.
My Lovely Sam Soon2005. MBC, 16 episodes. Kim Sam-soon, a gifted baker nearing 30, is embarrassed by her old-fashioned first name.
On Air2008. SBS, 21 episodes. A behind-the-scenes look at the making of a television drama.
Painter of the Wind2008. SBS, 20 episodes. A talented young painter in Joseon disguises herself as a boy to search for the truth about her father.
Queen of Housewives2009. MBC, 20 episodes. A former school queen bee devotes herself to her husband's success at his company.
Queen Seondeok2009. MBC, 62 episodes. The life of Queen Seondeok of Silla, a twin sent away from the palace because of a prophecy.
Ruler of Your Own World2002. MBC, 20 episodes. A young man with a difficult past meets the keyboardist of an unknown indie rock band.
Salut D'Amour1994. KBS, 25 episodes. Each episode tells a separate story on a closely related theme.
Sandglass1995. SBS, 24 episodes. Two friends, one a gangster and one a prosecutor, are tested by the turmoil of 1970s Korea.
Seoul 19452006. KBS1, 71 episodes. A pianist and a headstrong servant are rivals in the turmoil after Korea's liberation in 1945.
Stained Glass2004. SBS, 18 episodes. Dong-joo and Gi-tae grow up as best friends in an orphanage, where they meet Ji-soo.
Toji, the Land2004. SBS, 52 episodes. The turbulent life of Choi Seo-hee, from the Donghak Peasant Revolution to independence in 1945.
2010s 50
100 Days My Prince2018. tvN, 16 episodes. Lee Yul, the king's nephew, would rather play with the peasant children than study.
A Gentleman's Dignity2012. SBS, 20 episodes. Four men in their forties, friends since they were eighteen, go through love, success and failure.
Arthdal Chronicles2019. tvN, 30 episodes. In the Bronze Age, the people of the ancient city of Arthdal struggle for power in the land of Arth.
Athena: Goddess of War2010. SBS, 20 episodes. A spy story set in the same universe as Iris, with some of its characters.
Bread, Love and Dreams2010. KBS2, 30 episodes. A determined young baker sets out to become the best baker in Korea.
Crash Landing on You2019. tvN, 16 episodes. A South Korean heiress out paragliding is swept across the border into North Korea by a tornado.
Dear My Friends2016. tvN, 16 episodes. Stories of friends in the later years of their lives.
Dong Yi2010. MBC, 60 episodes. A water maid rises through the Joseon court to become the mother of the 21st king.
Dr. Romantic2016. SBS, 52 episodes. A top surgeon disappears, takes the name Kim Sa-bu and starts work at a small hospital.
Dream High2011. KBS2, 16 episodes. Six students at Kirin High School dream of becoming K-pop idols.
The Emperor: Owner of the Mask2017. MBC, 40 episodes. A Joseon crown prince is raised in secret behind a mask to protect him from a secret society.
Encounter2018. tvN, 16 episodes. A woman who seems to have everything and a young man who seems to have nothing.
Extraordinary You2019. MBC, 32 episodes. A high school girl discovers that she is a character in a comic book.
Fight for My Way2017. KBS2, 16 episodes. Two old friends with big dreams struggle toward careers they are underqualified for.
Good Doctor2013. KBS2, 20 episodes. Park Si-on, a surgeon on the autism spectrum, has six months to prove himself in pediatric surgery.
The Greatest Love2011. MBC, 16 episodes. A former girl group star who fell from grace makes a living on television programs.
Heard It Through the Grapevine2015. SBS, 30 episodes. A black comedy about a wealthy, powerful family whose reputation is turned upside down.
The Heirs2013. SBS, 20 episodes. Wealthy high school students get ready to take over their families' business empires.
Hit the Top2017. KBS2, 32 episodes. In 1993, pop idol Yoo Hyun-jae accidentally travels through time to 2017.
Hot Stove League2019. SBS, 16 episodes. The Dreams baseball team, last in the league four seasons running, gets a new general manager.
Hotel del Luna2019. tvN, 16 episodes. A hotel that only ghosts can stay at, hidden from ordinary human view by day.
I Can Hear Your Voice2013. SBS, 18 episodes. A jaded public defender meets a high school senior who can read thoughts by looking into eyes.
Iris II: New Generation2013. KBS, 20 episodes. Agents of the National Security Service go up against the organization known as IRIS.
It's Okay, That's Love2014. SBS, 16 episodes. Jang Jae-yeol, a bestselling mystery novelist and radio DJ, has obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Lights and Shadows2011. MBC, 64 episodes. Kang Ki-tae, from a wealthy family, becomes an entertainer in the 1970s and 1980s.
Love in the Moonlight2016. KBS2, 18 episodes. A coming-of-age story about Crown Prince Lee Yeong in 19th-century Joseon.
Memories of the Alhambra2018. tvN, 16 episodes. A company CEO and a hostel owner in Spain are drawn into an augmented reality game.
Misaeng: Incomplete Life2014. tvN, 20 episodes. After failing to turn professional at the board game baduk, Jang Geu-rae enters the working world.
Moon Embracing the Sun2012. MBC, 20 episodes. A love story between a fictional Joseon king and a female shaman, amid court conspiracy.
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo2016. SBS, 20 episodes. During a total solar eclipse, a 21st-century woman is carried back to the Goryeo period.
Mr. Sunshine2018. tvN, 24 episodes. In Hanseong in the early 1900s, activists fight for Korea's independence.
My Golden Life2017. KBS2, 52 episodes. A woman gets a chance to rise in status, falls hard and looks for happiness again.
My Husband Got a Family2012. KBS2, 58 episodes. A working woman's husband, adopted abroad as a child, is reunited with his birth parents.
My Love from the Star2013. SBS, 21 episodes. An alien who landed on Earth in 1609 falls in love 400 years later with a top actress.
My Mister2018. tvN, 16 episodes. A young woman weighed down by debt crosses paths with a man carrying wounds of his own.
The Princess' Man2011. KBS2, 24 episodes. The daughter of Grand Prince Suyang and the son of his political opponent fall in love.
The Producers2015. KBS2, 12 episodes. Employees of the variety department on the sixth floor of the KBS building in Yeouido.
Punch2014. SBS, 19 episodes. The last six months in the life of the chief of an anti-corruption investigation team.
Reply 19882015. tvN, 20 episodes. In 1988, five friends and their families live in the same neighborhood of Seoul.
Reply 19942013. tvN, 21 episodes. In 1994, six university students from the provinces share a boarding house in Sinchon, Seoul.
Secret Garden2010. SBS, 20 episodes. A stuntwoman and the CEO of a high-end department store meet over a family scandal.
She Was Pretty2015. MBC, 16 episodes. Two childhood acquaintances meet again at a fashion magazine after their fortunes have reversed.
Six Flying Dragons2015. SBS, 50 episodes. The founding of the Joseon dynasty, with a focus on the young Yi Bang-won.
The Slave Hunters2010. KBS2, 24 episodes. In Joseon, a slave hunter tracks a general who has become a runaway slave.
Something in the Rain2018. JTBC, 16 episodes. Jin-ah, a coffeehouse supervisor in her 30s, and Jun-hui, an animator in his late 20s.
Steal Heart2014. JTBC, 50 episodes. A pickpocket's daughter, just out of prison, works as a part-time barista at a friend's cafe.
Sungkyunkwan Scandal2010. KBS2, 20 episodes. Kim Yoon-hee poses as her brother to study at Sungkyunkwan at a time when women may not.
The Tale of Nokdu2019. KBS2, 32 episodes. In Joseon, a man disguises himself as a woman to enter a women-only village and learn about his birth.
W2016. MBC, 16 episodes. The real world collides with an alternate universe inside a webtoon.
While You Were Sleeping2017. SBS, 16 episodes. A reporter, a prosecutor and a police officer can foresee future events in their dreams.
2020s 77
18 Again2020. JTBC, 16 episodes. Jung Da-jung and Hong Dae-young, parents of twins, find their once happy marriage in trouble.
Alchemy of Souls2022. tvN, 30 episodes. In the fictional country of Daeho, young mages face a forbidden spell that lets souls switch bodies.
Behind Every Star2022. tvN, 12 episodes. The celebrity managers of a company called Method Entertainment.
Bloody Heart2022. KBS2, 16 episodes. Lee Tae, a king who must give up the woman he loves to survive, and Yoo Jeong, who must become queen.
Bon Appétit, Your Majesty2025. tvN, 12 episodes. A chef of French cuisine slips back in time and meets a king known as a gourmet and a tyrant.
Bossam: Steal the Fate2021. MBN, 20 episodes. Under Gwanghaegun, the bossam-man Ba-woo carries off the widowed daughter of the king by mistake.
Business Proposal2022. SBS, 12 episodes. Shin Ha-ri goes on a blind date in place of her friend and finds that her date is her boss.
Café Minamdang2022. KBS2, 18 episodes. A former profiler who became a shaman, his colleagues and a suspicious cafe named Minamdang.
Castaway Diva2023. tvN, 12 episodes. Seo Mok-ha, who dreams of being a diva, returns after 15 years stranded on an uninhabited island.
Crash Course in Romance2023. tvN, 16 episodes. The owner of a banchan shop, whose daughter faces college entrance exams, meets a top instructor.
Curtain Call2022. KBS2, 16 episodes. A man plays the part of a grandson from the North to grant a grandmother's last wish.
Daily Dose of Sunshine2023. Netflix, 12 episodes. Jung Da-eun, a nurse in a university hospital's psychiatry department, and her patients.
The Devil Judge2021. tvN, 16 episodes. In a dystopian South Korea, trials are held as a live courtroom show on television.
Doctor Slump2024. JTBC, 16 episodes. Two doctors, rivals in high school, meet again at the lowest point of their careers.
Doubt2024. MBC, 10 episodes. South Korea's best profiler finds that his daughter holds a secret tied to a criminal case.
The Dream Life of Mr. Kim2025. JTBC, 12 episodes. Director Kim starts work at a large company in Seoul and learns its politics.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo2022. ENA, 16 episodes. Woo Young-woo, an autistic rookie attorney, is hired by a major law firm in Seoul.
The First Responders2022. SBS, 24 episodes. Police and firefighters answer crimes, disasters and emergencies together.
Flex X Cop2024. SBS, 30 episodes. Jin I-soo, an immature chaebol heir turned detective, works beside a veteran detective.
Forecasting Love and Weather2022. JTBC, 16 episodes. Staff of the Korea Meteorological Administration at work and in love.
The Good Bad Mother2023. JTBC, 14 episodes. After an accident, an ambitious prosecutor and his mother set out to heal their relationship.
Good Boy2025. JTBC, 16 episodes. Former elite athletes become special police officers and form a ragtag team.
The Heavenly Idol2023. tvN, 12 episodes. The Pontifex Rembrary is carried from the Other World into the present world.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha2021. tvN, 16 episodes. A dentist from Seoul opens a clinic in the seaside village of Gongjin and meets Chief Hong.
Hospital Playlist2020. tvN, 24 episodes. Five doctors in their forties, friends since medical school, work at the same hospital.
Hyena2020. SBS, 16 episodes. Lawyers at Song & Kim work only for the richest 1 percent of society.
Imitation2021. KBS2, 12 episodes. The lives of idols, around a secret romance between members of a rookie girl group and a top boy group.
It's Beautiful Now2022. KBS2, 50 episodes. The Lee family, headed by a grandfather, and a generation reluctant to get married.
It's Okay to Not Be Okay2020. tvN, 16 episodes. A children's book writer and a caretaker who has devoted his life to his autistic older brother.
The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won2021. KBS1, 32 episodes. The story of Yi Bang-won, the third king of Joseon, told from a new perspective.
The King's Affection2021. KBS2, 20 episodes. A story of the Joseon court, based on the manhwa Yeonmo.
The King: Eternal Monarch2020. SBS, 16 episodes. Emperor Lee Gon of the Kingdom of Corea crosses into a world where the Republic of Korea exists.
Korea–Khitan War2023. KBS2, 32 episodes. King Hyeonjong of Goryeo and his commander Gang Gam-chan lead the war against the Khitans.
The Law Cafe2022. KBS2, 16 episodes. Kim Jeong-ho, a former prosecutor, and Kim Yu-ri, a lawyer.
Little Women2022. tvN, 12 episodes. Three poor sisters are left 70 billion won and come up against Korea's richest family.
Live Your Own Life2023. KBS2, 51 episodes. A daughter who gave her whole life to her family breaks away to live on her own.
Lovers of the Red Sky2021. SBS, 16 episodes. The only female painter of the fictional Dan dynasty, in a time of ghosts, demons and gods.
Low Life2025. Disney+, 11 episodes. In the 1970s, small-time crooks hear of gold lost with a ship that sank in the Yellow Sea in 1323.
Moving2023. Disney+, 20 episodes. Three high school students and their parents discover their super powers.
Mr. Queen2020. tvN, 20 episodes. Queen Cheorin of Joseon finds the soul of a modern-day man, a chef, inside her body.
My Dearest2023. MBC, 21 episodes. People find hope in hard times during the Qing invasion of Joseon.
My Liberation Notes2022. JTBC, 16 episodes. Three siblings with a long commute to Seoul, and a mysterious stranger who works for their father.
My Lovely Liar2023. tvN, 16 episodes. A woman who can hear lies becomes entangled with a man whose innocence no one believes in.
My Unfamiliar Family2020. tvN, 16 episodes. A family drama that aired on tvN in June and July 2020.
Now, We Are Breaking Up2021. SBS, 16 episodes. A story about falling in love and breaking up.
Our Beloved Summer2021. SBS, 16 episodes. A former couple meet again when a documentary they shot in high school goes viral.
Our Blues2022. tvN, 20 episodes. Linked stories of the sweet and bitter lives of people on Jeju Island.
Our Golden Days2025. KBS2, 50 episodes. Older and newer generations learn what family means by sharing each other's pain.
Our Unwritten Seoul2025. tvN, 12 episodes. Identical twins with opposite lives: Mi-ji, once a promising sprinter, and Mi-rae, the model student.
Police University2021. KBS2, 16 episodes. A police university professor with 20 years of detective work meets a first-year student who is a hacker.
Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist2022. tvN, 22 episodes. Yoo Se-yeop, a gifted physician to the royal family, is expelled from the capital.
Queen of Tears2024. tvN, 16 episodes. A chaebol heiress and a farmers' son, married three years, face their hardest time together.
Racket Boys2021. SBS, 16 episodes. A city kid joins a ragtag middle school badminton team in the countryside.
The Real Has Come!2023. KBS2, 50 episodes. Two unmarried people sign a false contract that leads to romance and to raising a child.
The Red Sleeve2021. MBC, 17 episodes. A court romance between a king of Joseon who puts duty first and a court lady, told from her side.
Resident Playbook2025. tvN, 12 episodes. Young doctors at the Jongno branch of Yulje Medical Center, in a spin-off of Hospital Playlist.
River Where the Moon Rises2021. KBS2, 20 episodes. A retelling of the Goguryeo folktale of Princess Pyeonggang and On Dal.
Rookie Cops2022. Disney+, 16 episodes. Freshmen recruits at the elite Korean National Police University.
The Secret Romantic Guesthouse2023. SBS, 18 episodes. The owners and boarders of Ihwawon Inn look for Lee Seol, who disappeared 13 years ago.
Shooting Stars2022. tvN, 16 episodes. Top star Gong Tae-sung and Oh Han-byul, the PR team leader of his management agency.
Snowdrop2021. JTBC, 16 episodes. A story set in 1987, a pivotal year in South Korean history.
Start-Up2020. tvN, 16 episodes. People chase their dreams in Sandbox, South Korea's fictional Silicon Valley.
The Story of Park's Marriage Contract2023. MBC, 12 episodes. Park Yeon-woo, a young woman of Joseon, travels 200 years forward to the year 2023.
Strong Girl Nam-soon2023. JTBC, 16 episodes. Gang Nam-soon, lost in Mongolia as a child, has superhuman strength and looks for her parents.
The Tale of Lady Ok2024. JTBC, 16 episodes. In Joseon, a servant escapes slavery and becomes a legal expert under the name Ok Tae-young.
Thirty-Nine2022. JTBC, 12 episodes. Three friends who are about to turn forty.
Three Bold Siblings2022. KBS2, 51 episodes. Kim Tae-joo, an eldest daughter, and Lee Sang-joon, an eldest son and top star, look for happiness.
The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call2025. Netflix, 8 episodes. Baek Kang-hyuk, a brilliant trauma surgeon, joins a struggling university hospital.
Twenty-Five Twenty-One2022. tvN, 16 episodes. In 1998, Na Hee-do loses her school fencing team and transfers to keep fencing.
Typhoon Family2025. tvN, 16 episodes. A young CEO, his family and his staff try to save his father's small company in the 1997 financial crisis.
The Uncanny Counter2020. OCN, 28 episodes. So Mun, a high school student, joins the Counters, who hunt evil spirits escaped from the afterlife.
Vincenzo2021. tvN, 20 episodes. Adopted by an Italian family at eight, Vincenzo Cassano grows up to be a lawyer for the mafia.
Welcome to Samdal-ri2023. JTBC, 16 episodes. Childhood friends Cho Yong-pil, a weather forecaster from Jeju Island, and Cho Sam-dal.
When Life Gives You Tangerines2025. Netflix, 16 episodes. The life of Ae-sun, a girl born in Jeju in 1951 who wants to be a poet, and Gwan-sik, who loves her.
You and Everything Else2025. Netflix, 15 episodes. Two lifelong friends face envy, rivalry and reconciliation when one of them falls gravely ill.
Young Lady and Gentleman2021. KBS2, 52 episodes. Lee Yong-gook, a widower with three children, takes on Park Dan-dan as their live-in tutor.
Yumi's Cells2021. tvN, 36 episodes. The life of an ordinary office worker, told from the point of view of the brain cells in her head.
How this list was compiled: A list by a written rule, built on 2026-10-03 from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and worded for this site. Rule one: every winner and nominee on Wikipedia's page for the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Drama (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baeksang_Arts_Award_for_Best_Drama) that has an article of its own. Rule two: from Wikipedia's list of Korean dramas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Korean_dramas), the 150 longest articles were read in order of length, to bring the list past 150 checked dramas. A drama from either rule was left out when its article mentions an age rating of 19 (or 18 and over); when the article's opening, genre line or categories mark it as horror, a revenge story, or a story about adultery, abuse, suicide or serial murders; and, by our own reading of the synopsis, when the story turns on one of those subjects or on deadly games, gambling or drink. That reading was done by hand and is a judgment: crime dramas with a murder case, historical dramas with wars and feuds, and family dramas in which a marriage fails are still on the list. Also left out, from rule two only: daily serials of 100 episodes or more, series first shown in 2026, and series not made in South Korea. 157 dramas are left: 80 by rule one and 77 by rule two. The year is the year of first broadcast or release, the network the first one named, and the episode count the figure in the article's box, all seasons together; each was read from the drama's own article that day. The premise line is ours, written from the opening and the synopsis of that article, and a script checked that every name and number in it stands in the article; where an article gives no story, the line gives a fact about the drama. No cast names, no ratings site, no streaming links and no artwork are used. The titles belong to their owners and are printed as plain facts; this site is not affiliated with any broadcaster, streaming service or award. A card prints no age rating: many of these dramas were written for adults. Licence: Facts from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); the selection rule and the wording of every line are our own work