The Good Doctor (TV series)
The Good Doctor is an American medical drama television series based on the 2013 award-winning South Korean series of the same name. Actor Daniel Dae Kim noticed the original series and bought the rights for his production company. He began adapting the series and in 2015 eventually shopped it to CBS, his home network. CBS decided against creating a pilot. Because Kim felt so strongly about the series, he bought back the rights from CBS. Eventually, Sony Pictures Television and Kim worked out a deal and brought on David Shore, creator of the Fox medical drama House, to develop the series.
The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios, in association with production companies Shore Z Productions, 3AD, and Entermedia. David Shore serves as showrunner and Daniel Dae Kim is an executive producer for the show.
The series stars Freddie Highmore as Shaun Murphy, a young autistic savant surgical resident at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Antonia Thomas, Hill Harper, Christina Chang, Richard Schiff, Will Yun Lee, Fiona Gubelmann, Paige Spara, and Tamlyn Tomita also star in the show. Nicholas Gonzalez, Chuku Modu, Beau Garrett, and Jasika Nicole used to also star in the show, but their characters were written off. The series received a put pilot commitment at ABC after a previous attempted series did not move forward at CBS Television Studios in 2015; The Good Doctor was ordered to series in May 2017. On October 3, 2017, ABC picked up the series for a full season of 18 episodes. The series is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The series debuted on September 25, 2017. The Good Doctor has received mixed reviews from critics, with particular praise given to Highmore's performance, and strong television ratings but criticism for the storylines while the portrayal of autism divided critics. In March 2018, ABC renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 24, 2018. In February 2019, ABC renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on September 23, 2019. In February 2020, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season.
Premise
The series follows Shaun Murphy, a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome from the mid-size city of Casper, Wyoming, where he had a troubled childhood. He relocates to San Jose, California, to work at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital.Cast and characters
Main
- Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy, surgical resident with autism. His savant abilities include near-photographic recall and the ability to note minute details and changes. He is portrayed in flashbacks to his teen years by Graham Verchere.
- Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr. Neil Melendez, an attending cardiothoracic surgeon in charge of the surgical residents.
- Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Brown, a surgical resident who forms a close friendship with Shaun. Claire is known for her empathy and emotional maturity, and is usually very patient and understanding when communicating with Shaun.
- Chuku Modu as Dr. Jared Kalu, a surgical resident from a wealthy family. He moves to Denver at the start of season 2 after conflicting with Dr. Andrews.
- Beau Garrett as Jessica Preston, the hospital in-house attorney and Vice President of Risk Management. She is the granddaughter of the hospital founder and a friend of Dr. Glassman.
- Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews, an attending surgeon specializing in plastic surgery, former president and former Chief of Surgery. After being fired as hospital president, he accepts an offer return as attending surgeon.
- Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman, President of the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital and former attending neurosurgeon, who has been a mentor and good friend of Shaun since he was 14.
- Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki, Chairwoman of the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital Board and Vice President of the foundation that controls the hospital's funding.
- Will Yun Lee as Dr. Alex Park, a surgical resident and an ex-cop from Phoenix, Arizona who decided to become a doctor.
- Fiona Gubelmann as Dr. Morgan Reznick, a competitive and self-centered surgical resident. She has a subtle rivalry with Claire as they have opposite personalities and work ethics.
- Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim, an attending trauma surgeon in charge of the ER and surgical residents and later the Chief of Surgery.
- Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo, Shaun's love interest until she left to pursue her dream. Later after she returned, they decided to be platonic friends and roommates, but became a couple in the season 3 finale.
- Jasika Nicole as Dr. Carly Lever, the hospital's head pathologist introduced in season 1 who becomes Shaun's co-worker in season 2 and girlfriend in season 3. However, Carly breaks up with Shaun near the end of season 3.
Recurring
- Dylan Kingwell as Steve Murphy : Shaun's late younger brother, in flashbacks and later dreams and visions. He also portrays Evan Gallico, a boy in the present that resembles Shaun's brother and is suffering from stage 4 osteosarcoma.
- Teryl Rothery as J.L.
- Chris D'Elia as Kenny : Shaun's new neighbor, who moves into Lea's apartment. Shaun mentioned that he was arrested when Lea returned.
- Sheila Kelley as hospital barista Debbie Wexler, a love interest for Dr. Glassman and later his fiancée and wife. After getting fired in the third season, she becomes Glassman's office manager. Kelley is married to Richard Schiff, who plays Glassman.
- Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Marina Blaize, an oncologist
- Daniel Dae Kim as Dr. Jackson Han, former Chief of Surgery of San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, who had trouble with Shaun's behavior and autism.
- Sharon Leal as Breeze Brown, Dr. Claire Brown's mother who suffers from bipolar disorder. She dies in a car crash in the season 3 episode "Claire."
- Ricky He as Kellan Park, Dr. Park's estranged son
- Karin Konoval as Deena Petringa, a nurse at St. Bonaventure who is often seen assisting in surgeries or monitoring patients.
Notable guests
- Irene Keng as Dr. Elle McLean, a surgical resident
- Eve Gordon as Nurse Fryday
- Eric Winter as Dr. Matt Coyle, a suave doctor who charms the hospital's staff, until he makes explicit advances towards Claire.
- Marsha Thomason as Dr. Isabel Barnes, Dr. Marcus Andrews' wife.
- Kelly Blatz as Aidan Coulter, donor and Allegra's love interest
- Manny Jacinto as Bobby Ato, in the 10th episode of the first season, "Sacrifice"
- Necar Zadegan as Dr. Ko.
- Holly Taylor as Maddie Glassman, Dr. Glassman's daughter.
- Vered Blonstein as Lana Moore, the only autistic female character on the series.
- Alex Plank as Javier "Javi" Maldonado
- Jennifer Birmingham as Mia Wuellner, Dr. Alex Park's former wife with whom he has begun a reconciliation. In real life, Birmingham is married to Will Yun Lee who portrays Park and they have a son together.
- Robert Sean Leonard as Shamus O'Malley, a patient who comes to the hospital with a marlin in his leg.
- Michael Trucco as Ethan Murphy, Shaun's long-estranged father, who later dies of cancer.
- Moises Arias as Luka, a drug mule who comes to the hospital after one of the drug balloons bursts inside him.
- Casar Jacobson as Bartender, Dr. Murphy "calls the shots" and the deaf bartender delivers.
Episodes
Production
Development
In May 2014, CBS Television Studios began development on an American remake of the hit South Korean medical drama Good Doctor with Daniel Dae Kim as producer. Kim explained the appeal of adapting the series as "something that can fit into a recognizable world, with a breadth of characters that can be explored in the long run". The story of an autistic pediatric surgeon was to be set in Boston and projected to air in August 2015. However, CBS did not pick up the project and it moved to Sony Pictures Television, with a put pilot commitment from ABC in October 2016. The series is developed by David Shore, who is executive producing alongside Kim, Sebastian Lee, and David Kim. ABC officially ordered the series to pilot in January 2017.On May 11, 2017, ABC ordered to series as a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios, and it was officially picked up for a season of 18 episodes on October 3, 2017. On March 7, 2018, ABC renewed the series for a second season. On February 5, 2019, during the TCA press tour, ABC renewed the series for a third season which is set to premiere on September 23, 2019. On February 10, 2020, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season.
Casting
On February 17, 2017, Antonia Thomas was cast as Dr. Claire Browne, a strong-willed and talented doctor who forms a special connection with Shaun. A week later, Freddie Highmore was cast in the lead role as Dr. Shaun Murphy, an autistic surgeon; and Nicholas Gonzalez was cast as Dr. Neil Melendez, the boss of the surgical residents at the hospital. The next month, Chuku Modu was cast as resident Dr. Jared Kalu ; Hill Harper as head of surgery Dr. Marcus Andrews ; Irene Keng as resident Dr. Elle McLean; and Richard Schiff was cast as Dr. Aaron Glassman, the hospital president and Shaun's mentor. Schiff was shortly followed by Beau Garrett as hospital board member Jessica Preston and a friend of Dr. Glassman. In September 2017, Tamlyn Tomita was promoted to the principal cast as Allegra Aoki.In April 2018, it was revealed that Will Yun Lee, Fiona Gubelmann, Christina Chang, and Paige Spara had been promoted to series regulars for the second season, after recurring in the first as Alex, Morgan, Audrey, and Lea, respectively. In addition, it was announced that Chuku Modu would not return for the second season. On September 19, 2018, it was announced that Beau Garrett had left the series ahead of the second-season premiere.
city hall serves as the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital in exterior shots.
In January 2019, it was announced that executive producer Daniel Dae Kim had been added in a recurring role during the second season. In July 2019, it was announced that Jasika Nicole was promoted to series regular for the third season.
Filming
Production on the pilot took place from March 21 to April 6, 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Filming for the rest of the season began on July 26, 2017, and concluded on March 1, 2018. Filming for season two began on June 27, 2018, and concluded on February 12, 2019. Filming for the third season began on June 19, 2019 and concluded on March 3, 2020. Filming for the fourth season is expected to begin on August 4, 2020 and conclude on April 13, 2021.Music
Emmy-nominated Dan Romer serves as the primary composer for the series. He won an ASCAP Screen Music Award for his work on the show.Release
Broadcast
The Good Doctor began airing on September 25, 2017, on ABC in the United States, and on CTV in Canada. Sky Witness acquired the broadcast rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Seven Network airs the series in Australia. Colors Infinity aqcuired the rights to the series for the Indian Subcontinent in October 2017, airing each episode 24 hours after its US broadcast. Wowow, the largest Japanese private satellite and pay-per-view television network in Japan acquired the rights to broadcast the series beginning in April 2018. In the Netherlands, the series began airing on January 29, 2018, on RTL 4 and on video-on-demand service Videoland. In Italy the series premiered on Rai 1 on July 17, 2018 setting a record of 5.2 million total viewers from 9.30pm to 11.45pm, reaching a share of 31,7% in the third episode and entering the Top 10 of Most Watched Foreign TV Series in Italy at No.5, an event since the leaderboard never changed again after the last entry on November 14, 2007 with an episode of House. In Brazil, the series was the first international production to be released at the Rede Globo's video-on-demand service Globoplay. On August 27 the two first episodes was aired at Globo free-to-air television network to announce the launch of the series in the streaming service. On March 20, 2020 the Chilean public broadcaster Televisión Nacional de Chile announces the arrival of the series, with a "Coming soon" advertisement.Marketing
A full-length trailer was released for ABC's May 2017 Upfront presentation, which /Film's Ethan Anderton described the concept as feeling like "House meets Rain Man, that just might be enough to make it interesting". However, he questioned "how long can audiences be entranced by both the brilliance of character's savant skills and the difficulties that come from his autism in the workplace." Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter felt the trailer was "both kinda progressive and really dated". He added, "Too much felt on-the-nose—especially Hill Harper as the main character's detractor and Richard Schiff as his noble defender", while also commentating that "On-the-nose/premise is how you have to trailer a show like this, and maybe spaced out over 43 minutes it won't grate." Ben Travers and Steve Greene for IndieWire called it "a serious trailer for a serious subject. The first glimpse of Highmore's character hints that they're toeing the line between presenting a thoughtful depiction of his condition and using his perceptive abilities as a kind of secret weapon." The trailer had been viewed over 25.4 million times after a week of its release, including over 22 million views on Facebook.The pilot was screened at ABC's PaleyFest event on September 9, 2017. On March 22, 2018, members of the cast as well as executive producers Shore and Kim attended the 35th annual PaleyFest LA to promote the series, along with a screening of the season finale of the first season.
Streaming
In May 2018, Hulu acquired the SVOD rights to new and past episodes of the series to air exclusively on Hulu, with future episodes becoming available the day after their original broadcast on ABC. In New Zealand, the show is available exclusively for streaming on Lightbox. The pilot episode was made available for viewing on February 5, 2018 with the newer episodes coming express from the US.Home media
Region 1- Season One: August 7, 2018
- Season Two: August 6, 2019
- Complete Season One: October 8, 2018
- Season One: August 15, 2018
- Season Two: July 10, 2019
- Season One–Season Two: July 10, 2019
- Season Three: July 15, 2020
Reception
Ratings
The series premiere earned a 2.2/9 rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, with 11.22 million total viewers, making it the most watched Monday drama debut on ABC in 21 years, since Dangerous Minds in September 1996, and the highest rated Monday drama in the 18–49 demographic in 8.5 years, since Castle in March 2009. Factoring live plus seven-day ratings, the pilot was watched by a total of 19.2 million viewers and set a record for DVR viewers with 7.9 million, surpassing the record of 7.67 million set by the pilot of Designated Survivor in 2016. According to TV Guide November 13–26 issue, the October 9 episode attracted 18.2 million viewers, beating out both high-rated CBS shows NCIS and The Big Bang Theory for the most viewed primetime show that week.Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes season 1 has an approval rating of 62% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.65/10. The website's consensus reads, "The Good Doctors heavy-handed bedside manner undermines a solid lead performance, but under all the emotionally manipulative gimmickry, there's still plenty of room to improve." On Metacritic season 1 has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".Giving his first impression of the series' pilot for TVLine, Matt Webb Mitovich stated, "The Good Doctor boasts great DNA... has the potential to be a refreshingly thought-provoking hospital drama, based on the buttons pushed in the pilot alone." He enjoyed the "warm dynamic" of Schiff and Highmore, while describing Thomas' character as "our emotional 'in' to Shaun's distinct, distant world". He noted that "it takes a while to build up momentum", but concluded that "the very final scene packs quite a punch, as Dr. Murphy unwittingly puts a colleague on notice".
The New York Times television critic James Poniewozik notes in his Critic's Notebook column that, for the most part, the drama is a "hospital melodrama with whiz-bang medical science, a dash of intra-staff romance and shameless sentimentality." Discussing the main characters of Dr. Aaron Glassman and Dr. Shaun Murphy, Poniewozik writes that "Mr. Schiff is convincing in the role and Mr. Highmore is striking in his."
Speaking of Freddie Highmore's Golden Globe nomination on Monday, December 11, 2017, for his role in The Good Doctor, Laura Bradley, writing for Vanity Fair says: "... Freddie Highmore received the awards recognition that has long and unjustly eluded him..." Bradley feels that Highmore's performance has been "the central key" to the show's enormous success and while the show had lukewarm reviews, most critics have praised Highmore's work.