Fans of Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) rejoiced when ABC announced that The Good Doctor, currently in its fifth season, would return on February 28, 2022, an earlier date than originally planned. Since the show’s premiere in 2017, millions of viewers have dedicated their Monday nights to watching Shaun and the other highly skilled surgeons at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital perform complicated procedures on seriously ill and dying patients.
Despite being considered a dreaded theme, The Good Doctor garnered an instant fan base five years ago. In 2017, the American adaptation of the Korean drama surpassed NBC’s This Is Us and CBS’s NCIS in ratings after only its first few episodes.
Although hospital dramas are nothing new, there is something about The Good Doctor that resonates with people. Nearly every moment is fast-paced and emotional in some way, all with an occasional dash of much-needed humor as Shaun, who is on the autism spectrum and has wise man syndrome, navigates his career, love life with Lea Dilallo ( Paige Spara), and the mission to better communicate with patients.
Initially, The Good Doctor was scheduled to air on CBS. In 2014, it was reported that the network was working with “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-0” actor Daniel Dae Kim to create the American adaptation with an expected air date of 2015.
However, the project never came to fruition under CBS, which aired The Good Doctor twice, before buying back the rights to the show, allowing ABC to seize the opportunity to bring it to the United States, with Daniel Dae Kim. as executive producer. In fact, he himself even appears on the series for a handful of episodes as Dr. Jackson Han, who has his own way of doing things as the new chief of surgery, much to Shaun’s discomfort.
According to Channing Dungey, who was serving as president of ABC Entertainment Group at the time the network acquired The Good Doctor, the decision to pick up the show was “a no-brainer” and had a starting point in the audience the show was targeting. , especially the inclusive part that its plot comes to tell.
