“The Good Doctor” is a TV series that aired on ABC, and has created huge hype around it.
Let’s find out more about the series!
- The Good Doctor is an American medical drama television series.
- It is based on the 2013 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.
- Hill Harper, Christina Chang, Richard Schiff, Will Yun Lee, Fiona Gubelmann, Paige Spara, Noah Galvin, Bria Samoné Henderson and Osvaldo Benavides also star in the show. Nicholas Gonzalez, Antonia Thomas, Chuku Modu, Beau Garrett, Tamlyn Tomita, and Jasika Nicole used to also star or having recurring roles 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 generally mixed reviews from critics, who have praised Highmore’s performance but criticized the series’ storylines.
- The portrayal of autism has also divided critical opinion.
- In May 2021, the series was renewed for a fifth season which premiered on September 27, 2021.
- The series follows Shaun Murphy, a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome from the small city of Casper, Wyoming, where he had a troubled past. He relocates to San Jose, California, to work at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital.
- Freddie Highmore revealed that he was initially turned down for the role of Shaun Murphy, being deemed too young. The producers told him they wanted someone who was at least 25, he replied with “but I AM 25.”
- Nicholas Gonzalez (Dr. Melendez) comes from a medical family, his father and brother both being surgeons and his mother a bookkeeper at South Texas Radiology (San Antonio). His brother acted as an uncredited medical consultant to him on set.
- All three of the actors playing the surgical residents were born in London, UK.
- Freddie Highmore and Antonia Thomas both use American accents, while Chuku Modu speaks naturally.
- Richard Schiff (Dr.Glassman) and Sheila Kelley (Debbie Wexler) are married in real life since 1996.
- On the donor wall of the set for San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital is a placard that reads “The Bates Family,” a nod to actor Freddie Highmore’s role as Norman Bates in Bates Motel (TV Series 2013-2017)
- Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) & his wife Mia Wuellner (Jennifer Birmingham Lee) are a couple off-screen
- Based on Korean (KBS2) medical drama Good Doctor (2013), original screenplay by Park Jae-bum, who received Korean Drama Awards.
- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1 in 68 children (or 14.7 per 1,000 eight-year-olds) in multiple communities in the United States has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- This is the first medical drama series for Richard Schiff (Dr. Glassman). Ironically, he has stated that in reality he actually hates hospitals.
