Ending a ‘Good’ Enough TV Season

My first regular blog entry, here at Progressives Chat, was on Monday, September 25, 2017.

That was the first day of the 2017–18 television season.

We are nearly at the end of the 2017–18 season. The broadcast networks will wrap up all first-run episodes by the time the month is over. (Really, it tends to happen before Memorial Day.) So, I will do some reflecting.

I grew up during the 1970s and 1980s. I watched a lot of individual television series. And I tuned in regularly to the broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC. (Fox did not come along until 1986.)

During the 2017–18 season, I followed five broadcast series: ABC freshmen The Good Doctor, starring Freddie Highmore as a surgical resident who has autism; Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, a not-too-serious drama series starring Jason Ritter as a chosen one who helps people improve their lives; and the reboot of Roseanne (originally 1988–1997), which does not call for description, and which garnered most attention because star Roseanne Barr voted in 2016 for Donald Trump. I was also following CBS’s NCIS, which is fifteen years old, starring Mark Harmon as the top special agent of a military criminal investigation unit in Washington, D.C. (much attention was given it recently for cast member Pauley Perrette, a series original, having left after fifteen seasons); as well as Scorpion, starring Elyes Gabel and Katharine McPhee, about a private company of geniuses—with guidance by two normal human beings—who are contracted by the federal government to solve problems. (I also watch HBO’s Emmy winning Game of Thrones. It last ran in Summer 2017.)

All of these are entertainment. But, if I could have only watched one from the broadcast networks, I would have selected The Good Doctor. This is one that snuck up on me. (It also did that to Scorpion. Long story short: With both sharing the same time-period—Mondays at 10 p.m. ET—the premiere season of the ABC drama, which for most of the season it ranked in the Top 10, dethroned the CBS series with winning to a point that the latter’s ratings collapsed and, after four seasons, was canceled the past weekend by CBS. ABC also canceled Kevin. The other trio of ABC and CBS series—all in the Top 10—will return next season.) What made The Good Doctor so special to be such a hit? I figure it stands out from the rest of the dramas on the broadcast networks—that it is not like many other series. Most of what I see as dramas appearing on broadcast networks are a combination of procedural and escapist fare. This may has also been a big appeal with NBC’s This Is Us, a sensational rookie from the 2016–17 season, which covers generations in the lives of the individuals who are a family. So, with the 2017–18 season, this is my guess with ABC’s The Good Doctor.

The Good Doctor is adapted from the same-titled South Korean series, with the U.S. rights bought by former Lost and Hawaii Five–O costar Daniel Dae Kim, and its protagonist is Shaun Murphy who is played by Freddie Highmore. He is challenged with becoming fully functional while finding out how much he can trust those around him. He is most able to trust his mentor and his colleague. All three actors in these roles—series lead Highmore (most prominent in the first two above videos; the second is a scene from the series pilot “Burnt Food”) and supporting players Richard Schiff and Antonia Thomas (from the third video which is a scene from the episode “Not Fake”)—delivered award-worthy performances. (Schiff won an Emmy for NBC’s The West Wing in 2000.) The Good Doctor is a series which works because it is engaging and intelligent.

I don’t make a point of watching every acclaimed television series that are considered musts. I don’t want to give such a demanding amount of my personal time. There are lot of acclaimed series from basic-cable, premium-cable, and streaming networks. A few years ago, I checked out the political House of Cards, on Netflix, which came a couple decades after PBS ran it as a miniseries. I tuned out after one season. (I was not fascinated by it.) I recently streamed, say, three episodes of Hulu’s Emmy winning The Handmaid’s Tale, adapted from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, about a totalitarian form of government and the abuses of women. That was more than enough for me. So, I am sticking with what may seem lighter fare. And I think what that does for me is give me some breaks from the seriousness that is politics. Many of us have our different, and some have similar, ideas on what is entertaining. But, I am just thankful there is anything on that is entertaining and worthy of my time.


I will ask readers this question: What series, even if there was just one, did you watch during this [2017–18] television season? (If nothing applied, I will re-phrase: What was, if anything, your TV entertainment?)