Why America Is Making an Appointment With ‘the Good Doctor’
December 6, 2017
By: Neal Justin
Source: Disability Scoop
LOS ANGELES — Freddie Highmore has seen the light. After four years of playing a murderer-in-training on A&E’s “Bates Motel,” the actor has slipped into the scrubs of Shaun Murphy, the most beloved TV character to carry a stethoscope since George Clooney’s Doug Ross was making rounds on “ER.”
“It’s nice to save people after years of killing them,” Highmore said.
Nice, indeed. “The Good Doctor” is averaging 17 million viewers a week, making it network TV’s No. 1 drama, ahead of “This Is Us” and “NCIS,” an astounding accomplishment for a rookie series, especially on ABC, which had tumbled to fourth place among the coveted 18-49 age demographic.
In many ways, “The Good Doctor” is a routine medical series with cases straight from the files of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” The twist: Murphy has autism, a condition that makes him socially awkward. Despite his superior diagnostic skills, …