The Good Doctor has flatlined

After seven seasons, the Freddie Highmore-led medical drama will end its residency on ABC

By Emma Keates  |  January 11, 2024 | 6:12pm
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The Good Doctor has flatlined
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Freddie Highmore in The Good Doctor Photo: ABC/Art Streiber

It looks like The Good Doctor couldn’t save itself in the end. After 116 episodes over more than half a decade, ABC has announced that it will be pulling the plug on the long-running medical procedural after its upcoming seventh (and now final) season. Let’s all join together in a moment of silence; thank you, Good Doctor, for everything… but mostly all the memes. You’ll always be a surgeon in our hearts.

The Good Doctor, anchored by a bombastic performance from Freddie Highmore, tells the story of a neurodivergent young surgeon named Shaun Murphy as he navigates the trials and tribulations of life at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. “Playing Dr. Shaun Murphy has been an immense privilege and one of the most remarkable and rewarding experiences of my life,” Highmore said in a statement on the show’s cancellation (via Deadline). “Caring deeply is what got us here. Thank you to Sony and ABC, and to everyone who has watched along at home. With love from Vancouver… tequila, stat!”

While on Twitter/X, it may seem like most people only engaged with The Good Doctor to pick apart its funniest bits, a whole lot of people actually sat down and watched it too. Last season, Good Doctor was the number one show among viewers ages 18-49 in the Monday 10 p.m. slot, and hit a season-high of 3.7 million viewers in April (per TVLine). For reference, only 2.9 million people tuned in to watch Succession’s series finale last year.

For its seventh and final season, the show will be moving to Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. In addition to Highmore, it also stars Richard Schiff, Fiona Gubelmann, Will Yun Lee, Christina Chang, Paige Spara, Bria Samoné Henderson, and Noah Galvin.

 
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