The Good Doctor will get to continue practicing medicine at ABC. It has been announced that the network has renewed the Freddie Highmore-led drama for a fifth season.
The series is the first of ABC's scripted shows to score a renewal for the 2021-22 season. Upfronts are coming up soon and this is when networks announce their schedules for the upcoming season and reveal which shows are being renewed or canceled. ABC typically doesn't reveal a lot of its renewals or cancellations until the upfront presentation but The Good Doctor is clearly doing well enough to warrant an early reveal of its fate.
The Good Doctor continues to be a reliable performer for ABC. The series averages 8.4 million viewers per episode, including a week of delayed viewing, trailing only Grey's Anatomy (8.41 million viewers) among ABC's primetime series this season. Its 1.3 demo rating in the coveted demographic of adults 18-49 is tied for fourth on the network. The show also ads its Monday time period in both ratings measures. The network said that it delivers a 2.98 rating this season after 35 days of delayed viewing on linear and digital platforms, up 397% over its live+same day average among adults 18-49. The Disney-owned broadcast added that it attracts 12.1 million total viewers after 35 days of multiplatform viewing.
The Good Doctor is based on a 2013 South Korean series of the same name and follows Shaun Murphy (Highmore), a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome from the mid-size 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. In addition to Highmore, the show also stars Richard Schiff, Antonia Thomas, Hill Harper, Christina Chang, Fiona Gubelmann, Will Yun Lee, and Paige Spara.
Are YOU excited that The Good Doctor will be back for a fifth season?