Fox started the 2025 TV schedule off on a very strong note with new medical drama Doc, which immediately broke a ratings record when it premiered in January. It's the first medical drama on the network since the conclusion of The Resident in 2023, and fans don't even have to wait until the Season 1 finale for good news about the future of the new show with the amnesiac twist. And that good news from Fox makes me look back on what stars Molly Parker, Omar Metwally, and Jon Ecker told CinemaBlend about their characters' love triangle earlier this year.
Doc Renewed For Season 2
Ahead of the Season 1 penultimate episode, Fox announced a renewal for Doc. Not only will the medical drama be back after the end of its initial ten-episode run, but it received a much bigger order for Season 2. Fans can look forward to a full TV season of 22 episodes next time around, presumably returning in fall of the 2025-2026 TV season.
According to Michael Thorn, President of FOX Television Network, it was an "easy decision" to give Doc such an early renewal, crediting the "incredible team, our partners at Sony, and an exceptional cast, led by the talented Molly Parker." The news comes shortly after 9-1-1: Lone Star ended as arguably the network's biggest show; could Doc be the next to claim that title?
It certainly scored in the ratings right out of the gate! The premiere accumulated more than 16 million viewers across platforms (including encores) through February 19, which is a massive 647% increase over the initial ratings for the first live broadcast. It was Fox's most-watched debut episode across all platforms in five years, beating the record previously held by 9-1-1: Lone Star. Plus, Doc is one of just two freshman broadcast series to grow from Week 1 to Week 2 in the key 18-49 age demographic and total viewers, per Fox's announcement.
So, even though the Season 1 finale doesn't air until March 18, should it really come as a surprise that Fox has enough faith in Doc to order a much bigger second season? (You can stream all of Season 1 so far with a Hulu subscription.)
The Stars' Thoughts On The Love Triangle
Doc has had one of the most unconventional love triangles on television from the very start, and nobody was really at fault for how messy it immediately became after Amy (Deadwood's Molly Parker) lost her memory. She'd been in a secret relationship with Jake (Queen of the South alum Jon Ecker) after divorcing her husband Michael (Big Sky vet Omar Metwally), but then lost her memories of loving Jake and believed she was still married to Michael due to her TBI. An added twist? Michael had remarried.
The plot has of course thickened since the love triangle – if it can indeed be classified as one – was set up in the series premiere, and Doc has two more episodes to either resolve it or find a way to stretch it into a much longer second season. It feels like something has to give at this point, but the complications of the trio have been key to the show so far.
When I spoke to the Doc cast during SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, Parker, Metwally, and Ecker were fittingly grouped together on the red carpet. I asked for their take on the triangle comprised of three people with different amounts of information about their relationships, and Parker said:
It's sort of an unusual dynamic in that one of the members of the triangle doesn't know she's in a love triangle. [laughs] That's part of what's interesting and fresh about it. In love triangles, somebody is in conflict with themselves. Typically, in a love triangle, and in this case [it's different].
There's plenty of conflict to be found between Jake, Amy, and Michael, but it was nobody's fault other than the bad timing of Amy's car crash to cause the TBI and amnesia. Their actions since that TBI are up to interpretation by fans. Omar Metwally shared his thoughts, saying:
I think that's what makes it interesting on a macro level, for the audience. And so for us, playing it as individual actors, we tend to focus more on the micro. What is our character going through? What is his or her perspective? What are we? What do we want? It's almost as exciting for us when we get to see how all the pieces fit together when we watch it on a larger level.
Doc Season 1 had already finished filming by the time the trio appeared at SCAD TVfest earlier in February, so they didn't spoil everything that was to come before the final credits rolled, and they didn't even know yet that they'd get a second season of 22 episodes. Jon Ecker weighed in with his own thoughts on the triangle and what makes it interesting:
It changes a little in the second half, but in the first half it's just kind of weird for both of us [Jake and Michael]. We're both trying to take care of her mental health and her recovery process. We're both kind of sidelining our feelings for her, or lack of [feelings], for the sake of her mental wellbeing. So it's an interesting situation.
Will this "interesting situation" between the three characters carry over into the second season? It seems unlikely that the love triangle can be fully resolved before the end of Season 1 even if everything goes exactly right for the characters, and they haven't been quite so lucky so far. Plus, there are more concerns than just romance.
Keep tuning in to Fox on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of Doc Season 1, and enjoy the comfort of not having to worry about whether it will be cancelled. I'd personally love if the network would pair Doc Season 2 with Murder in a Small Town Season 2 after Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk's drama was renewed as well, but we'll have to wait and see.
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