We’ve known for three months now that ABC will be saying sayonara Dr. Shaun Murphy and co. at the end of the TV season. At this point, I’ve had time to settle into the idea of The Good Doctor getting axed and even had time to realize that seven seasons is actually an incredibly long and generous run compared to most (not all) shows on the TV schedule. Still, I can’t help feeling that a series of events in Hollywood really screwed up this series for the fans.
There are two major reasons The Good Doctor getting canceled when it did is so upsetting. Those are:
- This final season is only 10 episodes.
- The Good Doctor spinoff The Good Lawyer also got canceled.
What do these things have in common? They both have to do with the Hollywood strikes.
First, compared to previous seasons, which ranged from 18-22 episodes, we’re not really getting a good amount of time for drama to wrap up its storyline. I think that’s one of the reasons fans were so shook about that major Good Doctor death coming at the eleventh hour. There’s no time to process anything as there’s only a few episodes left to wrap up the show’s full storyline. It's all happening very fast.
This is absolutely the fault of the WGA strikes and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The WGA Strikes wrapped in September, with the SAG-Aftra strikes also occurring around the same time, but even though writers could get back to work in the fall, the SAG-AFTRA strikes ensured no projects could film until at least November. During this window a ton of shows like The Great and How I Met Your Father simply got canceled without answering major cliffhangers, so I suppose I should be grateful we got more episodes. And yet, it would have been way cooler if the show had gotten a full final season order.
Which brings me to my second point. This time last year, The Good Doctor seemed to be on a high note. The series had a season order of 22 episodes instead of the usual 18, and ABC had also signed on for a high-profile spinoff pilot set in the legal world. Called The Good Lawyer, the series was set to star Felicity Huffman and had already been introduced in a backdoor pilot during a Good Doctor episode.
Like so many other shows, The Good Lawyer became a casualty of the strikes and the network moved on. Ultimately, I'd argue The Good Doctor did too. And while it was a good run for the show, I'm still a little bit in my feels about it, particularly as the finale looms next month.
The only consolation I’m getting out of this whole thing is that at least the show is not still on the chopping block like so many ABC shows the network has not been quick to respond about. Well, and at least ABC already ordered another season of Will Trent, which also looks at a character dealing and persevering through his own unique challenges in the workplace.
Yet, while there's programming to look forward to, I'll be pouring one out for The Good Doctor soon.
