Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have noticed that ABC medical drama The Good Doctor has become a meme thanks to a scene from the show’s second season. While there is some argument to be had about how the show depicts those with autism in the medical field, you have to admit that it’s a pretty good show. And this is made evident during the show’s season one premiere.
Twitter user @StolenDans claimed that viewership for The Good Doctor‘s pilot premiere was significantly higher than HBO’s Succession peak viewership by over 15 million people. But that also includes DVR viewership. If we look at the U.S. viewership numbers when it first aired in 2017, the pilot of The Good Doctor received over 11 million viewers. Compare that to Succession‘s peak of 2.6 million viewers.
This revelation came after some expressed confusion about how The Good Doctor has stayed on the air for 6 years since many people knew about the show until the “I am a surgeon” memes surged in popularity.
This response caused some backlash, with people arguing that not everyone is subscribed to HBO Max to watch Succession. Or how people would have their TVs playing in the background, which could affect viewership numbers. One even linked to a Rolling Stone article, which lists Succession as the 11th greatest TV show of all time. Meanwhile, The Good Doctor was not included.
But I find it pretty interesting that this person decided to use The Good Doctor as an example, considering the fact that Succession was released a year later in 2018. If OP wanted to dunk on Succession on a fair playing field, they should have used Cobra Kai. The show was first released as a YouTube Red exclusive before it made its way to Netflix, and the first episode received 5.4 million views during the first 24 hours upon release. And remember, not everyone was keen to subscribe to YouTube Premium at the time.
So maybe don’t use a show that sourced a current meme to bolster an argument.
This debate might just be an argument around generational gaps and their preference for finding entertainment. The older generation might stick to television since it’s what they’re used to. Meanwhile, younger generations would rely on streaming service and social media for their entertainment hit.
The Good Doctor is an ongoing medical drama about a surgeon with autism who has to prove himself to his colleagues that he could do the job. The show is based on a 2013 South Korean TV series, to which Daniel Dae Kim got the rights to adapt the show in the U.S. The sixth season concluded recently back on May 1, 2023, with a seventh season confirmed by ABC.