TV

Doc with autism

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Television viewers and those familiar with people on the autism spectrum agree: The Good Doctor is a good show.

The show stars Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), a brilliant young doctor recruited into the surgical unit of a prestigious hospital. Many on staff contend that his autism and savant syndrome make him too great a risk, but Murphy has made believers out of viewers won over by the heartfelt mix of melodrama and medical mystery.

Critics seem to think The Good Doctor, about a brilliant surgeon with autism, is too sentimental. But that sentimentality, and raw emotion, is being embraced by viewers. The show is a huge ratings hit for ABC and the top new drama on networks this fall.