Doctor Odysseyhas debuted with a major viewership milestone. The medical drama, which was co-created by Ryan Murphy along with Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, stars Joshua Jackson as newly hired luxury cruise ship medical staffer Dr. Max Bankman alongside an ensemble cast that includes Phillipa Soo as nurse practitioner Avery Morgan, Sean Teale as Nurse Tristan Silva, and Don Johnson as Captain Robert Massey.Doctor Odysseyseason 1premiered on September 26 as part of ABC’s Fall season.
PerDeadline, Disney reports that the ABC show’s premiere episode has racked up a cross-platform viewership of 13.4 million in its first week.Doctor Odysseypassing the 10 million milestone within a week is a rare recordfor any individual episode of a network television program. Because of this landmark viewership, the show has been named the best drama premiere for the network in four years.
What This Viewership Record Means For Doctor Odyssey
This record-breaking debut for the new Ryan Murphy program would seem to indicate that theDoctor Odysseycastmay have their next few years set for them, asthe show could have legs as the next big medical drama for ABC, which is already the home of other long-running hits in the genre such asGrey’s AnatomyandThe Good Doctor. It is built for longevity, as its cruise ship setting allows for a small group of rotating cast members to form its center as guest stars cycle in and out around the core medical team for various arcs.
The show has a similar setup toThe Love Boat, which also followed a ship’s crew and ended up running for nine seasons between 1977 and 1986.
This successful debut also seems to show thatRyan Murphy has not oversaturated the market despite being behind half a dozen different new and returning programsacross various genres that have premiered this season. In addition toDoctor Odyssey, this includesFX’sGrotesquerieandAmerican Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, ABC’s9-1-1, Fox’s9-1-1: Lone Star, and Netflix’sMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Our Take On The Doctor Odyssey Viewership Record
The Show Still Has A Lot To Prove
While the debut figures forDoctor Odysseyare incontestibly strong,it remains to be seen if the show can maintain these numbersas season 1 continues to run. The medical drama has not performed well in audience reviews and has so far received scores of 37% from users on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.4 out of 10 on IMdb, which could indicate that viewers were dissatisfied with the direction of the premiere. Should this dissatisfaction continue, viewership could quickly dwindle from these record-breaking numbers.
Doctor Odyssey
Cast
Doctor Odyssey is set aboard a luxury cruise ship where Max, the new on-board doctor, and a small, resourceful medical team confront unique medical crises and interpersonal dynamics while isolated miles from shore.
