When The Good Doctor returns, it does so on a new night.
The Good Doctor Season 7, the farewell season, is premiering on Tuesday, February 20 on ABC. It’s been airing on Monday nights after The Bachelor/The Bachelorette for years. Now, The Good Doctor will air at 10/9c, after Will Trent at 8/7c and The Rookie at 9/8c.
Why the change for the final season? Co-showrunner Liz Friedman tells TV Insider it was a network decision to highlight some of its “most successful” shows.
“That was about ABC having fewer dramas and really deciding to do a three-hour block of, I think, their most successful procedurals,” Friedman says. “I think it’ll be really nice. I think The Rookie‘s obviously a great, great show with great characters. I love Will Trent, and hopefully it’s just going to be a really good night of viewing for the audience.”
“Little crime, little law and order, and a little medicine. It’s all the classics really,” she adds.
Friedman previously told TV Insider that the decision to end The Good Doctor with Season 7 was entirely ABC’s, not the creative team’s.
“Why end it now? Well, ABC told us it was time to end it,” she said. “We are very grateful that they told us that in a timely manner, which allows us to decide the terms that we’re going to end it on to craft a great ending and a great culmination of Shaun Murphy’s story, but that’s how that came about.”
If ABC sees The Good Doctor as one of its most successful shows, why end it? Friedman and the creative team and cast are more than game to continue telling Dr. Shaun Murphy’s story.
“I feel like I could tell stories about Shaun forever,” Friedman told TV Insider. “Certainly, as long as the amazing Freddie Highmore was interested in playing him, I was happy to write for him.”
Regardless of the reasons behind ABC’s decision to ax the series (which will have a shortened final season with 10 episodes), The Good Doctor does fit in nicely with Will Trent and The Rookie. Tuesday nights on ABC will be the place to be for procedural lovers.
