"The Good Doctor" Series Premiere, Sept. 25

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‘Good Doctor’ Scores Full-Season Order at ABC

I wonder why autistic savants/socially ackward geniuses are consistently so popular on TV and the movies

Because script writers can ascribe any kind of super failures or super talents they believe would tantalize their audiences; in other words, it is the 21st century's version of a carnival. Apart from Darold Treffert, M.D., no one really understands savant syndrome. It can be whatever others wish it to be.

I wrote an article about autism’s growing representation in the media for my school’s magazine that touched on this:

“The fact that so many autistics in the media are given these [savant skills] seems like a way for people to make a realistic show but give a character a type of “superpower” that can make audiences ooh and ahh while at the same time provide the writers an easy way to solve problems. Does something seemingly impossible need to be accomplished? Autistic character to the rescue! It’s becoming a trope, and I’d like to see more realistic characterizations of autism.”

I really liked this second episode. He learns really fast, there's humor, there's drama but never too exaggerated. It's quite realistic about how someone can be ostracized because of his difference ; plus, people are afraid of smart persons they don't get.

The moment he knocks the door : i think many autistic people can relate... When you try really hard to do something difficult for you (unnatural) but you absolutely need it to achieve a goal.

Can't wait for next episode.

It's been a troupe, they just like using mental illness these days because it's trendy and mysterious to a lot of people, still.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Martin
This is pretty much a show about a guy with autism. He's not autistic, he's basically just a grouch and downright dissociated from people. There's one scene I saw where he walks up to a bunch of pretty young girls at the beach and yells at them for not wearing sunscreen.
Realistic portrayals aren't the point. As a writer, I figured out that no one cares about the mental illness itself, they want the spectacle of the idea. The best way to do a realistic portrayal, as a writer, is to use real life examples and put them into the show and exaggerate them for entertainment, not to give people a literal textbook interpretation of what an autist is actually like.
If they want that, there's more than enough material out there studying autistic people. The real power of a story is to show people something they don't want to see in themselves and modeling the problem in a way they can process, like someone with a mental illness, someone they see as weak and lesser than them, overcoming their restrictions and making themselves useful to the community.
Shows like this are an admission of the place autism holds within the society at large. We are seen as underdogs, but also as wizards. Regular people are the audience, and what they want to see is what they think autism is, not what autism actually is, and as the show goes on we'll understand if the writer's made the choice to do the illness justice or the story justice. Usually, they fail miserably at both, but here's hoping.

First off I have to say, given the subject manner and how the title character is protrayed, I am indeed impressed and I will tell you why.

Where it is true it looks like the producers looked at a sign of the 13 signs of Autism and told the actor to protray them, on the same side, I can say that there are times, that as high fuctioning as I am, and as good as I am at faking normal a good majority of the time, there are other times where I too could be a poster child for that particular sign so I do not feel affended and am glad to see it in prime time.

This show is showcasing a side of Autism not often shown on tv. Most of the time it is all the negative things, be it for humor like The Big Bang Theory, or the more insulting like Rain Man. Here we see the positive sides too, that the way we see things, our ability to focus on the details that nobody else even sees, the very way that we think is shown as a good thing, not just that, but the very type of thing that can save lives! I at the very least have not seen anyone show that side before.

It also brings up very important issues that we DO face. Ableism in the workplace being front and center in my mind. It might be overdone, but it has to be, because alot of the time no one really understands just how hard it is for us on the job market. How often we are overlooked for jobs, or even promotions, no matter how qualified we may be, because of how people view those of us on the Spectrum. I have had friends coming up to me going "so that is what you have been talking about all these years!!" and it has started conversations in my family that have needed to happen for YEARS!!

It hit head on about the empathy/sympathy issue. You have no idea how many times I have been told that I don't have sympathy, or even that I don't have emotions or feelings, simply because I often do not display them in a way that nuerotypicals would understand. I thought it was beautiful that this show actually showed how passionate the young man is about his job, and that though his way of communicating it was different, it showed that we can and do feel about the people around us.

Of course I will be watching very closely. I reserve judgement as the show is still very new. My hopes are not high. But at the very least there are things that have not been talked about on a large stage before, amongst those that by and large are not within the Autism Community. They are conversations worth having and if nothing else, at least they are happening.

Indeed. The program is "good enough" to bring in many individuals without autism. If it gets renewed for another year or two, I expect that the primary conflict (the lead character's autism) will be explored in more depth. For now, however, it feels as if we are enjoying the program while knowing that the mainstream audience is learning a lot.

Not to be overlooked is that they are openly identifying charactors as Autisic in “The Accountant”, “The Good Doctor”, “Atypical”, and “Chicago Med”. With the exception of Chicago Med the openly autistic charactor is the lead charactor. This is significant progress.

Yep. It is good to see fewer stereotypical caricatures of young autists and better developed characters.

I thought the main character was quite excellent in the second episode. Despite discomfort he recalled having as a kid, he still went through with knocking on a door in the middle of the night for medical reasons (one of the occupants). The way he handled himself made me want to clap (quietly).

Looking forward to the next episode.

I watched the first two episodes over the weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't nearly as stereotypical as I thought it would be, and the medical science was actually correct and mostly realistic. It kept my attention due to the strong medical themes and the whole (entirely true) issue of how an Aspie (or anyone who doesn't fit in) could be thrown to the wolves in the hierarchy of medical school/residency. One thing I will say negatively, though, is I don't see this kid as a savant whatsoever. His "savant" abilities just seem to be a form of photographic memory.

This. While I don't exactly agree with the portrayals I've seen (still haven't seen Good Doctor, because KIDS on my side of the house, and opposite Scorpion which is MIL's favorite show on her side of the house, and not available on demand as of last time I checked), they're better than the portrayals in an Autism $peaks ad and better than what a disinterested layperson is going to get out of clinical literature.

In small words: I don't exactly LIKE being equated with or compared to Sheldon Cooper. But 60 minutes of watching BBT with my in-laws accomplished what over a decade of repeatedly trying to explain myself did not: Created empathy and something like understanding instead of always assuming the worst of me.

I did see some of the show since my mom taped it. It seems to highlight alot of the positives of autism as well as the struggles since they didn't want to hire the guy to become a doctor but as we know not everyone can become doctors. Also savant syndrome and high functioning autism aren't the same thing so that's another thing.

The main character is excellent, and the guy who plays the President of the hospital is also very good. the rest of it however... I noticed glaringly humongous issues with the pilot.

First of all, the board openly discusses using the man's Autism as sole grounds for not hiring him. This is completely against the law in the US, as Autism is considered a disability, and reasonable accommodation must be made. What really floored me was when they were discussing this RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. I mean, do they WANT to get sued?!?

I think the show could survive solely on the main character's excellent portrayal, but the vast majority of the other characters are uninteresting and one-sided, and a lot of the situations require far too much suspension of disbelief. 2nd episode was better, but I'm still waiting to see how they're going to pan out the story and flesh out some of the characters.

Time delayed viewing shows how 'The Good Doctor' is a hit

Well, it took me long enough to learn that series episodes are available for watching online ( http://abc.go.com/shows/the-good-doctor ... /season-01 ).