‘Good Doctor’ is sweet, and that’s good enough

I decided to tune in “The Good Doctor” to see what all the fuss is about. By fuss, I mean a combination of critical disdain and mass appeal: The new ABC drama was reported to be outdrawing even such network stalwarts as “The Big Bang Theory,” and reviewers were left bewildered. At Rotten Tomatoes, the show about an autistic surgical resident with savant syndrome was sitting on an unhappy 44 percent rating Thursday afternoon.

Yet more people are tuning in to follow the adventures of Dr. Shaun Murphy at the gleaming St. Bonaventure Hospital in Silicon Valley than are watching Rick Grimes and his depleted band of survivors of the “Walking Dead” zombie apocalypse. Maybe it’s a blip; maybe it’s the start of something new. Either way, critics are trying to figure out the show’s attraction.

Here’s my simple answer: “The Good Doctor” is sweet.

I can’t think of another word. I don’t mean the show is sweet in the sense of being saccharine or treacly; I mean sweet in the sense of being gentle and innocent. There’s nothing cynical or knowing about “The Good Doctor.” It doesn’t pretend to be anything but nice. That’s refreshing. People are looking for an escape from their cares. With He Who Shall Not Be Named fulminating from the White House, and the campus left regularly announcing new categories of people we’re all supposed to despise, it’s natural to seek an island of calm. But where? Not social media, where too much of what passes for conversation is little more than unthinking vituperation. Regular readers know that I love film, but the movies are grimmer than ever: Serial killers are on the loose, the planet is being threatened with destruction, people are being blown to bits on the battlefield. Once upon a time, sports provided a reliable feast for those who sought escape. Nowadays, alas, it’s hard to gorge on the games without imbibing a steady dose of politics.

People are tired, and looking for something cheery. That’s what “The Good Doctor” gives them. The show was created by David Shore, who brought us the long-running Fox medical drama “House.” Like Shore’s earlier program, “The Good Doctor” features a misunderstood medical genius who could save lives if only the hospital bureaucracy would let him. The difference was that Dr. Gregory House was a pill-popping misanthrope. Dr. Shaun Murphy ... isn’t. He’s a naif who just wants to do good.

Murphy isn’t right all the time. He’s young and makes mistakes. But his idealism has an allure, and if the arguments over whether to allow him to perform surgery or deal with patients are a little stilted and obvious, Murphy himself never quite is. His inability to lie, for instance, would have led Dr. House to fire him immediately. To the viewer, Murphy’s emotional world is fascinating.

“The Good Doctor” isn’t likely to wind up in the television hall of fame, but it’s sweet — relentlessly, hopelessly, maddeningly sweet. And right now, sweet is what we need.