Doctor Odyssey Makes a Steamy Splash Amid Much Medical Mayhem — Grade the ABC Premiere!
ABC‘s Doctor Odyssey is making waves — but did it deliver the “big deck energy” it promised?
The modern-day Love Boat, which debuted on Thursday, stars Joshua Jackson as Max Bankman, the new onboard doctor of The Odyssey, a cruise ship helmed by Captain Massey (played by Miami Vice’s Don Johnson). But “Dr. Max” is no normal healthcare provider, he’s also a hottie humanitarian whose exceptional resume includes experience with the Peace Corps and the United Nations. (Oh, he was also patient zero during the COVID pandemic? The man is as remarkable as they come!)
In Thursday’s premiere, Dr. Max is quickly acquainted with his staff, which includes nurses Avery (Shining Girls’ Phillipa Soo) and Tristan (The Gifted’s Sean Teale). Right off the bat, Avery and Max seem smitten — but because they’re essentially working on a floating island of hazardous contagion, their budding connection will be anything but a smooth operation.
The pair’s first major medical hurdle? Iodine poisoning from the overconsumption of shrimp cocktail. Who’s the afflicted? Just Burt, an overzealous passenger played by guest star Tom McGowan (Frasier). Luckily his wife (SNL’s Rachel Dratch) was spared, despite guzzling just as many shrimp as her husband.
Soon after, the team faces a more peculiar — and perhaps more pressing — matter: penile fracture. (This isn’t American Horror Story, but this is a Ryan Murphy show, and the at-sea ailments are as horrifying as they come.) Dr. Max reveals that he, too, has suffered from this very affliction — because as Doctor Dreamboat, of course he has! But don’t worry, according to Dr. Max it only happens to “larger and firmer members.”
Luckily, this revelation offers a chance for Avery and her new boss to have a poolside heart-to-heart about the post-injury status of Max’s member. (Is there a Human Resources department on this ship?)
Meanwhile, Tristan is also down bad for Avery, admitting he’s long yearned to be with her. Things quickly get tense after he sees Max and his love interest Avery dance and kiss at a beach party. (But with Luis Fonsi’s sexually charged “Despacito” egging them on in the background, shouldn’t Tristan lend a bit more grace? The pair practically had no choice!)
The episode ends with a man overboard, followed by a dramatic rescue. All is well aboard The Odyssey — for now.
Will you continue your voyage with Doctor Odyssey, or has one episode left you a bit seasick? Weigh in via our polls below, then let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Epic fail!! I’ve done 13 cruises and this was RIDICULOUSLY unrealistic! I expect a TV show to take some creative license but this was absurd. This was a one-and-done for me.
It’s a TV Show. If you want reality, watch a reality show.
Yeah, but some of those are far from reality.
If you want grounded realism, a Ryan Murphy show is definitely not for you. The premiere episode of 911 this season features a Bee-nado. And that’s one of his more grounded series.
Would a real ship’s medical facilities and doctor’s make for interesting 100s of episodes? I know most medical series are not realistic at all, because most hospitals don’t get rare cases weekly and most doctors at that level are highly specialised, instead of tackling every kind if surgery on their field. But no one wants to watch 100 episodes of a transplant doctor doing a transplant. That is not what TV is for.
To be fair, this isn’t a normal cruise like Carnival or Royal Carribean. This is a top end, luxury cruise for the 1 per centers out there. Owning a luxury yacht is for multi billionaires. There are a lot of very wealthy people who can’t afford a yacht, or don’t want to rent one, but want a similar experience. 300k + for a yacht rental is a lot of money. But a family of 3-4 dropping 50-60K for a week of “cruising” is within reach for a lot of wealthy folks. And they don’t want a super crowded boat full of middle class folks. It isn’t that they hate the middle class or look down on them or anything, but they can afford a higher level of care, and that is what they want.
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And those rich folks, on those glorified luxury yachts, want a better level of medical care than one typically finds on cruise ships.
If you’re not a troll, please never comment again.
This was, at best, mediocre. Since pilot episodes are often not that great I’ll check out the 2nd episode.
Tristan’s been crushing on Avery for 2 years and hasn’t made a move?
Alrighty.
They all work the same shift? Did Doc even have 1 nurse?
3 shows in a week, congrats Mr. Murphy.
Right, they all go to the beach. Who’s on board taking care of the seriously accident-prone people.
Hopefully the accident prone people have also left the ship during that excursion time ;) …but one does not have to leave a ship during a port stop, so it does seem weird unless there is a rotating shift established… which there did not seem to be one.
Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean other characters don’t exist. We never see any chefs or waiters, but that doesn’t mean the passengers aren’t eating. This is nothing new. WKRP was on the air 24/7, but the only two DJs we ever saw were Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap.
4 new shows in 2 weeks!!!!
Don Johnson’s white shoes have got to go.
And those white pants that you can see through the butt. Doesn’t do anything for his booty.
I mean Max’s pants
Well we know why you are watching….
Perhaps Im too old to watch shipboard hooking up. Josh is cute but the character seems cocky and oily. And I could do without the hurling. So, that’s it for me.
Hate to say it because I love Joshua Jackson but I was watching it waiting for the big hook and nothing. Matlock delivered in the last few minutes the way this show didn’t. Back to SVU next week for me.
This show REALLY deserves a score of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. And I’m not even being sarcastic. What a bomb.
Kind of like spending an hour watching a seagull regurgitate a rotten fish. As the saying goes “the whole thing stinks from the head down.” ;)
Awesome set up plot that we found out about the backstories of Captain Massey and Dr. Max and nurse Avery and nurse Tristen.
Maybe the second episode will be better. But this first episode was unrealistic, mediocre, and quite disappointing.
I’ll watch again since the cast is great. While I realize it’s a medical show, that felt like way too many medical cases in one episode. I would have liked a little more storytelling on regular life on the ship and the characters’ lives. But I’ll definitely keep watching.
That was my take too. There should be max two medical incidents per show.
Loved the first episode. The real scene stealer her was Don Johnson. You’d never expect him in a role like this. Your used to seeing him play a tough guy/cop, not the role of a cruise ship captain. I love that he’s playing against type here.
I could totally see him in the role of a ship’s captain.
Don Johnson was terrific as Kenan Thompson’s father-in-law on the show “Kenan”.
Couldn’t make it past the first 15 minutes….
I haven’t watched this yet, but I had the same issue with Baywatch Junior (or whatever that show is called).
Same. It was terribel
I’ll try it again. Kinda on the fence right now. Characters aren’t particularly interesting enough.
I mean, I saw The Skulls three times in theaters, so I’ll definitely be back for episode 2.
lol. I loved the skulls too. That type of bad but fun thriller movie was so fun in the 90s. These days they make so many bland teen horrors / thrillers that think they can get away with basically zero plot as long as they have blue/pink lighting and 80s electro music 😂 Dull
This show didn’t seem to know if it wanted to be a medical drama or The Love Boat. Consequently it fails at both. And as a long-time cruiser I caught error after error. I was very disappointed and will not continue watching.
Welp, I just wanted to see Joshua Jackson. He’ll always be Pacey to me. Was it awesome? Eh. Was it terrible? Nope. It was light fare and it entertained me. Don Johnson was also a treat. Going forward, I’ll probably watch Matlock live and catch this on DVR or Hulu.
What’s with all the down votes for each of the comments? Seems like a malicious troll at work. Positive comments and negative comments have them.
I’m not sure this show has anywhere to go. How many problems can happen on a cruise before it is shut down? Seems like there should be a warning on the shrimp, or better ship rails. The love triangle seems lame.
Also fairly graphic so not sure I want to see operations etc. I will give it one more shot, but not expecting this to go too long. A Ryan Murphy miss.
I can see what they are going for, but the execution of this needed to be done so much better by the writers. It can be a medical drama on a ship, but have good character development. It just felt like the writers crammed too many things in. The flow was all over the place. I expected the pilot to be written better to be honest, and should have had more work done on it. They have a good cast and the writers are letting them down.
So bad. The pilot was in such a rush to establish conflicts and romantic complications that none of it seemed believable or interesting. And what kind of cruise is this—one that caters to middle~aged shrimp eaters or young hipsters raving on molly? Can’t imagine it will get better, as much as I like some of the actors trapped in this mess.
If you look back when The Love Boat premiered around 1977, it was after Vietnam War, Fall of Saigon, Watergate, bad economy and gas crisis when things were hard as well as inflation and people were healing from past few years, I would call it the right show at the right time that would give the audience hope and smile and feel better after watching it. I got vibes from the 1978 Vega$ and Las Vegas circa 2000 series while watching it, Don Johnson is perfect for Captain and it leaves the audience with a positive feeling they feel and remember after watching which that people can watch together and laugh and feel good about. It’s perfect show for right now with a good strong cast.
Love boat also happened at a time when a lot of actors from the Golden/Silver eras of Hwood were looking for work, and willing to do guest appearances on TV. A few former A listers, but lots of former B/C listers were willing to do episodes of TV. Every week had some sort of stunt casting. That just isn’t possible now. The guest stars will be character actors and career supporting performers. It just won’t gin up enough fan interest.
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For Love Boat, it was all about the passengers’ stories. They were the real stars of the show, not the boat’s crew members. That just won’t work today.
Didn’t work for me. Joshua Jackson doesn’t have the charisma or charm to pull off a role like this.
Thank you! I knew I surely wasn’t the only person thinking he’s just not that hot. Of all the actors who read for the part-he gets it??
This looks like the worst tv show ever made!!!
I tried it, I hate it and want my show back. ABC should cut their losses on this garbage and save 9-1-1 Lone Star. Or bring back Station 19. This is just garbage and I won’t be back for more.
Both those shows got too expensive relative to their ratings and long term prospects. I’m sorry for your loss, but they are gone.
I liked it. Didn’t expect so many negative comments sheesh!
I agree, it was fun.