Have you climbed aboard? Have you hoisted the sail? Have you checked into your stateroom? Have you, like the greatest television-viewing minds in America, watched the show that is perhaps single-handedly keeping network television vital in 2024: Doctor Odyssey ? Professional madman Ryan Murphy ’s latest joint premiered on September 26 and combines the blue-sky good vibes of an aughties USA procedural with the batshit weekly emergencies of his 9-1-1 series. Murphy’s recent shows at his legacy home base, FX, have been muddled and baroque, but on ABC, he’s got the goods, as evidenced by the premiere episode of his new show set on a luxury cruise ship. It stars Joshua Jackson as a doctor (Dr.
Max, but people literally call him “Doctor Odyssey”) with a less-than-mysterious backstory (he got COVID and decided to devote his life to having fun at sea) and Don Johnson giving off radiant Love Boat vibes as the captain. This show is immensely silly, sunny fun, and the whole thing is refreshingly low stress, even if this one cruise ship is the site of more than enough emergencies to hold its own in ABC’s Thursday-night block, sandwiched between 9-1-1 and Grey’s Anatomy . It would really be a floating death trap if Doc Odyssey weren’t so gosh-darn good at doing elaborate medical procedures at sea.
As each episode brings aboard a new cast of guests with their own slate of problems, we’ll keep track of every disaster that goes down on deck (and over the edge) all season lo.
