Ratings Report: ‘The Good Doctor’ Increases Viewers, ‘Business Proposal’ Continues To Grow

CBS

Broadcast: The Good Doctor is an American medical drama series based on the 2013 South Korean series of the same name. Actor Daniel Dae Kim bought the right for his production company and began adapting the series until he eventually shopped it to CBS in 2015. CBS decided against creating a pilot, however, Kim bought back the rights and worked out a deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop the series with David Shore. The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios, in association with production companies Shore Z Productions, 3AD, and Entermedia. Shore serves as showrunner and Kim is an executive producer. The series stars Freddie Highmore, Hill Harper, Richard Schiff, Christina Chang, Fiona Gubelmann, Will Yun Lee, Paige Spara, Noah Galvin, and Bria Samoné Henderson. It follows Shaun Murphy, portrayed by Highmore, a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome from the small city of Casper, Wyoming. He relocates to San Jose, California, to work at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. The series’ SVOD rights to new and past episodes of the series were acquired by Hulu in May 2018, with future episodes becoming available the day after their original broadcast on ABC. In New Zealand, the show is available for streaming on Lightbox while in Canada it is available on Crave. Highmore received a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Shaun Murphy and has been highly praised for his work demonstrated with Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair writing that Highmore’s performance has been “the central key” to the show’s enormous success. It currently airs on ABC in the 10:00 PM timeslot on Monday. It recorded 3.838 million viewers for its March 21, 2022, broadcast increasing from 3.662 million the previous week. As the show took a hiatus in November, there has yet to be news regarding cancellation or renewal.

BBC America

Cable: Based on Luke Jennings’ novel series Codename Villanelle, Killing Eve is a British spy thriller television series produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three. It follows Eve Polastri, portrayed by Sandra Oh, a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturing assassin Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer. The two develop a mutual obsession as the chase continues. Each season is led by a different female head writer with the first season by Phoebe Waller-Bridge then passed onto Emerald Fennel, Suzanne Heathcote, and finally Laura Neal taking on the fourth and final series. It first premiered on BBC America on April 8, 2018, and on BBC iPlayer on September 15, 2018, through BBC Three. The third season premiered on BBC America with the fourth and final season premiering on February 27, 2022, on BBC America, February 28, 2022, on BBC iPlayer, and March 5, 2022, on BBC One. Both Oh and Comer have been praised for their performances, winning multiple best Actress awards at the British Academy Television Awards. Its March 21, 2022, broadcast recorded 202,000 viewers. This is an increase as its March 14, 2022, broadcast recorded 187,000 viewers. With this being its fourth and final season, expect Killing Eve to keep the same viewership count.

tvN

Streaming: Jung Ji-hyun’s Twenty-Five Twenty-One is an ongoing South Korean television series developed by Hong Ky-sung, Kim Young-kyu, and Studio Dragon. It is written by Kwon Do-eun and stars Kim Tae-ri, Nam Joo-hyuk, Bona, Choi Hyun-wook, and Lee Joo-myung. It depicts the romantic lives of five characters spanning from the year 1998 to 2021. It premiered on tvN on February 12, 2022, airing every Saturday and Sunday at 9:10 PM, however, it is also available for streaming on Netflix. It has maintained the top spots in popularity rankings for 6 consecutive weeks and has been featured in Netflix’s “Global Top 10” (non-English edition) for four weeks in a row. The casting was announced on September 7, 2021, marking the first appearance of Tae-ri on a small screen after a hiatus of three years following Mr. Sunshine in 2018. The series is set in Ahyeon-dong, Mapo District, Seuol and is filmed in Jeonju, Seohak-dong, Jeonju Hanok Village, Jeonju National University of Education, and the National Intagible Heritage Center. The series’ production has been halted due to COVID-19 with both Tae-ri and Hyun-wook testing positive on February 26, 2022, and March 3, 2022, respectfully, however, it has continued its regular broadcast schedule. The series concludes on April 3, 2022 and seems as though the viewing numbers will continue to grow. With the storyline, visuals, and chemistry between the leads, this series is a hit.

SBS TV

International Series: Business Proposal is an ongoing South Korean television series based on a webtoon with the same title by HaeHwa. It stars Ahn Hyo-seop, Kim Se-jeong, Kim Min-kyu, and Seol Inah. It premiered on SBS TV on February 28, 2022, airing every Monday and Tuesday while also being available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions. It follows Shin Ha-ri, portrayed by Se-jeong, as she goes on a blind date in place of her friend, Jin-Young-seo, played by In-ah. Young-seo had planned for Ha-ri to go with the goal of getting rejected as she was not interested in attending something that her father arranged. However, the plan goes to shambles as the prospective partner turns out to be Kang Tae-mu, portrayed by Hyo-seop, the CEO of the company where Ha-ri works. Hyo-seop decides to marry his blind date partner not knowing that she is not who she says she is or that she is his employee. The fake identity is then exposed after Young-seo gets into a parking incident with Tae-mu’s executive assistant. After, Tae-mu asks Young-seo to call Ha-ri to meet him immediately. It’s revealed that Tae-mu, like Young-seo, is being pressured to go on blind dates with suitable marriage partners so he bribes Ha-ri into pretending to be his fiancée. It was originally scheduled to be released on February 21, 2022, however, due to COVID-19, it was postponed a week to accommodate a new filming schedule. Prior to that, phots of the script reading was released on January 18, 2022. On March 19, 2022, a special episode consisting of popular scenes from the first six episodes was broadcasted with commentary from the main cast. The first episode recorded 835,000 viewers in South Korea, however, it has continued to grow with its most recent episode recording 2.138 million South Korean viewers. With that, it marked its highest rating yet with a 10.8% nationwide average audience share. With a talented cast, beautifully composed shots, and a fun fast paced script, it seems as though Business Proposal will continue to gain popularity not just within its run in South Korea but also through its accessibility presented by Netflix.