Mikes Film Talk

The ABC pilot for Doctor Odyssey may simply be attempting a homage to the 1970’s/80’s show The Love Boat. If so, this rip off imposter is almost impossibly bad. It is literally like this odd love letter to the old CBS original has been written from Doc’s point of view. *Good old Bernie Kopell as Dr Bricker with his eternal good humour and vague double entendres.*

Or worse: AI.

This contrived and witless cruise show falls short of whatever its intended mark was meant to be. One has to ask the question. Did Disney owned ABC decide to continue their thinly disguised advert for sea cruises? Started with Hulu’s (Also a Disney company.) Death and Other Details.

Does Disney have a contract with a cruise liner company? Are they trying to make do with “what they got” in terms of filming locations. Shipboard on the actual vessel with interiors shot on sound stages?

The Story

Love Boat Doctor Odyssey starts with the returning medical crew learning that the doctor for the previous cruise has been fired. Why?

Covid.

The captain has hired a medical overachiever who appears to be overqualified for the job. Covid is part of his backstory as well. Their maiden voyage is a number of trials and tribulations. Including a burgeoning romance between the new doctor and the nurse practitioner.

The Main Cast

Joshua Jackson is Dr Max: The high powered medical wiz who is looking for a change in his life. He is potential love interest of:

Phillipa Soo is Avery. Nurse Practitioner and object of unrequited love to:

Sean Teale is Tristan. Male Nurse, minor irritant and overly competitive male.

main cast minus one

Don Johnson is Captain Robert Massey. Cool guy captain who wears white shoes with no socks. He apparently knows everything about the sea. *He is also apparently the figure head that the network used as the draw for older folks. Johnson is only down for the first two episodes. He clearly realized what a stinker Doctor Odyssey is and bailed.*

Behind the Scenes

Doctor Odyssey creators are:

Ryan Murphy: The man who brought us Glee, American Horror Story and Nip/Tuck. Murphy writes three episodes. It stands to reason that we cannot pin too much blame on him for this mess.

Joe Baken: The man who created Grotesquerie (2024). Like Murphy, he only contributes three episodes.

Jon Robin Baitz: Creator of Feud (An anthology of sorts.) is listed for three episodes.

It looks like they have to share the blame equally.

Not listed is the in your face presence of AI. It has to be there, the show is too execrable to be a product of total human ineptness.

The Love Boat

Doctor Odyssey lacks the cheesiness of the original boatside antics. There is no cruise games director or chief purser.

Yet.

This is going to be difficult. Can they give us a triple play of medical issues each week? A new group of maladies to be dealt with over 13 episodes. Doctor Odyssey is facing an uphill climb. This is a show clearly meant to have no more than four episodes per season.

The vague homage, allusion, et al, to The Love Boat had me waiting for the old “The Lo-ove Boat” song to play. This is a complete rip-off. It remains to be seen if they include celebrities to pump up their viewership.

Joshua Jackson

Personally, as a performer, I like this guy. I first encountered him in Wes Craven’s maligned horror Cursed. I adored his performance in Fringe. He is adequate in Sky, although he is not a main player.

He is clearly, like the character he plays, overqualified here.

Sorry Joshua. I still like you mate although my respect has dropped a tad.

The verdict

I give this dross 0 out of 5 stars. Drop this one before you even pick it up. Banal and vapid; Doctor Odyssey shows just how little its creators appreciate their audience. It airs on ABC and Hulu.

The trailer