#SHEA Milestones: Who Writes This (Glorious) Stuff?

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this post about some of the scribes of The Good Doctor.

TGD writer Thomas L. Moran Tweeted the following this past Wednesday night:

And, because TGD fans are already getting a little dehydrated on this long walk through the summer (and possibly fall) hiatus desert, I pounced on that thimble of water and responded to Moran’s Tweet right away with the reply you see beneath that Tweet.

I was getting ready to go make dinner, so I didn’t stay on Twitter for long after that (and was planning to do my own detective work on the index cards later, uncertain that I’d be able to make out a single word…)  But Rose Amelie, a reader of this blog (who had 2 songs featured on Volume 2 of the Playlist last week) had one of the cards “translated” just a minute later:

 “Shaun goes to Glassman for advice on how to patch things up with Lea”

 

And she was right. 

 

Well, DANG!!! I honestly didn’t expect THAT!!

 

When I say “THAT”, I mean I didn’t expect to make heads or tails of anything on the index cards—let alone about Shaun and Lea specifically. (I’m also not surprised that there appears to be a little trouble in #Shea paradise already in the forecast… and will talk about that a little later.)

But Moran writing for #Shea isn’t unusual. In fact, of the 20 different men and women who have thus far written episodes of TGD, he was one of the two I planned to feature today. Because when I recently made a list of episodes that I consider to contain #Shea milestones big and small, two writers stood out for the number of “milestones” with which they’d been involved:

(NOTE: * denotes the episode was credited to two or more writers)

Thomas L. Moran was the scribe behind…

 1.4 “Pipes” (Shaun and Lea’s second encounter--- when she gave him a ride home

"Pipes"

on her way back from the gym, and he bluntly told her “You stink!”)

 1.11, 1.12 “Islands” parts 1 and 2 (Shaun’s first road trip, first “tequila, stat!”, first karaoke, first practice kiss, first goodbye kiss, etc.)*

 2.3 “36 Hours” (Lea’s first clapback at “Shaunie”, calling him a jackass)

 2.12 “Aftermath” (The post-quarantine ep where Lea brings Glassman and Shaun to lunch, to racing, and ends with Shaun meeting her new boyfriend Jake)

 3.10 “Friends & Family” (The trip with Glassman and Lea to see Shaun’s father, ending with the embrace)

"Unsaid"

3.16 “Unsaid” (featuring Shaun and Lea’s Catapult Karaoke, ending with Carly breaking up with Shaun)

 3.18 “Heartbreak” (with Shaun’s angry outburst at Lea alongside the Striped Tomato)*

 

That gives Moran the largest number of scripts involving #Shea (8).

Incidentally, the man who shares the co-write on the “Islands” 2-parter—which is, arguably, the most milestone-filled part of #Shea’s early days—is William Rotko. Rotko also wrote TGD 1.3 “Oliver”, which contains Shaun and Lea’s very first meeting. Rotko hasn’t written for the show since its first season; most recently, he was contributing to the FOX drama Deputy (cancelled after its initial 13 episodes). Now that #Shea has officially launched, I'll be curious to see if Rotko returns to the writers' canvas in S4...

But in the meantime, the scriptwriter with the second-highest amount of #Shea content is David Hoselton. His efforts include the following six episodes…

 2.4 “Tough Titmouse” (Best known by us for Shaun’s line “I don’t care what

"Tough Titmouse"

happened in Hershey… but I care that YOU care”)

2.14 “Faces” (The Mallomars road trip that ended with Shaun telling Glassman he was “not all right” with Lea seeing Jake)

 2.18 “Trampoline” (Season 2 finale that ended with Shaun literally bypassing Lea to go ask Carly out)*

 3.5 “First Case Second Base” (Shaun’s 1st-lead-surgery-of-sorts; Lea’s advice for better intimacy communication creating the first jealousy trigger for Carly)

"First Case, Second Base"

3.16 “Autopsy” (The episode that ended with Shaun and Lea’s ill-fated confession of love)

3.20 “I Love You” (Season 3 Finale)*

Both Moran and Hoselton are also credited as TGD Executive producer/Producer, respectively; both were also involved similarly with David Shore’s previous hit medical drama House (which ran in the U.S. on FOX from 2004-2012). In fact, Hoselton’s relationship with Shore dates back much further—they became friends while attending the University of Toronto Law School.

In addition to episodes of House, Hoselton’s prime time TV credits include CSI:NY (CBS), Chicago P.D. (NBC), and the first season of CBS’s Bull (which currently serves as part of TGD’s ratings competition on Monday nights in the U.S.). He also did the screenplays for two full-length animated feature films-- Brother Bear (2003) and Over the Hedge (2006).

Thomas L. Moran (he presumably uses his middle initial to distinguish himself from the 19^th Century landscape painter who shares his name) has a primetime resume that, in addition to House, includes Family Law (CBS), JAG (CBS), NCIS (CBS), the short-lived David Shore series Battle Creek (CBS), and the ABC single-season series Conviction.

Both Moran and Hoselton have Emmy nominations too—as do several other TGD writers who wrote and produced for House in its heyday. The nominations were part of House receiving a nod for Outstanding Drama Series every year between 2006 and 2009. Neither writer can claim an Emmy nod for writing—yet—though Moran received an Edgar nomination in 2007 for his contributions to an episode of House entitled “Clueless”. (“Edgar” is short for Edgar Allen Poe; the awards are given by the organization Mystery Writers of America.)

Other than these career highlights of the two men (which are easily found on IMDB), we don’t know much about them. Hoselton has a Wikipedia “stub” page but doesn’t appear to be on social media; Moran has no Wikipedia page but IS on Twitter (@TheTLMoran), where he describes himself as “Minnesotan/Californian, professional TV writer/producer, amateur hockey player, awful musician, cautious Twitter toe-dipper”. Hopefully he isn’t becoming even more cautious with the toe-dipping of late… because if you already follow him, perhaps you’re aware that he continues to get creative-yet persistent pleas from certain TGD fans about resurrecting Neil Melendez. (And by “creative,” I mean they find a way to take just about any post of his, or Shore’s, or whoever, and create a segue back to the “Bring Back Melendez” hashtag.)

I personally have nothing more to add to that particular conversation beyond what I posted back in early April. I do, on the other hand, think it’s important to keep supporting #Shea—both here, and on social media, and in direct communication with the writers whenever possible… especially since some Melendez fans remain upset about #Shea’s S3 “happy ending”.

So when we get a hint of an index card of a #Shea plot point for S4—as we did this week—I say don’t sweat the details… KEEP CALM, AND TRUST THE WRITERS.

And throw them a kind word every now and again. Writers are people too 😊

Look for more #Shea milestone writer shoutouts in future posts!

(Oh, and Mr. Moran and Mr. Hoselton, if you happen to be reading this… I’m an experienced interviewer too. I’d love to feature either of you on this platform in more detail. Just sayin’.)