A Longer Look at S4... THOSE PROMOS pt. 1

                                                                                     

They can’t hurt us now, so let’s have some fun with them instead.

We’re talking promos this time around-- those 30-second teases for an upcoming episode of The Good Doctor that have the potential to intrigue and thrill us into the following week… but, as some of us know all too well, they can also send us into a 7-day (or longer!) tailspin of anxious speculation. Sometimes with good reason, sometimes (cough-Dr. D’Souza-COUGH) without.

The good news, in those latter cases, is that promos become irrelevant pretty quickly. It’s mostly from the magic of YouTube that we can even re-watch them at this point. So why give them another minute of our time now? Because while watching the efforts of a network-- or in most instances here, TWO networks-- in retrospect, we might pick up patterns or techniques to help us deal with the promos of season 5 more rationally.

Or not. For those of us who enjoy giving our nerves a test run on the regular, I truly don’t want to spoil your fun. Maybe you should skip this post…?

But I’ve no idea how effective this informal study will be… y’all will probably find more details to discuss than I’m laying out here, anyway. 

So if you’re still reading, here’s how this works:

1. I know TGD has an international audience (just knowing where my regular commenters hail from is proof of that!), but for the purposes of this post I’m only looking at the promos produced within ABC (the network where TGD airs first-run episodes in the U.S.) and the ones produced through CTV (where TGD airs first-run episodes in Canada).

2. This post is only focused on Episodes 1-10 of S4; a look at promos for Episodes 11-20 will come next time. 

3. As you’ll see, I’ve located all the ABC and CTV promos for S4 1-10…. with three exceptions. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to track down the CTV promos for 4.6, 4.7, or 4.8… but if you have access to them or have a link to do so, please let me know and maybe I can include one of these missing promos in the next round. 

Watching so many of these at once gave me a better sense of why I tend to like the Canadian promos better (despite a profound case of Lea-lack, which I’ll get back to shortly): CTV promos are often slower-paced focusing on more true content from the show, with considerably less hype than ABC (in this case, “hype” = flashy-quick edits, bursts of intense dialogue, and things taken out of context for drama’s sake).

Perhaps it’s because CTV promos are routinely shorter than their ABC counterparts? While both networks leave a few seconds at the end for the “tag” (a reminder of the show being promoted and when to watch it), CTV follows that tag with an additional reminder about streaming programs on the CTV app. 

Oh, one more thing to note Almost as interesting as watching these promos post-season is taking note of who was featured in them the most on both versions. Check out my unofficial tally...

(Since I’m missing 3 promos, the end number marks their presence out of 17 promos, not 20.)

Shaun: 16/17

Lea: 11/17 (almost entirely ABC promos)

Any Newbie: 10/17

Glassman: 9/17 (almost entirely ABC promos)

Claire: 8/17

Lim: 6/17

Morgan: 6/17

Andrews: 5/17 (almost entirely ABC promos)

Park: 3/17

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ABC 4.1 "Frontline, Pt. 1" PROMO (plus some all-purpose S4 promos at the end, including the one that starts with Shaun saying "Until I met Lea...", which I'm ignoring for the purposes of this discussion but go ahead and watch 'em if you like!)

ABC 4.1 "Frontline Pt.1"

    * This contained scenes from upcoming episodes as well, as early-season promos often do (specifically it was the clips from Shaun's Glassman rant on the front lawn that you see in the thumbnail).

    *    As ABC promos go, this was about as straightforward of a Season Premiere teaser as we could have hoped for. However, I found it interesting that while the COVID-inspired tag line used for the entire season is built into the graphics (How do you heal a world turned upside down?), and the episode was clearly marketed as pandemic-oriented... ABC didn't include the words "pandemic" or "COVID" anywhere in this 30-second spot.

    * What they did include was a fair amount of #Shea (yay). ABC has used #Shea for TGD promotion a LOT this past season, from the 15-second spot I mentioned earlier to episodes where Lea wasn't even featured ("Lim")... which explains in part why we've been so emotional about the ABC promos. 

CTV 4.1 "Frontline Pt.1"

    *    Like ABC, CTV employs Shaun's rant from part 2 of the episode for this part 1 promo...

    *     But unlike ABC, they only use "I want this to be over"-- keeping more of the focus on the COVID story in general, not how Shaun and Lea are dealing with it. To that end, CTV also goes ahead and references COVID by name in its promo.

    *     The only time we see Lea is in a moment of the both-sides-of-the-door shot, which falls in line with the way CTV apparently sought to promote the episode. The woman featured more prominently in this case? Claire, who gets a rant of her own included in the final seconds. 

nABC 4.2 "Frontline Pt.2" (using a very similar thumbnail to the previous ABC promo)

       *    Starts with Melendez and Claire, which is where part 1 of "Frontline" ended (as you'll recall).

       *    Touches more on the specific dramas of part 2: Shaun dealing with the wife of his COVID patient, Morgan with Nurse Patringa, Park with the lady who delivered her baby while hospitalized with the virus.

       *     #Shea is featured, even though Lea's time in this episode is even more limited than in part 1.

       *     The Newbies (who didn't debut until 4.3) are also featured, but there was room for it because this particular promo was twice as long as the usual promo... which is also why it says "This season on The Good Doctor" (trying to tease as much as they could with only 3 episodes completed at the time).

CTV 4.2 "Frontline Pt.2"

·         *        This promo is remarkable for the fact that Shaun isn’t seen or heard in the entire thing… the only promo lacking his presence that I think I’ve encountered this season. (Also no Lea, no Claire, no Glassman... Morgan is the only regular that's really featured.)

·       *       It's also remarkable because of its emphasis on Nurse Patringa… only a recurring character on the show, but the one COVID staff fatality we witnessed at St. B.

·       *       No newbies mentioned yet (but remember, the CTV promo for pt.2 was only :30 while the ABC version was 1:00).

·        *      Remember what I said earlier about the reasons I prefer CTV promos? This one is a very good example of that.

ABC 4.3 "Newbies"

        *    This time the Newbies take center stage for real. Consequetially, we only see Shea in the opening moments; despite the conflict between them that is a primary subplot of the episode, none of it is mentioned. Even Lea's line "At least you know he'll be a totally honest boss" is out of context; it sounds like an endorsement, but as you might recall she was HELLAPISSED at that moment.

        *    Nonetheless, if you look closely you'll see a reaction shot of Shaun borrowed from his tense scene with Lea (the one where she ends it asking him to "just... leave me alone") during Lim's lines in the promo.

        *    It strikes me weird now that the only spoken line from a Newbie in this promo is from a character who didn't even stick around past this episode. 

n         *    The biggest basic question, as laid out in this promo: how will Shaun lead these newbies as a brutally honest doctor who asks inappropriate things at inappropriate times. In other words… being Shaun. 

CTV 4.3 "Newbies"

    *     The Newbies take center stage in this promo too, but in a different way…

    *     …because the biggest basic question in this one is about how they’ll fare and what the senior residents as a whole think of them, rather than How will Shaun do with this challenge?

    *    For some reason I thought it was smart of them to include Wolke's line about "God complex? I have that..." Again, interesting that the Newbie line in this promo underscores himself (Wolke) rather than underscores Shaun's potential difficulties ("You can't ask that question in a workplace!" as uttered in the ABC version). 

    *    Noticing a pattern yet? Lea is still MIA in the CTV promos at this point, save for that brief shot I mentioned in 4.1. 

ABC 4.4 "Not the Same"

    *    To me, it's refreshingly straightforward: a little bit about #Shea, a lot about Shaun working with the Newbies.

    *    They managed to capture the essence of the #Shea conflict of the week without going into the whole Why is it ‘not the same’? thing, which would have devoured at least a few more precious seconds.

    *    It was nice that they got Glassman involved in the most hyped-up part of the promo (Him asking "what kind of mistake?" as we see the drama ramping up for his patient... and Jordan and Olivia).

CTV 4.4 "Not the Same"

    *       This one starts, interestingly enough, with an answer to that question that was avoided in the CTV “Newbies” promo: How will Shaun do with this challenge?  (Answer: not great; he finds the two currently under his supervision—Jordan and Olivia—“distracting”. It sounds familiar because ABC used the "distracting" line as well.)

    *        The rest of the promo deals exclusively with Shaun’s Case of the Week (pregnant lady with one strong twin and one weaker one).

    *       Despite the relative importance of Shaun and Lea’s moving-back-in question (and eventual answer), Lea is once again absent. 

ABC 4.5 "Fault"

n     *    Lea isn’t featured at all, though the still of she and Shaun lying together in the final moments of the episode is the thumbnail (as you see above… which in itself feels like a bait-and-switch for those catching the promo for the first time on YouTube).

n      *     This is the winter finale they had to promote without much of season under it yet, so the emphasis is Shaun’s struggle with how much responsibility to give “his” Newbies (specifically Wolke, in this case) and the consequences of not doing enough up-front.

n      *    Wolke’s role in this promo is probably the biggest of any of the Newbies in the entire season. Guess it’s no surprise he’s a cast regular in S5.

CTV 4.5 "Fault"

       *    Unlike ABC’s promo, nothing is said about “Fault” being the Winter Finale.

n     *    Still there are several similarities to the ABC version, including Wolke’s “Code blue!” and Lim’s reprimanding of Shaun (though a different part of the scene is used).

n     *    Shaun’s “You are not good… and I am not good…” was great to include-- it reminds us that he's as hard on himself as he is honest about his feelings on the Newbies' progress.

        *    Wolke’s semi-serious “Did we break him…?” line still cracks me up.

n      *    There was still no Lea featured, which meant she barely got a promo mention on CTV until after 2021 started.

ABC 4.6 "Lim"

·        *    This—the first episode to air after the 6 week hiatus—is where the promos get misleading as to what’s featured in the episode itself (ABC’s version at least).

·      *    It's the “Lim” episode, but you’d never know it… yes, she’s included in the promo, but only in a supporting role to Shaun, who ABC features in a sort of re-introductory way... as if to shout to viewers “Have you met the Good Doctor lately? He’s teaching patients now. He’s not doing a great job of it, but he’s still always working to better himself—in both his professional and personal life.” Which is nice, but was ABC that unsure that a supporting character’s big episode would attract viewers? Or would it have been promoted any differently had they not kicked off January with “Lim”?

·       *    Of course, the BIG mislead for #Shea fans this time around was the notion of seeing Shaun and Lea actually celebrating Lea’s birthday. After all, the whole promo started with his quest for his gift to be “awesome”, only to see it be used as comic relief against Lim’s increasingly dire PTSD situation (and Lea’s lobby “party” serve as literal background while Lim toiled in crisis). This was certainly a bellwether of things to come, promo-wise.

·       *    The smaller mislead: the famous shower scene tease, which ended up being for an entirely different episode. What started as quite the thrill for #Shea fans who first took note of this promo on New Year’s Eve became an aggravating bone of contention... especially once the scene airs in its entirety (see below).

C**** REMEMBER... I DON'T HAVE A CTV PROMO FOR "Fault" AT THIS TIME*** 

    (But if I did, I think it's a safe bet that we wouldn't hear anything about Lea's birthday on it.)

     ABC 4.7 "The Uncertainty Principle"

    *    Aaand we’re back to the shower scene (in the episode in which it truly appears), but here we learned it probably wasn’t going to be as enticing a scene as we hoped (or at least were crossing our fingers about… remember, we were 7 episodes in at this point, and had only been treated to one brief kissing scene back in 4.4).

    *    Here was the rare promo where nothing was shown or said about a patient, a procedure, or a crisis in the OR. (I'd say it was a lighter episode all the way around, but Lim was recovering from her PTSD-fueled motorcycle accident that no one knew about... until Claire happened upon the wreckage at the very end of the episode.)

    *    While we were all thrown for a loop by the discovery (in this promo) that Lea was previously married, it was a far less dramatic development once the episode aired. It’s not that the promo was especially misleading, in this case… it was more about us jumping to conclusions. (THIS time.)

C**** REMEMBER... I DON'T HAVE A CTV PROMO FOR "The Uncertainty Principle" EITHER*** 

   ABC 4.8 "Parenting"

        *    Okay, so maybe it’s not so rare after all: no patients, procedures, or OR medical crises in this promo either.

n     *     The inclusion of Claire’s line “you’ve been preparing for this your entire life” helped underscore the importance of this milestone for the audience. And if that didn't get the point across, the “This is the Moment” music pumping underneath certainly did.

n      *     Shaun and Lea are definitely front-and-center here; her parents aren’t even seen in the ABC version of the promo until the last few seconds (and not heard from at all).

C**** NO CTV PROMO FOR "Parenting" EITHER*** BUT for what it's worth, I recall the CTV version started with the awkward dinner scene (the real one, not the simulation with Glassman and Morgan) and Shaun’s reference to hemorrhoid surgery (while Pam Dilallo looks to have a minor coronary as she strangles out the words “Excuse me?”)

ABC 4.9 "Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices"

        

        UGH! This one... the launcher of countless glares, and eighty-four comments on my blog, which devoted an entire post to the promo itself. How did it mislead thee? Let us count the ways... 

n      *     Mislead #1: The Dr. D’Souza kiss tease that was actually a dream kiss. (It was far from the first promo to ever pull this trick, but still...)

n      *    Mislead #2: Lea actually being upset about Dr. D’Souza (and a possible real-life kiss except no, it wasn’t, it was just a dream kiss). As I said at the time, it took serious WORK to find a shot of Lea in this episode that might convey betrayal... and then they slow-mo'd it a little too? Genius. Evil genius, yes... but still genius.

n      *    Mislead #3: oh, sure, NOW they promote Lim’s PTSD crisis (using a little bit footage from the “Lim” episode to make it look like Lim's OR incident was more intense than it actually was).

n      *     Mislead #4: Neither Shaun’s crush, or Lea’s reaction, or Lim’s struggle had anything to do with the cases of the week: a trans man with a pregnancy? A black woman taking the hospital to task for racial profiling? Remember those? Why, it’s almost as if someone was afraid to promote the episode for what it was…oh, wait.

C CTV 4.9 "Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices" (courtesy of Shea Endgame)

n      *    In all honesty, the CTV version isn’t much better. Same focus on Dr. D’Sousa and “the kiss”…

n      *     There's in fact more, in a way, because Lim’s PTSD storyline is completely ignored in this version… to say nothing (again) of the Cases of the Week.

n      *    One point I'll put in CTV’s corner comes from their inclusion of Lea’s “I still look at other guys sometimes” scene with Shaun… they were at least presenting the subplot for what it was (lighter, nonsensical) rather than manipulating that shot of Lea looking upset (it was when she was breaking to Shaun the news about D’Souza’s salad bar habits) in order to scare #Shea nation into a tizzy.

    ABC 4.10 "Decrypt"

n      *    Lea is heavily featured, as you’d hope for/expect in this lovely Lea-centric episode.

n     *    Other than the all-important mention "You have 24 hours (to figure this out)," tense dialogue exchanges between Lea and Glassman are not shown. What is shown? Claire busting the cabinet-that-wouldn’t-open with an ax, that's what.

n     *    The promo ends with Shaun’s encouraging line “You always know how to fix things"... note to Shaun's foot, the one that'll be in serious peril 8 episodes down the road: You ain't seen nothing yet.

C CTV 4.10 "Decrypt" (courtesy of psycho_Bates on Instagram)

n      *    Claire and the ax start the promo in this case.

n      *    Again, the gist of Lea’s mission comes across in record time… though with some slightly different scenes/sound bites.

n      *    Though the same Shaun/Lea scene is featured (the one where he ends it telling her he respects her), I don’t think the sound bite chosen for Shaun in this promo-- "I'm not always 100 percent sure, but I'd still do the surgery" is as strong.

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    What's your take on these promos now that they're in the rear-view mirror? Hope they weren't triggering for anyone... get ready because we'll dive into the back half of the S4 promo shelf (starting with "We're All Crazy Sometimes") next!