Dr. Martin Best, a brilliant surgeon from Boston, suddenly moves to the small coastal town of Port Wenn, Maine, where he spent summers as a child, to work as the town’s general practitioner. His rude and abrasive bedside manner doesn’t sit well with the strange people who live there, which leads to fights over strange medical problems and food poisoning outbreaks that happen every week. Martin saves the day over and over again, even though he is afraid of blood and wants to be alone. He slowly becomes a part of the town.
Josh Charles plays the prickly but talented Dr. Martin Best. People praise how well he mixes his dislike of people with his underlying warmth from his days on The Good Wife. Annie Potts plays his lobster-fishing aunt Joan, who is funny and helpful. Abigail Spencer plays Louisa Glasson, a local teacher, who adds romantic tension. The cast includes Josh Segarra, Cree, Stephen Spinella, and Martin Clunes, who played Doc Martin’s father in the original show.
Charles’s performance is what makes the show so charming, but some critics, like Paste Magazine, say that the show’s formulaic episodes have “unpleasant side effects.” The New York Times likes that Charles’ competitive edge makes the grumpy doctor likable, but others say it’s a bad, out-of-touch import that doesn’t have the original’s wry humor. Overall, it is Fox’s midseason comedy-drama hit with procedural appeal.
