The protagonist of the lighthearted new Fox sequence “Best Medicine” could also be a health care provider, however the hourlong present isn’t actually a medical procedural. As a substitute, the sequence borrows a time-honored setup from “Schitt’s Creek,” infinite Hallmark motion pictures and its personal supply materials, the lengthy working British sequence “Doc Martin”: uptight massive metropolis skilled will get reluctantly acquainted with the charms of small-town life. On this case, the titular curmudgeon — sure, the identify is a pun and the character known as Physician Greatest — is performed by erstwhile “The Good Spouse” star Josh Charles, whose cantankerous allure retains the typically forced-feeling zaniness in verify by the primary 4 episodes.
“Greatest Medication” takes place in a nook of coastal Maine presently finest recognized to outsiders from Graham Platner marketing campaign advertisements. (Paradoxically, this celebration of the nation’s quieter corners was developed by Liz Tuccillo, an alumna of the quintessentially city “Intercourse and the Metropolis” and co-author of the hit self-help ebook “He’s Simply Not That Into You.”) Charles’ Boston coronary heart surgeon used to trip there as a child, and returns when a childhood trauma-triggering incident at work provides him an occupationally hazardous worry of blood. Conveniently, the city physician has simply handed away, giving Martin — inheriting a primary identify from his English predecessor — a brand new job and an opportunity to work on his abysmal bedside method.
Martin needs nothing greater than to diagnose his sufferers, deal with their sicknesses and transfer on along with his day. Sadly for him, that’s probably not the gig, as he learns the arduous approach when one girl’s use of estrogen cream to deal with signs of perimenopause by accident reveals her infidelity. (Each her male companions develop breasts on account of estrogen contact. It’s referred to as gynecomastia!) Dr. Greatest is extra like a communal therapist, anticipated to be on name always to seek the advice of no matter minor issues his new neighbors could also be working by, strictly medical in nature or not — “just like the world is one big physician’s workplace,” he laments.
Each episode of “Greatest Medication” establishes a brand new but equally beloved native custom to confound the fiercely anti-sentimental physician: a baked bean dinner; a high-school baseball sport in opposition to archrivals Bar Harbor; a good-looking hermit who comes out of the woods annually to show the native girls wilderness survival abilities. Martin’s no-nonsense aunt Joan (Annie Potts), incompetent assistant Elaine (the mononymous actor Cree) and associate in will-they-won’t-they flirtation Louisa (Abigail Spencer), a instructor, function his guides by these native rituals. These ladies are flanked by an ever-expanding solid of quirk-forward native characters, from the homosexual couple who personal an area restaurant and let their pet pig wander the kitchen to a father-and-son handyman duo who wish to make unsolicited repairs.
On the one hand, it’s a reduction that “Greatest Medication” seems like the primary rural-set story in half a decade to make no point out of the opioid disaster. However as endearing as these Maine denizens could also be — like Louisa’s ex-fiancé Mark, performed by Hollywood’s go-to humorous himbo Josh Segarra — they collectively lack edge in a approach that’s lower than convincing. Lip service is paid to the decline of small cities, but any contributing elements to that shift are ignored within the identify of an insistently sunny (actually; no snow right here!) disposition. Martin’s former bully Glen (Patch Darragh) has the makings of a villain earlier than he’s swiftly reformed. Mark briefly flirts with manosphere-style aggrievement, however anger doesn’t swimsuit him.
Any trace of acid comes from Martin himself, a needed counterpoint to the sugar in such plentiful provide. “I’m not meant to be a city physician as a result of I don’t like folks,” he complains, however Charles doesn’t play the doctor as mean-spirited and even particularly irritable. Martin simply has little persistence or understanding of social niceties, which occur to be the inventory and commerce of his new house: “I discover the folks demanding, irrational and much too chatty at supermarkets,” he sighs. To invoke one other iconic TV physician from the identical community, Martin’s like a much less gleefully bitchy Dr. Home, a parallel that extends to his penchant for fixing diagnostic mysteries just like the supply of a seemingly foodborne sickness.
Martin will likely have his edges sanded down over time, although hopefully later somewhat than sooner. For now, the distinction between Martin and his sufferers has a productive friction that provides Charles loads of grouchy misanthropy to work with. Amid a lot communitarian sweetness, a spoonful of bitter helps “Greatest Medication” go down.
“Greatest Medication” premieres on Fox on Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET beginning on Jan. 6.
