Tonight at 8p on Fox’s new medical drama, Best Medicine, the town has come down with something, and Dr. Best (Josh Charles) thinks it is something contagious. Therefore, he cancels Port Wenn’s beloved monthly baked bean supper to stop the spread. But hate towards Dr. Best is spreading faster than the mystery illness. Will his aunt Sarah (Annie Potts) turn against him too? After all, she has been living there forever, and he is new to the area.
To make matters worse for him, he meets up with his old bully, who hasn’t changed since they were kids. And did I mention his bully sponsors the monthly dinner?
While he is dealing with that, Louisa (Abigail Spencer) and her ex, the town sheriff, Mark (Josh Segarra), are trying to navigate their new status in a small town after she called off their wedding. And he has already moved on with someone close to her.
Finally, there is Elaine (Cree), Dr. Best’s assistant, who does everything but her job. She is also not happy with her boss because no patients means that she cannot film her YouTube game show.
Will Dr. Best be a hero or remain a zero by the end of the episode? You will have to tune in for another heartfelt, funny, and medical-solving episode to find out. Check it out, I promise you that it is just what the doctor ordered.
I love medical shows. So much so that I have been watching shows from other countries, like Australia and Korea, on streaming.
Therefore, when we get one in the States, I have to check it out. Best Medicine, which is based on the British show Doc Martin, was no exception. And it is exceptional!
Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles) was a big-time surgeon from Boston, who needs a change in his life, which is explained as the series goes on. So he applies for a job as a local doctor in the small town of Port Wenn, a place where he spent his summers as a kid with his aunt Sarah (Annie Potts).
Since he was a surgeon in a major city, he is all about medicine, and that is it. He does not like talking to people, and Port Wenn is all about knowing everything about everyone.
How will someone who hates socializing handle being a doctor in a friendly town that is all about it? That is the main premise of the show.
The other part of it is that he is a doctor. And in tonight’s premiere episode, after the football game on Fox, the town has a boob problem. His first two patients suddenly have bigger boobs. That is not that weird, right? Considering they are both men, it is. What is causing it? I am not the doctor, so I cannot tell you.
But I can tell you about the assistant whom he inherited from the previous, late doctor. Elaine (Cree) would rather be a YouTube star than his assistant, and it shows. To say she is incompetent would be putting it mildly. But he decides to keep her because she can bandage patients, and he can’t. Why? Because he can’t handle the sight of blood. Weird?
Not weird is his caring aunt, who is so happy to have her nephew back, even if he doesn’t want to be there.
What will keep him there? Louisa (Abigail Spencer) is a school teacher who just called off her wedding to the town sheriff, Mark (Josh Segarra), after dating him for eight years. They were high school sweethearts until she left for NY. However, when she moved home, they reconnected, until they didn’t.
While their love affair is over, ours is just beginning with Best Medicine. It is a show that is more about the people in a lakeside town than small-town medicine. But there is enough of it for medical show junkies, like me. But I am tuning in for the specialness of the residents of Port Wenn. As a big city girl, I have always wanted to live in a place like Port Wenn. Since I can’t, I get to live out my fantasy in a show such as this one.
Oh, and while Best Medicine might be drama, there are a lot of comedic moments throughout the episodes. And I am not only talking about the brilliant expressions that Charles does with his face.
Plus, how can you not watch a show with Annie Potts and Didi Conn, who we need more of.
Best Medicine moves to Tuesday starting this week.
Fox is adding another doctor to its schedule next month, and it looks like it will be as good for post-Christmas headaches as two aspirins.
The series centers on Dr. Martin Best (Emmy Award-nominee Josh Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, and he quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they’ve got. Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate to be left the hell alone. Instead, he keeps getting dragged right smack into the middle of their personal chaos, feuds and fantasies. What the locals don’t know is that Martin’s terse demeanor masks a debilitating new phobia and childhood trauma that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone. But tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Fox announced last month when their January shows would debut, but they decided to change things and move their premieres up.
Get your calendars ready because you don’t want to miss these shows.
UPDATED FOX WINTER 2026 PREMIERE DATES RECAP
(All Times ET/PT Except as Noted)
Sunday Dec. 28
8:00-8:30 PM ET / Live to All Time Zones Animal Control (Special Advance Season 4 Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM ET / Live to All Time Zones The Simpsons (New Episode, Special Time)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT Krapopolis (New Episode)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT Bob’s Burgers (New Episode)
Sunday, Jan. 4
8:00-9:00 PM ET / Live to All Time Zones Best Medicine (Special Advance Series Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT Krapopolis (New Episode)
9:30-10:00 PMET/PT The Simpsons (New Episode, Special Time)
Tuesday, Jan. 6
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT Best Medicine (Series Premiere Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT Doc (Winter Premiere)
Thursday, Jan. 15
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT Hell’s Kitchen (New Episode)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT Animal Control (Time Period Premiere, All-New Episode)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT Going Dutch (Season 2 Premiere)
Sunday, Jan. 25
6:00-10:00PM ET / Live to All Times Zones NFC Championship Game
10:00PM-11:10 PM ET / Live to All Time Zones Memory of a Killer (Series Premiere)
Monday, Jan. 26
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT Extracted (Season 2 Premiere)
9:00PM-10:00 PM ET/PT Memory of a Killer (Time Period Premiere, All-New Episode)
Does it seem like animated shows on Fox never get cancelled? Well, not anymore. The Great North has aired its final episode.
Aimee Steinberger, who directed a few of the episodes, broke the news: “Sadly we got the news today that The Great North is officially cancelled. I’m pretty sad about it. It’s one of a very small number of shows I’ve worked on that I genuinely loved and I really loved the whole talented crew I worked with. I feel lucky to have been there.
“In a world of cynical and mean shows, The Great North was not that. The family loves and supports each other. I want to work on more shows like that. Either blood or found family.”
The Great North aired for five seasons, with the final one airing over the summer. Because of that, it is Fox’s lowest-rated scripted show, according to TVLine.
The news is not that surprising. Not only were the ratings south, but Fox also picked up American Dad, so something had to go, and everything else was picked up.
