‘Doctor Odyssey’: ‘The Love Boat’ but Loaded With Sex and Weird Diseases

A woman dipping in the pool on a luxury cruise snorts some cocaine. Her recent plastic surgery dissolves, leaving her with a gaping hole where her nose should be.

A man breaks his penis during vigorous sex on the same cruise ship, but the doctor on board knows exactly how to treat this because… wait for it… it happened to the physician previously.

A Singles Week on this same cruise liner falls apart when a character officially known on IMDB as Syphilis Sam (Chord Overstreet) spreads his love around a lot and infects a bunch of passengers.

Superstar Shania Twain hooks up with Don Johnson, the ship’s captain.

These are things that actually happened on Doctor Odyssey, ABC’s new horny show about medics on a never-ending cruise in which every week brings a new theme and a new set of attractive passengers who typically end up having sex with members of the crew, and who end up getting treating them for weird ailments.

It’s The Love Boat if Captain Stubing, Dr. Bricker and the rest of the cast were facing weird medical cases every week, but also taking time to fall in love and fuck passengers, and each other, every episode.

This is not a television show I would normally watch, but when some fellow TV critics began hosting a weekly viewing party for this show and 9-1-1 on FOX, another so-dumb-it’s-fantastic Ryan Murphy series, it hooked me. Gone is the obligatory watching for a show you think will be part of the cultural conversation; this is not a series that’s going to get dozens of Emmy nominations like Shogun. It’s just mind-clearing fun (especially when watched with a group) that doesn’t take itself seriously except when Doctor Odyssey is wearing its surprisingly sensitive heart on its sleeve. You should watch it with a bowl of Cheetos within reach and a chilled box of cheap wine at the ready.

The plot: handsome middle-aged doctor Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson, silver-foxy and perfectly cast) signs on to be the chief medic on a cruise liner called The Odyssey after almost dying as Covid’s patient zero in New York City. I am not making that up. He joins captain Robert Massey (Johnson) and two highly skilled nurses, Avery (Phillipa Soo of Hamilton fame) and lovestruck himbo Tristan (Sean Teale), who’s harboring a longstanding crush on Avery.

That’s it. That’s the show. Every week, hapless travelers come on board, many of them ridiculously rich and attractive, and medical shenanigans ensue. A guy eats so much shrimp at the buffet he gets iodine poisoning. A Wellness Week led by national treasure Amy Sedaris turns deadly when smoothies and acupuncture cause life-threatening injuries to Margaret Cho and Kate Berlanti. Other guest stars have included Gina Gershon, Constance Marie, Rachel Dratch, Laura Harrier, who just joined the cast with Episode 4, and Justin Jedlica, who has plastic surgeried himself to become The Real Ken, like the Barbie character.

And here’s where the show gets interesting: Jedlica, playing himself, dies on the show after surgery-related sepsis. But rather than treat him as a cautionary tale, Doctor Odyssey (he earns this moniker before too long) celebrates the man’s authentic life and forms a real bond with him as a fan of his (made-up) reality TV series.

That’s the Ryan Murphy of it all. Like other shows from the producer (Glee, American Horror Story, Nip/Tuck, even) the tone can shift on a dime. Doctor Odyssey has room to both socially critique but also deeply empathize with its kooky, injury-prone passengers.

The pilot episode hints that there may be something deeper and more mysterious going on. Is the cruise ship purgatory or a fever dream of Max’s while he’s dying of Covid? In that first episode, Don Johnson describes the ship as a “Heaven” where the crew fulfills people’s every desire. That sure sounds like Doctor Odyssey is heading into Fantasy Island or The Good Place territory.

Until such a twist arrives, it’s best to enjoy Doctor Odyssey for what it is: a glossy, funny, ridiculous show with a gorgeous cast that may be filled with empty calories, but that feels like a perfect cheese snack amid multi-course prestige-TV meals.