You’ve pulled yourself to the medical office, sneezing and coughing, head spinning from the cold that refuses to go away. You expect, no, demanding that your doctor looks like George Clooney’s Dr. Doug Ross from Er-You know, tall, beautiful, well dressed. Instead, in hiking, a lovely, older, almost retired doctor who, although perfectly competent, is not exactly suitable for the TV medical molds that you have been conditioned with expecting after many years of overviewed medical dramas. "Where is McDreamy?" You think sulking internally, as your friendly doctor is writing you a prescription. TV lied again for you, but that left us with some serious iconic doctors. Saints for defective hero doctors on TV have been part of our viewing experience for over 50 years. In the early days, shows such as Medic (1954) offered a one-dimensional and very flattering representation of doctors. These early portrayals depicted doctors as benevolent figures, comforting patients through hard diagnoses and always deliver courses. Medic was steeped in an aura of reverence for medicine that presented doctors as undisturbing and saint-like, leading viewers through dishonestly detailed medical procedures and promising hopeful results. At that time, medical technology and progress were treated with awe, and the public’s fascination with curing of previously untreated diseases mirrored these depictions on the screen. However, this idealized image of doctors began to crumble as societal expectations changed. Views like House moved the paradigm and presented doctors as brilliant, yet deeply deficient characters. Dr. Gregory House, for example, is a drug abuse, egotical diagnostics who hardly interact with his patients and treat them more as a riddles to solve than people who need care. The focus changed from the care of patients to diagnosing and healing them at all costs, with House’s character, which embodies arrogance and recklessness that has become synonymous with modern depictions of TV doctors. His cold, almost detached behavior was an extreme contrast to the compassionate holistic doctors of previous decades. Similarly, Grey’s anatomy doctors portray as deficient, overly emotional individuals struggling with personal problems that often bleed into their professional lives. Doctors are no longer presented as pristine heroes, but as ordinary people who are prone to the same failures as anyone else. This shift signalizes a broader cultural change in how we see the authority figures in medicine – where when the public first placed blind belief in the infections of doctors, contemporary shows reflect a more skeptical and sometimes cynical view of the medical profession. Our favorite doctors out of all our favorite TV doctors, let’s get the most obvious out of the way: Gray’s Anatomy’s Dr. Derek Shepherd, alias McDreamy. Derek was played by the effortless charming Patrick Dempsey and was the neurosurgeon with the best hair in the game and a heart competing with his surgical skills. McDreamy was the epitome of the classic TV physician sheet type: Beautiful, charismatic and incredibly talented. He is the doctor who made us all dream of going into a hospital and finding one like him, although spoiler alarm: they usually do not exist in real life. Next is Dr. Miranda Bailey, alias “The Nazi” (before political correctness forced them to drop that nickname). Bailey, played by Chandra Wilson, is the opposite of McDreamy. She is non-nonsens, hard as nails and requires the best of everyone around her. But despite her creepy exterior, Bailey’s compassion and loyalty to her trainees and patients make her one of the most beloved characters on Gray’s anatomy. What makes her stand out? She is relatable – while other doctors are caught in love triangles and dramatic operations, Bailey is just trying to survive the chaos. Go into the sophisticated Dr. Addison Montgomery, the newborn surgeon who went into Gray’s anatomy to touch the drama between McDreamy and Meredith. Addison, played by Kate Walsh, is the type of doctor you imagine hovering into an emergency room with beet designer heels and a solution to any problem. While she began as something of an antagonist (though her interference was seriously deserved), Addison soon became a fan favorite, even scoring her own spin-off show, private practice. Dr. Max Goodwin from New Amsterdam, played by Ryan Eggold, is the man who enters the hospital with a mission: to disrupt the system and put patients before profits. Max is the kind of doctor we want we had when dealing with insurance nightmares and endless hospital bureaucracy. He is friendly, idealistic and refreshingly optimistic, even when facing his own struggles (a particularly inconvenient cancer diagnosis). Max’s character represents a new race of TV doctors – those who challenge the broken healthcare system when the profits appear to be the new goal, especially after the Kovid match. More than inclusive is a polar opposite Max Dr. Vijay Kapoor, played by Anupam Kher. Vijay is the wise, old-school neurologist who has seen it all. He may not have a flash of a McDreamy, but his gentle behavior and genuine care of his patients makes him unforgettable. Dr. Kapoor’s Indian heritage made him stand out, especially for the Desi audience. His cultural background is subtly added to his character arch – whether it is his relationship with his son, the hints of traditional values ​​or how he handles his patients. There is something known to us in Kapoor’s manners, his language and his balancing action between traditional ideals and modern challenges. He is not tokenized or reduced to his ethnicity; Instead, his cultural roots add an extra layer to his persona, making him a more nuanced and relatable figure for South Asian audiences. He is a skilled and experienced physician, an immigrant who navigates in the American medical system of grace, but he also bears the weight of cultural expectations and personal difficulties that many viewers would recognize. To have a character like Dr. Shaun Murphy on TV is deeply important because it challenges the conventional portrayal of doctors and opens up conversations about neurodiversity. As a doctor with autism and savant syndrome on the good doctor, Shaun breaks the form of what society typically expects from professionals in fields with high efforts as medicine. The main debate on the show is’ Will Shaun succeed as a doctor? His character not only highlights the unique strengths and perspectives that individuals with autism can bring to their work, but also help to dismantle stereotypes. The portrayal is a big step forward in how we understand and represent neurodivered individuals in media. Do you have anything to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.