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Sony Pictures Television wants to know: Can The Good Doctor continue airing on U.S. broadcast TV?
Sony has asked the Federal Election Commission for an advisory opinion on whether the show can continue to air new episodes, and older episodes currently in syndication, in the state of Michigan.
The medical drama, which airs new episodes on ABC, stars Freddie Highmore as Dr. Sean Murphy, a surgeon with extraordinary skills and intuition.
But it also stars Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews, the head of the hospital surgery department, and later, as its president.
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In July, Harper announced that he was running to fill an open U.S. Senate seat in his home state of Michigan. At issue is whether airing episodes of The Good Doctor would be classified as a “contribution” or “expenditure” to Harper’s Senate campaign by Sony.
“Specifically, we seek confirmation that the production and distribution of a fictional entertainment program — that includes a candidate for U.S. Senate as a cast member — is exempt from regulation by the FEC pursuant to the so-called media exemption of federal campaign finance law,” Sony writes in a letter to the FEC on Nov. 6, which was released for public dissemination Monday.
Sony notes that while the show’s production has been paused due to the recent WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, it is “planning to resume production in the near future.” In addition, it notes that older episodes air in syndication and on Hulu.
If the FEC were to determine that airing episodes of The Good Doctor count as a contribution to Harper’s campaign, they may need to be pulled in the state, lest they run afoul of contribution limits.
“No past or planned episodes of The Good Doctor refer to Mr. Harper’s candidacy, much less advocate for his election. Indeed, the only reference to the name ‘Hill Harper’ on the show is in the brief credit sequence at the opening of each episode,” Sony’s filing states. “All of Sony’s distribution agreements — whether with ABC, Hulu, or individual stations — predate Mr. Harper’s decision to run for office, and Sony has no plans to distribute The Good Doctor with any greater frequency in Michigan than it did prior to the announcement of Mr. Harper’s candidacy. More generally, Mr. Harper does not have any input or control over how Sony distributes The Good Doctor. He is simply an actor who portrays a character on the show.”
The FEC has a carve-out for certain programming (most obviously, news shows) when it comes to its rules.
With its letter, Sony is seeking an explicit OK from the FEC “that entertainment programming like The Good Doctor is eligible for the media exemption.” The future of the show could very well depend on an affirmative decision.
Journalist Lachlan Markay first noted the FEC filing.
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