Throw 2 More Medical Shows on the Barbie

Okay, TV, this is getting absurd. It's always been pretty apparent that a ridiculous number of dramas center around law enforcement, the legal system, or hospitals, but the ratio is getting out of hand. Seriously, you count up all the shows that fall into one of those categories and you only have about 10% left over for everything else. This fall alone, CBS has a new legal drama, a new medical show, and an NCIS spin-off. Way to cover all the standard bases, CBS.

In recent years, Team Law Enforcement Show took the lead with spate of CSIs, CSI spin-offs, and other such detective/cop/procedural type shows. It's what CBS is made of, quite frankly. The late nineties were dominated by Team Legal Show, but that seems to have ebbed of late. Amidst all the crime and punishment, Team Medical Show has always held its own, and back when ER was in its prime, saw a dramatic increase in derivative programming.

Even the sharpest of possible increases would be hard-pressed to surpass the newest deluge of medical shows. Apparently, with ER finally (I could almost hear the show sighing toward the end) retiring, all the networks decided to fill the medical void (that wasn't all that empty to begin with (House, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, Mental, In Treatment, Private Practice, etc.)) with a spate of new medical programming to rival the towering heap of law enforcement shows that currently dominate the airwaves.

Off the top of my head, I count 6 new medical shows premiering this spring or fall: Three Rivers, Mercy, Trauma, HawthoRNe, Royal Pains, and Nurse Jackie. I'm wagering there are more out there, ready to pounce, but those are the six that are currently on my radar. Add those to the already full plate of medical programming, and you've reached a surfeit. Now, I enjoy this kind of show as much as the next person, but after a while, you start seeing the same kinds of crises, the same kinds of characters, and the whole affair just gets old, overdone, and dull.

As such, for a show of this genre to make a splash, the creative really has to work hard to reinvent the wheel and give the audience something new and unique to take the focus off the formula. Most of the newbies don't premiere till this fall, but Showtime's Nurse Jackie and USA's Royal Pains both premiered last week.

ROYAL PAINS

If comments on the web are any indication, neither I, nor anyone else on the planet had a whole lot of hope for this show. I'm guessing it was such low expectations that made the pilot come across as not completely awful. Which isn't to say it was excellent either, but contrary to my suspicions, the pilot was fairly decent and watchable.

The bottom line with this show is that all the elements were "decent enough," but nothing was particularly good or bad. If I had gone on a date with Royal Pains, I'd say he was "nice." (And for those of you who don't know what implications that adjective has (as far as I'm concerned), "nice" is how you describe someone who isn't a horrible person or anything, and the date was agonizing painful or anything.... but... well... there's nothing else really positive to say but "nice"...) Royal Pains was better than I expected, but it was middle of the road in pretty much every regard. The only truly irksome element was the base concept... (no biggie, right?).

Royal Pains follows Dr. Hank as he gets fired from his prestigious job at a top NYC hospital because he opted to save some kid over one of the biggest financial donors to the hospital (or something like that). The old rich guy was stable, so Dr. Hank went to help the critically ill kid that he had brought in earlier. Well, quite a bit later on, Dr. Hank is informed that the old guy died and somehow that's his fault. It annoyed me for the better part of the pilot that a rare, inexplicable complication that came so much later could be chalked up to Dr. Hank in the first place, but that he would lose his job over it was just plain stupid. I can see where a wealthy family that had contributed to the hospital over the years might try to sue or blackball Dr. Hank, but that he would be immediately fired and basically barred from practicing in New York was just ridiculous. He followed standard triage procedure (which was finally pointed out at the very end of the pilot), so it would only serve to make the hospital look terrible to fire him. It's wrongful termination plain and simple. If he were to expose the reasons for his termination to the media, the hospital would come under tremendous ridicule. That preferential treatment is given to certain patients is a constant issue, and this would do nothing but confirm it. Especially given that the guy who died was an old white guy and the kid who Dr. Hank saved was a young African-American, I can't imagine the hospital would risk that kind of bad public relations and expose themselves to a lawsuit. Dumb.

There are a number of shows that I have some basic issues with the concept, but many of these make up for it in other ways. For example, Chuck and Pushing Daisies both have basic concepts that the viewer just kind of has to go with. In both cases, I'm more than happy to suspend my criticisms and disbeliefs because the show makes up for it in so many other ways. I gladly just take it for what it is and overlook any possible flaws. Royal Pains, on the other hand, was only pretty-okay in other respects, so the flaws with the initial premise were more annoying than they should have been.

Exhibit B: Apparently, if there's one thing insanely wealthy white people need, it's better access to medical care. Who knew? Dr. Hank ends up in the Hamptons with his brother for the weekend and apparently he's the MacGyver of doctors (a reference that a 16 year old makes, might I add, and which I just don't think would happen... do teenagers know MacGyver? Whatever.). In the course of a weekend, he saves two people's lives and is deemed the "concierge doctor" for the whole community. Why don't these wealthy people just go to a hospital for emergency medical care? Apparently the only medical services in the Hamptons are terrible, so people would rather take their chances on the floor of a mansion, with only a Bic pen, a plastic bag, and a jar of almonds to save them... For as idiotic as the concept is, it was actually fairly decently done and it helped me to overlook some of the lunacy. Some.

Some woman shows up from out of no where and has a trunk full of medical supplies and equipment, so she, Dr. Hank, and the brother form some sort of mobile medical services company. The whole thing was pretty cheesy and all the plot points were extremely convenient. How nice of you to show up on my doorstep with a everything we could possibly need to make this dubious concept work! Oy. The Toyota Hospital Series SUV only served to make the medicine on the show even more suspect than it already was (and believe me, it was). But, as far as the concept for this show is concerned, the medical equipment contained entirely within the back of her car is all Dr. Hank will need to save people... You know, because her car is totally big enough to fit a CT scanner, MRI, lab, pharmacy, etc...

Anyway, annoyances with the concept aside, the show was very middle of the road overall. The acting was okay, the characters were likeable enough, the production value was fine, etc, etc, etc. Nothing really reached out and grabbed me, but it honestly wasn't as terrible as I had feared. I think the real problem with the show will be sustainability. Given how weak the concept is, I just don't know how the writers are going to come up with medical emergencies that can be remedied out of the back of a truck week-to-week... If they can come up with a way to keep it fresh, it definitely has a chance, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

Bottom line? Meh.

Pilot Grade: C+

NURSE JACKIE

I don't generally have access to Showtime, but after threatening my satellite company with a switch to Comcast, it somehow magically appeared... Anyway, I've been pretty disappointed with the movies they've shown, but, as with so many past series on the network, their newest addition is excellent, plain and simple.

I wasn't going to really give Nurse Jackie much of a chance (given that I only have Showtime for the next couple of months), but I had heard good things, so I tuned in for the pilot. This may be simply because I've seen a lot of mediocre pilots this year, but Nurse Jackie reminded me of what an excellent pilot should be. That sounds kind of sappy, now that I think of it, but it's true.

I don't know if it comes as a result of having little or no restrictions, but Showtime has a tremendous track record with serialized television. Nurse Jackie is no exception. From the opening scene to the insanely awesome reveal at the end, the pilot had me undeniably intrigued and almost immediately invested in every aspect of the show. Unlike Royal Pains and so many other medical shows, this one really sets itself apart and manages to make it so much more than your standard medical drama. The medicine is an important part of the show, to be sure, but it's not the primary draw.

Edie Falco is superb as the eponymous Jackie. Her character is complex and engaging without being contrived. I didn't have that ever-frequent sensation that the writers thought long and hard over the character and what her flaws would be. When I can practically hear the writers' room in my head and can see each machination as a belabored, deliberate tool, I say that I can "see the strings." With Nurse Jackie, not only did I not notice the strings, I didn't care to look for them at all. Like many great pilots, I just felt like I had been given a privileged look at this woman's life, her thoughts and feelings, and the world around her. It didn't feel like she had been cooked up on a laptop by some half-wit writer. It felt as though I was allowed to see a fully formed, fully realized person and wasn't bombarded with contrivances and gimmicks. It's a really lovely feeling when that happens.

The show centers around Jackie, a tough, but compassionate nurse who wrestles with her life, her career, her conscience, and her flaws as best she can. It sounds trite, I know, but it came across as incredibly genuine. As with the greatest of pilots, in my estimation, the show didn't spend the entirety of the pilot explaining to me who everyone is, what their motives are, how they relate to one another, and what dynamics exist among them. Nothing takes me out of the moment in quite the same way that lazy plot exposition does. I don't need the writers to explain everything to me, I'll pick it up as I go along. Nurse Jackie did this beautifully. I appreciate subtlety in story telling and the pilot managed to hint at a lot of things, illuminate others, and keep me guessing at most of the finer points, all without clunky descriptions or shameless plot exposition. I can be reasonably certain it was a good pilot when I can't remember most of the characters' names and I'm not sure how or if they're related. That sounds like it would be the hallmark of a terrible pilot, but it's not. The truly awful pilots use characters' first names over and over again for no apparent reason have characters answer the phone with, "Well, if it isn't my little brother Kevin! How is your new wife, Cheryl?" Um, thanks for the clarification? Don't get me wrong, it's nice to know who's who and all, but there are subtler ways to do it. In bad pilots, it's almost never seamless or smooth, it takes me out of the experience, and generally removes all suspension of disbelief. I'm more than happy to pick up information as I go along and am comfortable not knowing exactly what is going on 100% of the time. It makes it seem more authentic and I feel more immersed in the narrative.

That Jackie is dependent on prescription pain killers could have made her character a sad derivative of House, but the writers have very skillfully managed to avoid this. Jackie's dependence is largely a secret, and quite honestly reflects countless other people who have developed an addiction following an injury. Her dependence is compelling and it makes the fact that she's sleeping with the hospital pharmacist much more interesting and layered than your regular relationship. You have to ask yourself if she's seeing him simply to support her habit. The thought crossed my mind several times, but then was undercut by how they interacted with one another. He offered her pain killers for her back, which she initially refused, then ultimately accepted. This gave me the impression that she doesn't want to use him like that, but that her addiction is stronger than her resolve. I held this theory until the end of the episode when they were both standing in the rain under umbrellas. It was such a sweet, charming tableau that I had to reassess her motives. He gave her a Dr. Pepper, a moon pie, and some prescription narcotics before they both bid each other, "I love you," and departed. It was surprisingly sweet, almost childlike (in spite of the drugs), and even kind of touching. It made me reevaluate her motives once again. It was only the pilot and only their second scene together, but I already kinda, sorta adored them. They just seemed to make total sense together.

**SPOILER ALERT** (skip this paragraph if you don't want to know)
It's to the pilot's credit that they established Jackie's relationship with the pharmacist so quickly and effectively that I was genuinely surprised and a little dismayed at the end when it is revealed that Jackie has two daughters and is ostensibly happily married. Once again, I had to question her motives, and once again, I ended up without any certainty whatsoever. That she gave the moon pie to her girls was just perfect. It seemed such a strange gift to give her, but he meant it for her daughters. I think that makes me adore him even more. That there's a husband in the picture throws a major wrench into the works and I didn't see it coming at all. The reveal was sad and sweet and horrible and wonderful all at once.

As if the show's dramatic elements were enough, the show is also genuinely, darkly funny. It cracked me up on more than a few occasions, yet still retained its edge and tone. It didn't feel like the show was asking for the laugh, as so many do, but was still funny, smirk-worthy, and witty. The scene at dinner where Jackie and another doctor from the hospital are at a table next to a woman who is choking was fantastic. Unlike so many other shows where the doctors spring to their feet, announce that there's a doctor in the house and save the woman's life, Jackie and her friend groan and try to shirk the responsibility. Jackie ultimately ends up saving the woman's life instead of her friend, very matter-of-factly, because the friend is paying for lunch. The whole scene cracked me up and managed to surprise me--a tall order for someone who watches as much television as I do.

Along with all the other brilliantly conceived aspects of the show, there's a religious undercurrent that adds yet another layer of complexity. I'm not a religious type, to be sure, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed watching Jackie grapple with her own ethics and morals and how that is affected by her religious background. All these elements blend together in a very smooth, seamless, organic way, and for this reason, I don't find myself annoyed at the contrivance, but rather accepting of, and intrigued by the essential facts at hand. To this end, the religious aspects of the show made for perfect book ends for the episode, beginning and ending with the sage advice of the saints. That the episode ended with St. Augustine's words, who accepted that there was good within him as well as bad, was perfect for Jackie--a saint and a sinner.

"Make me good, God--but not yet."

A powerful ending to a fantastic pilot. Looks like I'll be threatening to switch to Comcast on a regular basis...

Pilot Grade: A+