medical drama

(S01E05) "It wasn't even my money. I got it off a dead guy in the morgue." - Nurse Jackie to Zoey, after giving a surly woman money to buy a pregnancy test at a drug store

Lots of interesting stuff in this episode, the above quote being one of them. Jackie told Zoey she was kidding, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't. Giving a woman money to buy a pregnancy test at a drug store -- rather than clog up the emergency room because she doesn't have enough money or is too cheap to buy a pregnancy test herself -- is classic Jackie. Getting the money from a dead guy in the morgue? Spot on. Hey, that money might as well be used for the greater good.

(S01E04) I liked Nurse Jackie from the first episode, and I continue to like it more and more each week. I like that the characters look like real people, not stick-thin Hollywood types. And even though Jackie is worn down by life, she seems to thrive on the hospital stuff and caring for patients. I guess that's the sign of a good nurse (ya think, Jane?).

Let's take the scene where Dr. O'Hara is telling a young patient's mom and brother all this scary stuff about his lung collapsing. She's not all that great with kids, is she? When the brother hugged her, I just wanted to smack her for not hugging him back, after all he'd been through that day with his twin getting shot. Meanwhile, in the background, Jackie is mouthing to the mom and brother that it's not that bad, that he'll be alright. It's this kind of hope that families need when they're going through a trauma.

There were some awesome guest stars in this episode of Nurse Jackie! Eli Wallach played Mr. Zimberg, the old guy who refused treatment for his heart issues. Wallach was born in 1915 (!) and has been working steadily since the 1950s. I mean, what a life he's had and what a piece of film history he is. His credits include The Misfits, The Magnificent Seven, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's such a pleasure seeing him on Nurse Jackie.

Playing his wife was Lynn Cohen, who played Magda on Sex and the City and Uncle Pete's wife on Damages, not to mention dozens of other film and TV roles.

And then there's the wonderful Anna Deavere Smith (pictured above), who plays the ongoing role of Doctor Akalitis. She's such a great actress; she makes me despise her character, but in a good way.

(S01E02) Nurse Jackie is such an interesting show. Just about every scene has both drama and humor, though sometimes it leans more one way than the other. Like the opening scene with Jackie cutting her hubby's hair that ends up with them having sex on the kitchen floor:

Kevin: "What am I rolling around on down here?"
Jackie: "Fruity Pebbles."
Kevin: "Feels more like Cap'n Crunch."

You do have to wonder how Jackie is able to function so well doing all those drugs. I guess she's built up a tolerance level, but it sort of drove the point home when hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus accidentally swiped some of Jackie's Percocet-laced Sweet-N-All and ended up loopy.

(S01E01) "Shut up. I don't like chatty. I don't do chatty. I like quiet." - Nurse Jackie to young nurse Zoey

It's hard not to think of Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano, because she's so identified with the role. But I have a feeling that after a few episodes of Nurse Jackie, Carmela will fade a bit in our minds and Jackie will start to take over. She's a complex character who snorts painkillers, has sex with the hospital druggist, looks after patients with a vengeance, tells doctors off, and goes home each night to a loving husband and two kids. She's one hot mess.

Seriously, they had me with the opening song, "Theme from Valley of the Dolls," sung by one of my favorite singers in the world, Dionne Warwick. They couldn't have picked a better song to start this series. Like the three women in that movie, Jackie is on a mission, but gets messed up in the process.

There are many medical dramas among the new shows announced for the fall, and one of them is TNT's HawthoRNe, starring Jada Pinkett Smith (it also stars Alias' Michael Vartan). Here's the first two minutes of the pilot. The show debuts June 16 at 9 PM.

And for future reference, I'm going to write all of my sentences like HawthoRNe. IT miGHt tAKE somE tIMe, bUt we'Ll gET uSEd TO iT.

There seems to be a ton of new medical dramas on the fall schedules, including this new CBS show from Jericho producer Carol Barbee. I guess the only question is, can a medical show with such a specific premise (a hospital that specializes in transplants) do enough different stories throughout the season? Never mind - this one has Moonlight star Alex O'Loughlin!

NBC unveiled its new shows Monday (they'll reveal the full schedule on May 19), and one of the shows is a medical show. Well, actually, two of the shows are medical shows (the other is Mercy), but here's the first one. It's called Trauma, and it's set in San Francisco. Remember those special episodes of ER that had a helicopter falling on someone or a plane blowing up or a car crashing into the emergency room? This show looks like it has that stuff in every episode! But it makes more sense because these people are paramedics and not ER personnel.

There was no surprise when SoapNet announced that it would be broadcasting another season of the late night spinoff of General Hospital Night Shift. The premiere season was a ratings blockbuster for the cable channel, a big hit with fans and well-received by the critics.

What was surprising was news that a new head writer, Sri Rao, would be taking over from Bob Guza, Jr., and that two major players from GH's history -- Tristan Rogers and Antonio Sabato, Jr. -- would be starring in this go-round.

I enjoyed Night Shift, year one, so I was inclined to check it out. I'm thrilled to report that after three episodes, I'm loving Night Shift 2008! Here's five reasons why:

A familiar face will be popping up at Seattle Grace before Grey's Anatomy goes on hiatus at the end of the season. Kate Walsh, a.k.a. Addison Montgomery, M.D., will return to the medical drama when her character makes a visit to the Emerald City. It'll be for just one episode, though. ABC has already picked up Kate's spin-off series, Private Practice, for the fall.

Executive producer/writer Shonda Rhimes confirmed that Kate Walsh will return to Grey's Anatomy for a guest bit this spring, but a definite date has not been pinned down. Five new episodes of GA are set to air starting April 24.

J.J. Abrams is in talks with HBO to direct and executive produce a new medical drama that looks at the toll cancer takes from the patients point of view. This would be the first project that Abrams undertakes with the new mega-contract he signed with Warner Bros. back during the summer. Abrams' own production company, Bad Robot, is part of the contract he signed.

The drama, based on the book The Anatomy of Hope, will be written in part by Tom Schulman -- the same guy who wrote Dead Poets Society and won the Oscar for it.

Seems like Abrams has his hands full lately. I doubt very much he'll have much time to devote to Lost if he's busy directing this new show, executive producing What About Brian, and getting things ready for the eleventh Star Trek movie. This guy is in demand.

[via Hollywood Reporter]

Salma Hayek, apparently hoping to duplicate the success of Ugly Betty, which she produced with partner Jose Tamez, is developing another telenovela, an untitled medical drama based at an Ivy League university. Joe Sachs, a writer and producer on ER, is also executive producing the show along with Hayek and Tamez.

Given the television industries knack for jumping on any bandwagon once it's proved there's an audience for it, one wonders what will happen if this new drama becomes as successful as Ugly Betty. It could be we're not too far away from a slew of shows all adapted from telenovelas and other foreign series. I saw a show on Univision the other day where a man dressed as a pink gorilla was chased by another man dressed as a baby. I think that would translate well to an American audience.

(S03E06) Hello, my name is Jen, and I will be covering House for Tom Biro this evening. To our right, please notice that Michael Tritter, policeman extraordinaire is still with us, and searching House's house for narcotics. Tritter has been called the anti-House, but let's examine the evidence. He is vengeful, like House. He breaks into people's apartments and searches for evidence, just like House. He is addicted to Nicorette gum, just like House. I think House even points out correctly that Tritter is taking out his anti-smoking frustrations on House-- why not? House takes out his pain on everybody else too. Especially when he can't have his drug of choice.

Just when you think a show is dying, it comes to life.

ER is currently in its 13th season, and NBC's original plan was to interrupt the run of the show for three months in early 2007 and premiere the new drama The Black Donnellys. But ER had to go and be one of the top rated NBC shows (it's always in the top 20 now), so now the plan is to keep ER on the air throughout the winter and spring.

I'll say one thing: I swore up and down, right here on this site, that I was through with ER and wasn't going to watch it anymore. But I find myself pulled back into it after checking in to see what happened to Jerry (he's OK, just on another show for now) and Abby's baby (it's OK, as Rich has reported). So I guess if the show can keep a jaded veteran ER watcher like me interested after so many years, it must be doing something right.

The Smiths are becoming entertainment moguls, aren't they? They already produce the CW comedy All of Us; now Will and Jada are pairing with a writer-producer team to create a medical drama for CBS. Just what we need, right? Well, this one has the potential to be a little different: the show will follow the doctors at the Centers of Disease Control as they battle viruses and other diseases that threaten to become pandemics (the pilot episode: bird flu... it's a natural!).

The writer-producer team that the Smiths are joining are Jan Nash and Jennifer Levin, who met while working on Without a Trace.