What is our fascination with the TV hospital drama? Obviously this is not a new thing, they've been around forever, but in recent years it seems to be getting out of hand. Some go off the air, only to be replaced by two, three, or four replacements in the same slightly-tweaked format. NBC itself, after finally shutting down the long running show ER- replaced it this fall by introducing to new shows "Trauma" and "Mercy" - which seem to be the old ER split into two different shows.
Now this is not to say I'm immune to the hospital genre. I watched ER back in its infancy, and currently watch Grey's Anatomy. But for anyone who has spent any amount of time in a hospital, as patient or visitor, these shows take an enormous suspension of disbelief to take them seriously. How many times have you been put off by a show or movie because of something like - Oh come on, that's sooo unrealistic it's ridiculous. Well, these hospital shows that we know and love are the worst offenders- and yet we keep coming back for more.
On the shallowest level- I have never been treated by a doctor in a hospital who looked like any of these people. Yes I know it's TV, but come on- dial it back a little; perhaps at least one "normal" looking character. Nor have I ever seen nurses in the hallway pleading with and fighting the doctors for patients' rights or needs, or the emotional connections to said patients that invariably happen on these shows. Hell, I'd settle for nurses who at least act like they want to be there.
Although, I am willing to believe that they're all sleeping with each other in empty OR's and broom closets- this at least explains why it take so friggin' long to be seen.
So as another television season descends upon, against the backdrop of the country's battler over health care, we'll tune into visions of what health care isn't. And why the hell not, TV's a good form of escape- right? Or is it what we'd hope it to be? Might as well set the next hospital drama on the moon or Mars- or would that be too unrealistic?
