Brits on American medical dramas

[Sylph]

Grey's Anatomy; House; Holby Blue

Last Night's TV

Helen Rumbelow

Nowhere is American supremacy more evident - well, apart from in economic and military geopolitics - than in TV medical dramas. They have ER, we have The Royal. They have action so fast that their actor medics have to say “GSW” instead of “gunshot wound”, saving themselves no time at all, but boy does it sound impressive. Their dramas have gunshot wounds, for God's sake, whereas our excitement comes from plots where Dad misfires a staple gun during some Easter DIY.

Last night's TV looked set for another humiliating rout. Representing America was the series openers of two titans of medical dramas, Grey's Anatomy and House (Five), both slick, expensive, glamorous. In the British corner, well, we weren't even putting up the low-budget, lowambition graveyard of resting actors, Holby City. Our contender was Holby Blue (BBC One), a Holby City spin-off. It was like asking a bored patient if they wanted some top- dollar personal attention from a Hollywood star in a nurse's outfit, or a long wait in an NHS corridor next to the vending machine.

But then the competition began. House was up first, and, slowly, my mood of resigned dignity turned to flickers of hope. Was there a chance, just a chance, that the ruling champions were injured, off their game? House, starring Hugh Laurie was - I can't put this any other way - a bit boring. There is some interest in watching Laurie, as Dr House, perfect his American accent, and the character he plays, the genius misanthrope tolerated by the hospital because he's just so darn good at diagnosing illnesses, is scabrous enough to be diverting. But - that's it. This remains a one-man show, which Laurie is unfairly asked to carry without the support of a plot.

Apparently, Dr House needs a team. Why do we know this? Because, over the course of an hour, the same woman came into his office at least seven times, saying: “You need a team.” Dr House often told her “I don't need a team”, but by the end, long after I had shouted at the screen just to give him a damn team, he admitted he needed a team. Then he diagnosed a patient's illness. This was an audacious strategy for what ought to have been a showstopper of a series opener.

Grey's Anatomy was suffering from something pretty bad, too. It was dying of an excess of plot. “Time waits for no one” intoned a solemn narrator at the beginning, and certainly not the viewer. There was no concession to people who, since the last series, needed to catch up on exactly who among this dozen-strong scrum of randy doctors, was sleeping with whom. Instead we launched into enough sensational storylines for a lifetime of B-movies.

A surgeon's fiance died and she spent the episode in shock, refusing to get off the floor. The hospital chief was presented with an ultimatum by his wife, who was leaving him. A dying baby was abandoned, and four teenage girls kept a code of silence about who the mother was. Oh yes, and the hospital was hit by a killer plague. Yes, the plague. In this dizzying whirl, the only thing that kept me from nausea was fixing my eyes on the extraordinarily long face of the actress Sandra Oh.

Taken together, these shows were a masterclass in how not to make a medical drama. Enter, nervously, because no one expected it still to be a contender, Holby Blue. Strictly speaking, this is a police drama, linked to the hospital show Holby City, where some of the storylines and actors overlap, so, for example, most of the action was dominated by the plight of Jac, a doctor accused of murdering a man in Holby City's hospital corridor, now banged up in Holby Blue's cells.

It obviously did not have a team of overpaid Hollywood writers workshopping ideas over wheatgrass shots. But it did have Tony Jordan, elder statesman of British TV, from EastEnders to Life on Mars. And he showed the Yanks what money can't buy: pace. Sure, it had moments as clumsy, absurd and predictable as you'd expect to find on prime-time BBC One. But compared with House and Grey's Anatomy, it rocked along nicely, with moments of light and dark in the right place, the characters perfectly introduced and just the right amount of intrigue seeded. Compared with the American shows, it was amateurish, unsophisticated and old-fashioned. But that never stopped us being good, at least once in a while.

Out of the Box

Oprah Winfrey is cracking British reserve, one man at a time. Perhaps it's not such a stretch to find that our rapidly aging cheeky chappie Jamie Oliver stars as a judge in her new charity show The Big Give, as what the producer called “the adorable” one. But news this week was harder to stomach: Simon Cowell was so overwhelmed by the hormones in the Oprah studio that he - to an audience of millions - paid off the mortgage of a family with a sick child.

I had occasionally wondered when we were going to know that the feminist revolution had ended. I was answered last night, with a sighting of an advert for New Whiskers cat food. Incredibly, radically, uniquely, the human adult giving the mog his chow was... a male. A man in a cat food advert? That's it sisters, you can all go home now.


http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3592639.ece

[All My Shadows]

So, another article about how American TV sucks and how British TV has the ability to cure the common cold. Next.

But to be honest with you, I say to hell with all "fast-paced" action-oriented medical dramas and give me some "Marcus Welby." That's hospital TV at its finest.

[MTSRocks]

Yeah, I'm tired of the Brits and there prestigious attitude towards television. However, I think House is highly overrated, but not essentially for those reasons. And "Grey's Anatomy" has been slacking for a long ass time. Yet, it seems like the Brits never play on an equal footing when comparing there shows. I remember when they were comparing soaps, they put up one of their best, against a bunch of amateurish American soap storytelling.

[Sylph]

When was that? Any links?

[JamesF]

Perhaps from the 2 or 3 selected articles that have been placed on this board but living here I can tell you that is not the case at all. Hell, even the article above was a tongue in cheek take that called out The Royal and Holby City as the out and out crap they are. It was tackling one specific genre because all three series premiered in the same week and was by no means an indictment of American television.

Critics in the UK constantly rave that US television has been on a creative and quality high over the past decade while we have regressed to depending on tired old franchises that have been hobbling along for years. It's predominantly down to the HBO effect. Aside from the odd show, the money isn't here any more to routinely take big risks. Even the biggest BBC period dramas are US co-productions.

I'd enjoy reading comparisons from an American point of view as well but so long as imported shows are relegated to cable, it's not going to be an issue.

[Sylph]

I completely agree with you and with the statements in the article above.

We have regressed, too. Yes, probably several TV shows have taken us several steps froward in the development of TV drama, but I have to say that I think shows like Grey's Anatomy and House are miles behind ER, which was a truly different show than anything else before it. Northern Exposure and St. Elsewhere also were.

I just cannot stand the saccharine and dumb Grey's and I keep wondering what's House about? Apart from Laurie, there's nothing else worthwhile in that show. I loathe the characters of Chase, Foreman and Cameron.

[JamesF]

I agree on both Grey's and House, neither of those shows do anything for me.

I think the main difference is that even if there are still tired US drama, the amount of money ploughed into development overshadows anywhere else in the world. So you have a huge volume of shows that contains both stinkers and fresh ideas because the money is there.

Over here, the advertising crunch is even more detrimental because there's less money for development in the first place and we import a lot of the high end American shows. I wouldn't say we produce anymore than 2 or 3 good quality drama ideas a year these days. Max.

[All My Shadows]

I'm pretty much tired of all American dramas. The only one I still truly enjoy is "Friday Night Lights," but that's definitely not one of the ratings winners. I just don't like how extremely formulaic the whole landscape is. There's the whole police/crime drama formula, where everything's supposed to be "gritty" and "realistic" and "dark." That's your CSIs, and your L&Os and such. And then there's your medical drama formula, where the doctors are gorgeous and young, there's always some kind of intrigue in the hospital, and there's a major tragedy once a season. There's your "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy" and "House." Then there's the rich people who are nice have problems formula. "Brothers & Sisters" and "Dirty Sexy Money," "Lipstick Jungle" and "Cashmere Mafia." "Desperate Housewives" used to be different, but now it's very similar to the rich people formula.

I wish that there was more variety with the dramas. I'd love it if there were two or three western-themed series, some family dramas, maybe another teen drama, some crime dramas that aren't so damn serious (of the Aaron Spelling brand, I mean). I'd love a show like "The Love Boat" on the air, but the stars today are too full of themselves for something like that.

[MTSRocks]

I went back and re-read it, and yes I did misinterpret the article. So, you're right.

[Sylph]

MTS, do you have a link to that British critique of American soaps?

[Sylph]

Yes, tons of money are injected into development. Even lesser known writers have million-dollar deals (e.g. DH's Alexandra Cunningham has a hefty deal). Every CSI spinoff head writer has a major deal. Rob Thomas has an $8m deal. And I'm sure you've heard about J. J. Abrams's insane $55+m overall deal (it involves film more than TV, though). And so on... Basically, everyone has a deal.

I'm sure the strike wiped many contracts, but certainly there are survivors.

[MTSRocks]

Sorry Sylph I don't have the link. I'll look around and see if I can find the article though.

[JamesF]

Was it a YouTube link? I seem to remember a satirical show over here doing a comparison between EastEnders and Passions. Suffice to say, Passions didn't come off well.

Very true. You don't get that over here -- only for overrated actors on ITV and they've stopped the process because it never ever works out. That's why we have the likes of Tony Jordan jumping from EastEnders to doing Hustle to Echo Beach for ITV and back to Ashes to Ashes again. He's completely overrated tho IMO.

As an interesting sidenote I saw a review of Love Soup in The Guardian where the TV critic slammed it for it's "irritating jazzy soundtrack and how small and British it all feels (and I mean both in the worst possible way)." Which is ironic in a way because I absolutely love that show.

[MTSRocks]

I believe that was it. They also juxtaposed between a hostage crisis from one of their soaps, to that of a hostage situation on The Bold & the Beautiful where Sheila is holding Eric Forrester and Taylor at gun point.

[Sylph]

Oh, if it's the YouTube clip, then I've seen it!!

Wait, I didn't understand this properly, I believe: you're saying Tony is jumping from one show to the other because of money... Or? I.e. because he gets more money or because the shows he works on receive more and can thus invest more in day-to-day production and development?

And yes, I didn't like him all that much, either.