Filipinos are suckers for good TV shows. Whether it is an
old fashioned telenovela, a Pacman bout or a nice movie on the local TV channel,
Pinoys have always been fond of watching the characters and the story unfold in
every show.
Although local TV networks offer a wide selection of TV
series that feature local stars in a typical Filipino setup, a lot of Filipinos
are still looking for fresher and more unique stories to satisfy their hunger
for something new and original. Among the multitude of TV series genres
available to the public, are medical themed shows, which have grown in number
in the past years.
Here are a few examples of on-going shows that feature
doctors, nurses and other members of the medical field.
ROYAL PAINS. Royal
Pains is a TV series that talks about Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstien), a young ER
doctor from New York who, after losing his job finds himself amidst the world
of concierge medicine in the Hamptons. By
his side is his younger brother Evan who helps him in marketing his new found
profession to rich clientele.
The show is produced by USA Network and has for about three
seasons now and is now headed to its fourth season with a fan base of over 7
million viewers.
SAVING HOPE. Saving
Hope is a Canadian Medical/Supernatural TV drama created by Malcolm MacRury and
Morwyn Brebner for CTV Television Network. The show is set in Hope Zion
Hospital, a fictional medical center in Toronto and talks about the lives of
Dr. Charles Harris (Michael Shank) who ends up in coma after him and his wife
Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) gets involved in a car accident.
He then wonders the rooms and hallways of the hospital in
astral form, observing the things that are happening to his wife and his colleagues
as he fights to keep himself and HOPE alive.
Although the show had the highest number of viewers for its
pilot episode for the summer of 2012, the show has received mixed reviews from
critics, saying that the series is a little bit unoriginal and looks very much
like other medical dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy.
NURSE JACKIE.
Nurse Jackie is an American Medical Drama/Comedy series on Showtime that
premiered in June 2009. It talks about a drug addicted nurse – Jackie Peyton
(played by Eddie Falco) as she struggles with his job as an ER nurse and her
personal problems.
In its four season run, the show has received rave reviews
from critics and viewers. And on top of that, Nurse Jackie has received several
nominations from prestigious award giving bodies such as the Golden Globe,
Screen Actors Guild and the Primetime Emmys.
HOUSE, M.D. Hugh
Laurie plays the unconventional medical genius that is Dr. Gregory House in Fox’s
House M.D.
The show focuses on puzzling medical cases that House and
his team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching
Hospital encounters on a day to day basis and how House uses unconventional
medical theories and practices to cure the patient.
The show is now on its eighth and final season and has
received numerous awards and nominations from award giving bodies like the
Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy and a Peabody award for the show and its cast.
GREY’s ANATOMY.
Grey’s Anatomy is one the longest running medical drama TV series today. It
stars Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey and Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek
Shepard. The show basically deals about the lives of doctors and their patients
in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.
Created by Shonda Rhimes for ABC, Grey’s Anatomy is a
medical drama that focuses more on the doctor’s characters rather than the
medical cases that they encounter. The show has also garnered a massive fan
base with each season’s number of viewers reaching the 10-20 million mark.
Grey’s Anatomy has also had its fair share of prestige, with
the show and its cast receiving 25 Primetime Emmy nominations, 10 Golden Globe
nominations, several People’s Choice Awards nominations and a few more from
NAACP Image Awards.
