I Think We Have An Emergency

What can be said about the three new hospital dramas that debuted this fall? Mercy, Three Rivers and Trauma have aired to less than impressive ratings and less than favoured reviews. There was a big gap left in NBC’s schedule after ER ended; it was a mainstay in the schedule for 15 seasons. It puzzled me that NBC went for both Trauma and Mercy but hey, I’m no network exec.

I’ve watched all three of these dramas and in the case of Mercy and Trauma; I’ve already stopped watching them. With Mercy, I lasted 3 episodes and 5 minutes of episode 4. My problem with this show was that I just didn’t care. I didn’t care that one of them had issues since returning from war. I couldn’t sympathise with her or understand her to any extent. I found Michelle Trachtenberg’s character a bore and more annoying than her character in Buffy and I never thought that could ever be possible. I couldn’t find a character to route for and the storylines were boring. The show has been picked up for a full season.

What can I say about Trauma? A quote from my mother sums it up “Trauma is traumatic to watch.” The last episode I watched had someone being electrocuted, another guy’s arm cut off and a guy falling on something that went straight through his body. The show seems to be intent on finding ways to try and gross people out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t get grossed out easily, I’ve seen four of the Saw films and will watch the latest. I don’t mind watching things like this on film, but I don’t want to see this week in and week out. It wouldn’t be such a bad problem if there was a storyline, some character development, anything to keep people interested. it seems like a mini-movie with no plot and just an aim to see how much they can spend on effects.

News came this week that NBC was to air 13 episodes but it was as good as cancelled. Someone mentioned that it would at least give it time to wrap up storylines, what storylines?

This then moves me on to Three Rivers, which I'm still watching. This is a very slow paced show and even with a storyline about a bus crash, it's still failed to ignite anything in this show. For a couple of episodes, ratings for this show haven’t been helped by extended football games but that is no excuse. The slow paced drama has one thing over the over two - three actors with a fan base. Alex O'Loughlin, Alfre Woodard and Katherine Moennig are probably keeping some viewers watching despite the show itself. In some ways, that's probably part of the reason I'm still watching it. All three of them have been part of shows that I've watched (Moonlight, Desperate Housewives and Young Americans). I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen, I'm just not sure what it is yet.

I have yet to hear of anyone with the opinion that they think Three Rivers or Trauma will get a second season. I'm not looking for an ER replacement, as I stopped watching it for the last few seasons that were aired. I just think that with medical dramas, there should be a good balance between the medicine, the characters, the story within the episode and the story within the season. I don't want a snooze fest either, just a well-written drama.

Fav Scene of the Week - Oct 25th 09

I have to say that at first, The Middle sort of passed me by. I was watching but not immediately blown away like Modern Family but I also wasn't turned off like Hank. Episode 4 was the make or break episode for me and it made me take notice of how funny this show is.

I love the character Brick and I could have easily picked one of his scenes but I went with Frankie and Sue.

Fav Scene of The Week - Oct 18th 09

One of my possible choices was Miranda Bailey's crossover from Grey's Anatomy to Private Practice. Her first scene reminded my why she is one of my favourite characters.

Instead I picked a scene with Sheldon and Raj from The Big Bang Theory. It could be seen as childish but this has me laughing every time I see it.



I do have to make a special mention to a scene from Modern Family regarding a certain song, In the Moonlight. This song has been in my head since seeing the episode and I've even purchased it off iTunes. I've included the scene from the show and an extended version of the song.

Fav Scene of The Week - Oct 11th 09

There were a number of candidates which were all comedies. I'm yet to find something that caught my eye in a dramatic sense, though Brother and Sisters did fly near the radar.
Possible candidates were the plane flying scene from Modern Family and Sue's Monologue from Glee. I chose a scene from The Office instead. It would have been easy for me to pick the wedding dance but I decided to chose a different dance involving Andy.

Heroes...Going, Going, Gone

So it finally happened and I joined the other millions that have done the same thing. I have officially dumped Heroes. After avoiding watching the season opener for nearly two weeks, I finally sat down to watch the double episode. Day after day I had put this episode to the back of the queue watching everything else that had been aired in between. Yesterday I finally decided to just sit down and watch but only because there was nothing left to watch.

I found myself pausing constantly as I was getting bored, I just couldn't find myself interested. Halfway through the first episode, I went to get myself a drink and I had a brief chat with my mother. She had stop watching the show two episodes away from the end of last season. She asked me why I was flogging a dead horse and that it's not a new show so I shouldn't give it the same chance I was giving those (I adopted a policy if giving the new shows 3 episodes to get me interested). It got me thinking about the time I originally wanted to stop watching it until now. Two seasons and it still hasn't got any better. I got to the end of the first episode and rolled my eyes at the thought of trying to watch another two and that's when I made the decision to finally break up with the show.

I would have placed money on one of the new shows being the first to drop off my TV guide but I was wrong. It was a long time coming and I mentioned it in a post a couple of months ago. The quality of the show has declined as fast as the viewing figures and it should be given it's marching orders (as mentioned in my cancellation predictions). On Monday Trauma, which starts straight after Heroes, got more viewers (5.49m compared to 5.41m though Heroes had a better figure with the 18-49 demo).

I mean there's even a Twitter campaign to get people to stop watching it. I as well as millions of others have said goodbye to Heroes and so should NBC.

Fav Scene of The Week - Oct 4th 09

Every week I will be posting a clip of my favourite scene/s of the TV week whether they be comedic or dramatic. This week I've picked one that was funny but not from a comedy show. There were a couple of scenes from Cougar Town and Modern Family but I chose one from FlashForward instead. The scene involves Courtney B. Vance and Joseph Fiennes talking about Vance's character's flashfoward.



It was nice to see something so light-hearted in what is billed as a drama.