Saturday, June 03, 2006

On medical dramas and comedies

Okay, a couple of weeks ago we had the finale of series two of Green Wing, which I know some of you hated/didn't get, but which - so help me - I winced and laughed like a drain at on a regular basis. Now it seems that there will be a Christmas Special according to a Guardian Guide report based on remarks from this blog (he's one of the writers). As long as Mac's in it, I really don't care. At least kill him off dramatically, surrealisticly - riding into the sunset on his moody motorbike just doesn't cut it.

Anyway, last night we sat down to watch the first few episodes of Scrubs Season 1 on DVD. Damn, I really really like that series. And though it seems as if it may have sagged recently (scroll down for 'not-quite-a-spoiler-alert' from Medium Rob), I'm looking forward to watching the rest of season 1 and then probably getting hold of the other series too. And I still want to properly watch the tearbursting genius of John C. McGinley in a particular episode from the last UK-aired season. Anna, you know which one I mean.

I'm also, unsurprisingly, a bit of a House addict. Although I loved Blackadder, and have fond younger memories of Fry and Laurie, I never really got into the whole Jeeves and Wooster thang so the shift of Laurie's voice to an American-ish accent wasn't really a problem for me (lord knows that half the Guardian staff are still hung up on that - I take it as a further sign of her genius that the adorable Nancy Banks-Smith doesn't appear to be one of them). Anyway, House is a cantankerous genius. Just the way I like them. Now reading Medium Rob's post (as mentioned above - though no need to scroll) I'm not sure how far behind the current Five episodes are with regard to a finale, but I'm interested in how they will deal with a threat to a major character.

Which brings me to Grey's Anatomy. Medium Rob calls it pants. Well, I can see where he's coming from. Certainly the urge to smack bloody Meredith Grey across the face with a large supply of wet kippers is big with me (how could we tell? can she emote?). But Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey gets tons of great sarky lines and T.R. Knight as George O'Malley has the perfect amount of Xander-esque dorky charm. So laziness on a Thursday night has led GA to appeal to me. Just shoot me (another show I think only I actually liked).

Which brings me to the big bad god of medical TV, E.R.

I just don't care anymore. I'm sorry. Over the years I have laughed and loved the characters, but its dedication to the realities (PAH!) that people die and move on and come back and travel the world and have babies and save the world and have political intrigues and oh so help me I JUST DON'T CARE!!!!

Okay, I'm off to eat.

See ya after part one of the Who. Possibly. If I'm not behind the sofa.

3 comments:

Marie said...

Oh, I love ER the best by far, of the dramas at least (hard to compare with the fabulous Green Wing as the only thing they have remotely in common is the set.) It's probably because it's as soapy as Grey's, the action is faster and there are fewer irritating characters. (House not soapy enough for me.) Though it's true, the last few series before this one have been a bit below par - the all time worst being the notorious Abby's Family Are All Bonkers season (please never repeat it, please). But this series has been a real return to form, especially any scenes with Clemente or Morris, two characters which have immediately hit the top of my all-time favourites list. And both of whom appear to be leaving next series. So I was going to say, give it another try, but actually, thinking about it again, I'm not so sure.

Anonymous said...

The UK has about three episodes to go before the finale of House. It was the first episode of the 'Euphoria' two-parter on Thursday, wasn't it? That was episode 42, the finale is episode 46 according to TV.com.

Anna Lowman (annawaits) said...

I really did know which episode of Scrubs you meant, even without clicking the link!