Imagine this: a hospital, staffed with attractive doctors and nurses who spend equal time gossiping and treating patients. Sounds like most of the other female-led doctor television shows that have hit the airwaves recently, (The Mindy Project and The Mob Doctor). Premiered Oct. 16, Emily Owens M.D. on the CW Network does little to set itself apart from the pack. The theme is clich?(c)d and overused-a fresh batch of interns thrown into a competitive hospital setting where many comparisons can be made to the dynamics of high school. Cue the strict attending physician, heartfelt interaction with a patient and a sexy coworker, like a less entertaining, more awkward version of Grey's Anatomy.
Soft-spoken, nervous Emily Owens (Mamie Gummer) starts off the series at her first day of work as an intern in a Denver hospital. Within minutes, I was cringing at her bizarre, verging-on-illegal verbal sparring match with a teenaged girl on the street-whose high school is strangely right next door to the hospital entrance. The convenient placement of a high school next to the hospital is questionable, pointing to the implicit high school themes that run the show. Owens is accompanied by Will Collins (Justin Hartley), her friend from medical school and secret crush, and Cassandra Kopelson (Aja Naomi King), her high school enemy.
Collins is a deceptive heartthrob, spinning webs of friendship around Owens' uncomfortable and desperate crush. Owens also deals with Kopelson, whose sole purpose on the show is making Owens' life as an intern a living hell, such as by bringing up her embarrassing high school nickname, Pits (due to her nervous sweating habit).
I don't know whether to laugh at Owen's pitiful situation or feel empathetic towards her. And then there are the nurses, whose storylines seem so unnecessarily cruel. Fitting with the high school theme, they are the nosy girls who spread rumors faster than fire and make it their mission to create complete disorder in the school. I have a hard time accepting M.D. as a dramatic television show-which it claims to be-when the behavior of the characters is so immature.
The episodes are also semi-narrated by Owen's stream of consciousness, and throughout the entire show, I couldn't help but draw comparisons between it and Grey's Anatomy. But M.D. lacks the spark and excitement in one episode that Grey's has kept alive for nine seasons. M.D. is high school in scrubs. If Owens was capable of getting through medical school, why can't she stop obsessing over a boy or stand up for herself against bullies? When I watch Grey's, I am absorbed by not only the dramatic plot twists but also the characters themselves. Even in the M.D. pilot episode, there is no clear emotional tie created for the viewer with any of the characters. Emily's role as the high school pariah is emphasized by the minimal development of the supporting characters because she isolated socially. Clearly, everything centers upon the show's namesake, and it is boring to watch.
But to be fair, Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep's eldest daughter, is quite an actress. Having seen her in The Good Wife and the short-lived show Off The Map, Gummer has a wide range of character expression, and regardless of M.D.'s utter failings, she can act. The best scenes of the pilot episode are of her interactions with a sick little girl, talking in pre-teen terms about boys and love. Maybe it is just good genes, but Gummer deserves a better role than the 'Sexy Doctor Show' stereotype.
The only way I anticipate myself watching this show would be in hope of weaning myself off of Grey's after hearing so many rumors of its demise after this season. Hospital-themed TV shows do have an inherent appeal and attract viewers (myself included), but I don't think M.D. has the provocative-and-entertaining-yet-intelligent appeal to make it a success. So, nice try CW, but the only thing successful about this show is Emily herself.