Sunday, September 09, 2007

Medicine or Sex Soap?


I don't watch much network TV--most nights if I have time for entertainment at all, I watch a movie or read. The other night, however, I had the TV on while I was doing some work on the computer and I was frankly stunned at what I heard.

And then a friend and I were talking about how medical shows have changed. Do you remember Ben Casey? Dr. Kildare? Marcus Welby? Those shows were about medicine, about illness, about doctors making people better.

But today, look at most medical shows. HOUSE seems to be a bit of an exception, but I hear that Gray's Anatomy, Scrubs, and even ER are now more about who is sleeping with whom than about the sick people and their recovery. Am I mistaken, or is this a fair assessment?

I have found one new show that I really like. Maybe I like it because I'm on a CIA kick at the moment, but I really like BURN NOTICE, a new summer series on USA. It's about a spy who gets "burned" (fired) from his agency, and he has no idea who burned him. The main character, Michael Westin, is cool, smart, and very dry-witted. And he has a meddling mother and brother who keep his life off-balance and interesting. :-) I like the show because right now, at least, it's more about spying than sleeping around. Let's hope it stays that way.

Anyway, just my little rant for the day. I'll climb off my soapbox now.

~~Angie

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i totally agree!
jan

Dianne said...

Yeah, don't you hope if you're in the hospital being treated for something serious, that the attending physicians and nurses are actually focused on you and not on the next relationship with whoever else is in the room!! For this very reason, I can't watch these kind of shows (actually don't want much but especially not this kind of stuff).

Leslie said...

I loved Grey's Anatomy, but then in the last season, I realized that more and more that it was a soap opera than anything. Pretty much turned my stomach. I'll probably still tune in every once in awhile...nah probably won't.

Haven't watched ER since they killed of Doctor Green...and that was I don't know how many years ago, but even then-it was really more about the relationships then medicene.

And YES, House is much different from other medical shows. I've actually been suprised and thrilled at some of their story lines (because they've hit close to home)...the last half of last season the main B-storyline seemed to be the relationship between two characters, but it wasn't the main focus of the show....except for an episode where they got so wrapped up in each other and there were consequences to their patient. Of course, House's attitude is what turns a lot of people away from the show.