Our hero is an emergency room doctor who was fired after a bum rap where he had two heart patients under treatment, and one (a rich patron of the hospital) died while he attended the second.
In an attempt to cheer him up, his brother takes him to the Hamptons for a party weekend. Accidental patients pop up despite his resistance to become involved as a 'private physician to the rich', and finally he gives in and agrees to stay in the area. He winds up agreeing partly because his other job opportunities appear to be blocked off for the time being, and because a local hospital administrator convinces him that he can help take some of the pressure from the local hospital staff, who are often beset by minor problems from rich and demanding people.
The show was amusing, sexy, and seemingly well informed. I don't know what the market really is for private physicians, but whether or not it exists, this show sold the possible concept acceptably.
So far, only a couple of episodes have seemed a bit flat. Most are lively and deal with medical issues that aren't so far fetched as those on House, for example. The show where the brothers agreed to accompany a rich family to a private island was a hoot, and my favorite to date.
Of course, the success of the show in the long term will depend on their ability to come up with a couple of medical problems per show that aren't repetitive or trite, or making the Doc look like too much of an unbelievable miracle worker at a house call. This will be a more challenging writing puzzle than a hospital based medical show, or the standard murder mystery fair that USA has also been quite successful with.
Follow up note: The writers seem to have reached the balance I mentioned a year ago. The season opening episode this year about the problems with the infomercial businessman was amusing, interesting, and dramatic, and the medical mystery involving him was also interesting and made sense at the end. My wife and I both continue to enjoy this show, and it is one of the few that the DVR is set to record all new episodes in the series.
In an attempt to cheer him up, his brother takes him to the Hamptons for a party weekend. Accidental patients pop up despite his resistance to become involved as a 'private physician to the rich', and finally he gives in and agrees to stay in the area. He winds up agreeing partly because his other job opportunities appear to be blocked off for the time being, and because a local hospital administrator convinces him that he can help take some of the pressure from the local hospital staff, who are often beset by minor problems from rich and demanding people.
The show was amusing, sexy, and seemingly well informed. I don't know what the market really is for private physicians, but whether or not it exists, this show sold the possible concept acceptably.
So far, only a couple of episodes have seemed a bit flat. Most are lively and deal with medical issues that aren't so far fetched as those on House, for example. The show where the brothers agreed to accompany a rich family to a private island was a hoot, and my favorite to date.
Of course, the success of the show in the long term will depend on their ability to come up with a couple of medical problems per show that aren't repetitive or trite, or making the Doc look like too much of an unbelievable miracle worker at a house call. This will be a more challenging writing puzzle than a hospital based medical show, or the standard murder mystery fair that USA has also been quite successful with.
Follow up note: The writers seem to have reached the balance I mentioned a year ago. The season opening episode this year about the problems with the infomercial businessman was amusing, interesting, and dramatic, and the medical mystery involving him was also interesting and made sense at the end. My wife and I both continue to enjoy this show, and it is one of the few that the DVR is set to record all new episodes in the series.