As an actual M.D. for 3 decades I'm always very skeptical about any "medical" drama on TV.
I remember an old TV show (Quincy M.E.) where the "doctor" or "medical examiner" was explaining something to his colleague in a Chest X-ray that it was positioned ...upside-down and ...inside-out and I was furious. My old professor of radiology would kick out of his class any student that would do such a thing.
I also remember a French movie with Alain Delon called L'Homme pressé (1977) where Delon's character had cardiac problems and the nurse put the V1 to V6 electrodes in his chest in their correct positions and for the first time I was somehow pleased.
Since then the producers were more careful and they ask (maybe even hire) medical advisers, so their show would have (some) credibility.
The first TV medical drama that looked, in some of its episodes, more realistic for me was E.R.. The late Michael Crichton was an actual MD and his influence was apparent.
Initially I didn't like "House MD" because, despite the fact that a lot of information "sounded" accurate, it was obvious for me that these guys weren't doctors. The way they were "delivering" the facts and their thinking. Anyway with a lot of suspension of disbelief and focusing on entertainment at some point started to watch House until its final episode.
Now! After a (very) long prologue we reached ...pure genius. A 2016's TV series with many similarities with House MD, including ...Odette Annable as a doctor.
What is this about? A silicon valley billionaire decided to build and run a hospital which, like House MD, will accept patients with serious and rare conditions (for free as far as I know).
Well, nothing wrong with that, but here where the pseudo-science and the mambo-jumbo begins. The "medical" technology of this show is Star-Trek ridiculous, like ...A mother communicates with her ...comatose teenager daughter with the help of ...brain helmets to get her out of the coma.
As a show "Pure genius" is not entertaining at all. This isn't House and none of these characters (and they are many) are interesting. And ...who..is the pure genius? Are they talking about the tech billionaire who doesn't know jack-sht about medicine, not to mention how to talk and behave in front of the patients and their families? Or maybe the maverick surgeon played by Dermot Mulroney? Or the protégé with the remote sensors who couldn't understand that the kid who he was monitoring put the sensor in the...dog?
In addition the show relies to much on cheap drama. A lot of "save my daughter" and "save my baby" etc. are making obvious that the producers will place their bets on easy emotions, and easy victories.
The look of the show is OK, minus a lot of ...lens flares and light spills that reminded me of another "medical" drama canceled in its first season "Proof", maybe even some of ...J.J. Abrams's movies.
Overall: Medical inaccuracies and ludicrous technology is not the only problem of this. Someone could argue that this is a "hidden" or "future" technology, but believe you me, as an actual MD I assure you it isn't. It basically relies on cheap medical drama where after the cries and pain, salvation will come and then the hugs and the high-fives. The show is to hasty to let you actually care about any of the patients and the doctors and the staff aren't interesting to watch either.
UPDATE: Despite many 8 to 10 stars reviews that followed mine, the show is canceled. In a way I think I killed it single-handed! It most certainly deserved its fate.
I remember an old TV show (Quincy M.E.) where the "doctor" or "medical examiner" was explaining something to his colleague in a Chest X-ray that it was positioned ...upside-down and ...inside-out and I was furious. My old professor of radiology would kick out of his class any student that would do such a thing.
I also remember a French movie with Alain Delon called L'Homme pressé (1977) where Delon's character had cardiac problems and the nurse put the V1 to V6 electrodes in his chest in their correct positions and for the first time I was somehow pleased.
Since then the producers were more careful and they ask (maybe even hire) medical advisers, so their show would have (some) credibility.
The first TV medical drama that looked, in some of its episodes, more realistic for me was E.R.. The late Michael Crichton was an actual MD and his influence was apparent.
Initially I didn't like "House MD" because, despite the fact that a lot of information "sounded" accurate, it was obvious for me that these guys weren't doctors. The way they were "delivering" the facts and their thinking. Anyway with a lot of suspension of disbelief and focusing on entertainment at some point started to watch House until its final episode.
Now! After a (very) long prologue we reached ...pure genius. A 2016's TV series with many similarities with House MD, including ...Odette Annable as a doctor.
What is this about? A silicon valley billionaire decided to build and run a hospital which, like House MD, will accept patients with serious and rare conditions (for free as far as I know).
Well, nothing wrong with that, but here where the pseudo-science and the mambo-jumbo begins. The "medical" technology of this show is Star-Trek ridiculous, like ...A mother communicates with her ...comatose teenager daughter with the help of ...brain helmets to get her out of the coma.
As a show "Pure genius" is not entertaining at all. This isn't House and none of these characters (and they are many) are interesting. And ...who..is the pure genius? Are they talking about the tech billionaire who doesn't know jack-sht about medicine, not to mention how to talk and behave in front of the patients and their families? Or maybe the maverick surgeon played by Dermot Mulroney? Or the protégé with the remote sensors who couldn't understand that the kid who he was monitoring put the sensor in the...dog?
In addition the show relies to much on cheap drama. A lot of "save my daughter" and "save my baby" etc. are making obvious that the producers will place their bets on easy emotions, and easy victories.
The look of the show is OK, minus a lot of ...lens flares and light spills that reminded me of another "medical" drama canceled in its first season "Proof", maybe even some of ...J.J. Abrams's movies.
Overall: Medical inaccuracies and ludicrous technology is not the only problem of this. Someone could argue that this is a "hidden" or "future" technology, but believe you me, as an actual MD I assure you it isn't. It basically relies on cheap medical drama where after the cries and pain, salvation will come and then the hugs and the high-fives. The show is to hasty to let you actually care about any of the patients and the doctors and the staff aren't interesting to watch either.
UPDATE: Despite many 8 to 10 stars reviews that followed mine, the show is canceled. In a way I think I killed it single-handed! It most certainly deserved its fate.