User Reviews

Finally, some doctors are more interested in medicine than extracurricular activities in the on-call room.

While perhaps not quite delivering on the promise of being "the heir to ER, " Code Black #1.1 certainly delivered high-quality medical stories told at a breakneck pace.

It's impossible to avoid comparisons to the two longest running medical shows, and truthfully, Code Black struck me as something of a love child of those two behemoths. The pacing and the cases presented feel more like ER, while characters with mysterious pasts and medically improbable but touching scenes evoke Grey's Anatomy. Given time, Code Black is on track to establish its own footprint in the genre. It already has a really good foundation to move forward from.

Marcia Gay Harden did an immeasurable job as Dr. Leann Rorish, the doctor tasked with carrying both Angels Hospital Emergency Room and the show centered around it. It is already apparent that she is the star of this show. While I didn't find the "mysterious trauma in her past" to be entirely necessary, it looks to bring great stories to the show if it is not abused. I know it's supposed to make us understand that it's affected her medicine, but I was a little confused about why Neal was still so invested in her tragedy when it happened three years ago. Losing your family is a big deal, but Dr. Neal Hudson (presumably) has his own life, so unless he's sleeping with Leanne, his fixation on her perceived instability is odd. He's not even voicing his concerns out of an attempt at self- advancement...but...I digress.

And thus, so far all we know about Neal is that he was a student of Leanne's and that he's overly invested in her life. He seems like a competent doctor and is obviously the main foil for Leanne. The writers will have to move past the whole idea of Leanne wanting to try something crazy and Neal objecting if the show is going to make it.

The residents (as with basically every medical show) are the audiences entry point into the world of Angels Memorial. They are just as new to everything as we are, and allow for some obvious exposition to occur. All four newbies show promise as characters, with the women standing out.

Malaya Pineda seems to be the most gifted medically (or at least the most experienced with an ER), and Christa Lorenson brings a different experience to the typical medical resident.

The men fall more into stereotypical roles ... a poor little rich boy suffering from low self-esteem and the kid from the school of hard knocks who has had to fight for everything. I'm really looking forward to those two sharing scenes. It's an obvious but relatable conflict, and I can't see the two of them getting along.

The two other doctors featured in the premiere are likable enough, but not very well-developed, which is a shame. If Code Black is to flourish, it will really need to expand the staff of the ER, and eventually the hospital. While I'm not for ripping off other shows entirely, one of ER's strengths (and Grey's weaknesses) was the size of the cast. In addition to casting a deep bench of doctors, the extended support cast really sold the believability of the ER.

Having only one nurse featured is a drawback, especially since we didn't even see Luis Guzman doing anything particularly nurse-like.

Granted, as the head nurse, he may be spending more time on administrative duties than taking temperatures and delivering med. Nurses play a vital role in hospitals. It would be great if the showrunners could find a way to highlight that.

The show struck a good balance between realistic medical portrayals and cutting-edge medicine. I was especially impressed with the skateboarding teenager who ended up having a subdural hematoma. Usually, when a TV patient is going to have a secondary injury like that, it's made to be super obvious, but in this case, I was just as surprised as the doctors when he collapsed.

The meeting between Ariel and the heart recipient at the end stole the show. It brought me to tears, and I am sure it was the case for many others.

Also, one thing that I really LOVED was that the set decorators did a really good job of building a believable inner city ER.

Overall, Code Black showed a lot of promise and kept me engaged for a significant percentage of the episode.

The Code Black pilot is certainly not bad. I have to give it that.

Code Black is set in Los Angeles. We follow the busiest emergency department in the country. The series is about four doctors who have just been hired for this emergency department. We get to see how they learn the tricks of the trade--how they learn to deal with the hectic pace of an emergency department. They are coached by dedicated mentors who train them, but also scare them to death. In the pilot we then see Jesse Sallander (Luis Guzman) introduce himself as 'mamma'. Leanne (Marcia Gay Harden), on the other hand, is being introduced as 'daddy'. One rules with a stern hand and the other with the cloak of love.

Marcia Gay Harden and Luis Guzman are reason enough to give this series a chance. Harden has the ability to play such a role. The role calls for someone who is strict but just. To be an actress who can credibly give a kick in the arse, but can also indicate why the shovel was needed. No, Gay Harden is the right lady for this task. Luis Guzman is again an actor who has proved to be able to handle both dramatic roles and comic roles. He proves that here too. His character brings the balance. Gay Harden and Guzman play 'good cop, bad cop' and that is a plus here.

Which does not mean that the pilot does not here and there eagerly use certain clichés. The points that I just indicated you can also experience as a cliché. The pilot also follows a clear formula that you have often seen as a series enthusiast. In that respect, Code Black is not a series that has immediately distinguished itself. Although, the chaos and hectic pace of the emergency room (when several patients are operated) in Code Black keep your attention. Since this is the theme of the series, it is anticipated that the makers are planning to opt for the same set-up in every episode. The first few times it will be exciting, but after a while, you have also seen this. I am curious if they can keep this information interesting. I think this show has promise. The next step is taking that potential and running with it.

I give the episode a 7.9/10, which, in my rating book is: good.

Code Black opens with a series of events that quickly and efficiently attempt to set this medical drama apart from the others . . . And it wins! Code Black seems to focus on its increasingly manic emergency room, as Angels Memorial sees more than 300 code blacks yearly, whereas the average U.S. hospital sees 5.

In the series first episode, new E.R. residents are introduced, as they often are on this kind of show - in a pack. This episode gradually developed each character rather effectively. I was pleased with the character development and think that it can go places if the writers don't screw it up. We really learn a lot about the main characters in a very subtle way, which is a marvelous way to kick off Code Black, as lack of character development in a series can be a death sentence in my opinion. There's Angus, who has terrific instincts but needs the confidence to trust them.

We can tell already that he is approachable, loyal, and, at times, endearingly wet behind the ears.

Angus invests in relationships both with his patients and with his fellow residents. Then there's Malaya, the whiz kid who can't get any respect from her superior. Malaya is good and she knows it. She ain't letting anyone else tell her otherwise. Thirdly, we meet Mario, who has top-of-the-game medical skills, but could use a little help with his people skills. We learn right off the bat he struggled with drugs, came from a rough neighborhood, and had to claw his way to become who he is now. Next, we meet Christa, the eldest E.R. resident of her class. Christa lost her son, which prompted her to learn everything there was to learn - so much so, the only next step was to become a doctor herself.

There are the attending physicians, of course, and you may not remember their names at this point, but you'll likely recall their faces and central attributes, which is enough for now.

-HOWEVER, Dr. Leanne Rorish really stands out from all the others. We see already that she is painfully fragile and trying her very best to keep it together in her tough work environment. We learn a lot about her in the first episode - so much so I almost wonder if she could be the main character! Nonetheless, I have already fallen in love with her. We have learned that she has lost "everyone," as she explains to Christa, which pieces together how difficult it was to tell Ariel, a patient, that her father has died after an oh-so-tragic car accident. I am eager to see how this arc is developed in season one. It hurts to see her struggle but it is the one thing anyone and everyone can relate to - loss.

I can tell already that Code Black knows when to lurch forward with an emotional tug or hold back with cold reality. It swerves between the lanes of tension and sentimentality and often lands whatever maneuver it sets out to perform. I am certain we will see more of this in each episode, which is great.

Marcia Gay Harden was the perfect choice for Leanne as cast member. She fits in her shoes so well. Then there's Luis Guzman who nimbly steals every scene for which he is present because that's what Luis Guzman does (Luis Guzman, in particular, is an incredible stand-out, there truly are nurses just like him out there). All of these actors, more so than their training counterparts, are great at their jobs and know which buttons to hit and when to do so. The pilot's best scene features a heart-to-heart between Leanne and Christa, and why it's the highlight should be fairly self-explanatory. The Leanne and Jesse friendship is just perfect! I can tell already those scenes will steal the show.

All in all, fantastic start. I am eager to see where we go from here. Superb acting, good story line, great medicine, and fantastic writing. You just earned a #1 fan.

With a stellar cast and an engaging premise, Code Black is addictive from the very beginning. The CBS drama is a fictional adaptation of Ryan McGarry's documentary of the same name, which tells the story of a group of doctors working in the emergency room of the real-life LA County Hospital.

The TV series is set in the same hospital, where the amount of patients being admitted sometimes outnumbers the resources needed to care for them. That situation is called Code Black and, predictably, the show has one in its pilot. But if there are story moments that are expected, none of them feel rote. The fast-paced storytelling required to create a world where it only takes seconds to lose a life allows Code Black to make every moment of its pilot count.

The cast is led by the fantastic Marcia Gay Harden, who is well-deserving of her leading lady status. She plays Leanne Rorish, a residency director at LA County Hospital who lands four new first- year residents. Leanne treats the ER like the wild west and she's its sheriff, and viewers learn in the first episode that a recent tragedy set her on her current path.

Joining her in the ER is Luis Guzman as Jesse Sallander, a senior nurse and Leane's closest confidant, and Raza Jaffrey as Neal Hudson, an ER physician who sees how much Leane has changed and sometimes questions her approach. The trio make a solid core of the series as they lead the newcomers through their high-stakes first day in the ER. As one resident notes in the pilot, he saved one life, but almost caused two deaths - and that's just an average day.

The four first-year residents are Christa Lorenson (Bonnie Somerville), Malaya Pineda (Melanie Chandra), Angus Leighton (Harry M. Ford) and Mario Savetti (Benjamin Hollingsworth). Though all of them have time to make an impression in the pilot, it's clear that Christa -- an older resident who has her own sad personal story -- is the one audiences are meant to respond most to.

It's easy to see how these characters will weave together to make a procedural as consistently interesting and engaging as CBS's other flagship dramas. Though some of the notes the pilot hits are a bit familiar, the cast's great performances and the real-life backbone of the series keep it grounded.

Code Black breezes through its pilot, and it barely gives the audience a chance to catch its breath as the show moves from story beat to story beat. Given the series' concept, it shouldn't be an issue for Code Black to maintain that level of intensity during the course of its first season. But the show also shouldn't forego character and story development for the sake of an adrenaline-filled hour, and also could be a bit more subtle when hitting some of those emotional moments.

What Code Black could and should do to set itself apart from other medical dramas of its kind is offer some sort of critique of the medical system. The Code Black documentary delves into some of the many problems the LA County Hospital deals with in regards to needing to turn patients away and dealing with extended ER wait times, and the TV series could easily touch on the same difficulties. The CBS drama proves in its pilot that it's prepared to deal with the real-life issues doctors and nurses face in the emergency room with honesty, so it should go that extra step to be more than just an addictive medical procedural.

Code Black is the perfect show for CBS's drama line-up: it's fast-paced, has great performances, and by the end of the pilot, you're hooked. Its biggest problem could be sustaining this fast-paced momentum, but that also could be its greatest strength; when you're spending most of your episode speeding through intense medical cases, your character and story development better be very deliberate.

The verdict: A good start. A solid 8.5/10.

Coming from a teen boy, I watched this with my family, and this quickly became our show to watch as a family. It is a great show and I highly recommend. I do not watch any other medical shows (or really any TV shows to be honest) but this is the one that I do watch. The first episode was intense and, at times, emotional, but I must say I am here for the emotional thrill ride. There is a lot that goes on and it is a great edge-of-your-seat experience for everyone to enjoy. Although I do not have a point of comparison for other television shows, I do have to say that this is definitely something out of the ordinary. Give the show a chance. I enjoyed the show from the beginning, but, for the few other shows that I do watch, I usually wait until 3-5 episodes to decide if I like it or not. Code Black DEFINITELY peaks by episode 3 and follows and up-hill swing from there, so if you are a little indecisive on whether or not you like it...just wait. The pilot is not exactly an indication of more of the same. The show does get better but I still do believe it starts strong.

Anyways it's a good show :)

Code Black is all about controlled chaos. Angels Memorial Hospital is frantic, intense and overwhelming. With an influx of patients so great, there often aren't enough resources to treat them - a situation known as "code black" - there's no time for hooking up in the on-call room. An attending even tells two bickering docs, "If nobody's taking their clothes off, I need you both on the floor now."

Before you chime in with your thoughts on the anti-Grey's Anatomy series, here's a recap of the pilot: An average ER is in "code black" five times a year. Angels Memorial hits code black 300 times a year. That immediately sets the tone as a batch of first-year residents are greeted by senior nurse Jesse Sallander, who calls himself "mama" because there is nothing that happens at the hospital that he doesn't know about.

If Jesse is mama, "daddy" is residency director Dr. Leanne Rorish, who is something of a rebel risk-taker. After an accident three years ago, she became fueled by rage, making her a renegade who has since been investigated four times and has more dropouts than any residency director. She exudes tough love, and no one is more on the receiving end of it than resident Christa Lorenson. Christa's younger colleague Mario Savetti puts his foot into his mouth more than once on the topic of age.

Christa hesitates a lot, but when she decides to step up and ignore orders, Dr. Rorish fires her. However, her instincts about her pregnant patient prove correct: After discovering the woman passed out at home from carbon monoxide poisoning, Christa must perform an emergency C-section in an ambulance while Dr. Rorish instructs her over the phone...while drilling burr holes into a patient's head! Needless to say, the resident gets her job back.

The heroic save leads to a bonding moment as Christa reveals that she lost her son to cancer, which is why she decided to go into medicine. "Tragedy either softens you or hardens you," she says. "Who'd you lose?" "Everyone," Dr. Rorish simply replies.

As for the other residents, there's the aforementioned Mario, who used to be a drug addict; quiet but confident Malaya Pineda; and Angus Leighton, a genial guy with a superstar doctor brother and a father who serves on the hospital's board. Looking for something more exciting than psychiatry, Angus asked his dad to get him into the residency program, but now he's not sure if he can pass Dr. Rorish's test. Also overseeing the ER - and occasionally butting heads with Rorish - is the by-the-books Dr. Neal Hudson.

I have long been craving a serious medical drama along the lines of ER during its heyday. While Code Black isn't quite up to par yet, the premiere shows a lot of promise with a strong sense of urgency and environment.

Is it sometimes too much? Yes. But who's to say real-life hospitals aren't? The true test in the coming episodes will be if the characters can pop beyond just being archetypes. (Toning down lines like, "You're the doctor they want. I'm the doctor they need," would help.)