Moonlightaholics

I actually like medical dramas, and I'll be back.

A few observations:

I was a huge fan of the early days of the all-time best medical drama, ER. There was a fair amount of gallows humor and snark woven in with the pathos that evened it out. And House has made medical drama skew far out on the cynicism/snark scale. And we as a society are more cynical than 25-20 years ago.

The transplant world may be different, but I would guess the nature of transplant work calls for considerably less snark, and on the screen it translated into . . . just a bit too earnest. Hopefully this will be tweaked and a nice balance will be struck between tenderness, care and hope, and cynicism and angst. This balance is the root of a successful medical show, I believe.

And although I could look at Alex all day, the director did overdo it with the closeups. You don't have to sell us on his sex appeal. We've found it all by ourselves. Just tell the story. When George Clooney was on ER, he didn't get any more screen time or lip-biting shots than anyone else.

Loved Ms. Moening. A very interesting woman to watch.

Mr. Henney, please enunciate. E. Nun. See. Ate.

Alfre Woodard is a beautiful woman. And a commanding presence.

Marina Sirtis as the donor's wife! What a lovely surprise! Old. Star Trek:The Next Generation fan here.

Okay, this is just how I feel about the show. You can throw all you want!! I found it to be boring, poorly acted and a little silly. It felt very contrived and pretentious to me. Yes, I do happen to like medical dramas, but I won't be watching this one again. Very disappointing. I also hated the zoom shots of Andy, that was very amateurish. Thanks, but no thanks on this one!!!!


mitzie

Well, I liked it well enough to keep watching. The cast was generally likable, but to be honest I think the one who grabbed me the most was guest star Owiso Odera. I really hope they continue with his story, although something tells me they're setting us up to love him to increase the impact later because he's ultimately not going to make it. I sure hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see him become a recurring character.

That being said, there are two things that I'm struggling with. The first is that so far they've made Dr. Andy more of a Saint Andy. He has no apparent flaws and is almost too perfect. He's supposedly the best surgeon, with a great sense of humor and a heart of gold. The rest of the cast seems more human, with visible flaws and failings.

The other problem is with the liberties they are apparently taking with the medical realities they are trying to depict. They tell us that there are over 100,000 people on the transplant waiting list and then the patient-of-the-week gets a heart in a matter of hours. I don't think so. I was willing to suspend disbelief on the size of the 28-week baby that was delivered (I know preemies are hard to portray), but it was beyond ridiculous that someone would wake up from a heart transplant and immediately be able to talk and laugh the way she did. At the very least she would have been intubated and most likely would have remained on a respirator for some time.

I understand it comes down to telling a good story with a satisfying conclusion, but this show claims to be all about getting the word out and realistically portraying organ transplantation. What they offered here, in terms of medical "reality," was a mixture of science fiction and fairy tale -- and that's what bothered me the most.

That bothered me too about the woman getting the heart before all the other people who've probably been on the list for a long time. My understanding was that she could have lived for a little while with her heart. The operation to put that device inside her would have helped too. It just made me go "Wait...a minute." It wasn't a life or death situation, but what about her blood type, is that what made her a first place candidate?

The show starts here on the West coast in 3 minutes. I really appreciate the candid comments.

I liked it, a lot, which actually surprised me because I don't like much on network TV and nothing on CBS. I liked the humor, and I liked that the doctors were competent and caring but still down-to-earth and no-nonsense. The character death that was required to give life to the woman was, I thought pitch perfect, sad but not depressing.

I'm looking forward to next week.

wondergirl9847 wrote:That bothered me too about the woman getting the heart before all the other people who've probably been on the list for a long time. My understanding was that she could have lived for a little while with her heart. The operation to put that device inside her would have helped too. It just made me go "Wait...a minute." It wasn't a life or death situation, but what about her blood type, is that what made her a first place candidate?

They are apparently a number of this to be considered in matching candidates -- blood type is just one of the factors. Yet, that was all they mentioned, and O-negative just isn't that uncommon.

I never thought I would say this but, I'm not hating it. In fact, I kept wanting to see what happened next.

Bit of awkward editing at the beginning made the first scene with Dr Y seem stilted. But production wise I loved all the colour, wish they'd stop with the zoom because they don't need it, the lighting was terrific and the visuals were glossy- loved the triple screen effect before the commercials and the extreme close-ups of everyone added to the intimacy. I found the pacing just right- from the dashing around at the beginning to the more contemplative moments of conversation.

All the actors were terrific. There's already a clear ongoing delineating of characters. Alex is terrific at the bedside manner; I guess he'll be happy to know I don't see any Mick in him. He's a steady presence and palpably compassionate (and a looker). Loved Kate M.- a revelation, a strong female lead. Daniel H as well, who seemed to slide easily into his character. The peerless Alfre needs no words (okay, thank god it wasn't the untalented Julia). The Ethiopian guy was total grace. Actually, everyone was good. And no one came across as a 90210 actor.

I wasn't sure how they could interweave the stories but they seemed seamless to me; didn't expect this much tension either. The scenes with Marina Sirtis just seemed so real, and I cried when the family finally let Mahmoud go. The kid and his Pica was an interesting forensic twist, a la "House".

This is not a cynical show. The last line certainly says it all- it's about hope. TR is portrayed as an island of light in a very dark and grim universe, especially the tv universe. Personally, it's a relief to have a show that is not all edgy ambiguous, dark and non-committal, cheating us of satisfying resolution, nor one about some lovable bastard who has almost no redeeming features yet everyone puts up with him and his puppy dog eyes because he's a genius (no it's not Polanski). Three Rivers is a show where the people strongly stand for something (and where I expect moral dilemmas along the way), where they stand for life. Just like Mick. No wonder Alex chose TR.

My appetite's been whetted- the characters were interesting enough that I'm dying to see them more, see them interact more. I am completely surprised by all of this. I was prepared to be bored out of my skull. But I can't wait to see what happens next.

PS Still missing the bodysuits tho!

ETA: Ooooh, and nice visual metaphor- cut from newborn raised aloft, to heart raised aloft.

I wasn't expecting it to be great and I wasn't disappointed....it wasn't great. I will watch again because I'm hoping I will find something to make it special, whether that's better writing, character's back story, etc. Some of you say it was frantic. I didn't think so (especially watching ER for several years in its heyday). I thought it was slow and kind of boring. I became impatient with it. If it wasn't for Alex I would have flipped the channel. But it wasn't horrible and there was some drama but it didn't seem terribly realistic.

I think the potential for the characters is what's keeping me interested.

Alex did reasonably well. But I think I found Kate's and the blonde's guy's character more interesting. Dr. Andy came off VERY calm and sensitive. He got to do a few quirky moves but not near enough to make his character that interesting......yet.

They need tons of character development because I just can't see someone giving up a heart and someone needing a heart to be that explosively moving. And they have to do that every week, so it's going to get old fast.

Even though I liked the sets -- they were super cool -- it really was quite unrealistic. I couldn't help quip to myself, "So is this what we are going to get under the new healthcare program?" Even the construction site the man died on looked really fake. Didn't like the hand-held camera at times either. But I think the sets and the graphics did give a certain pizazz to TR that was needed, so they are a good thing, no matter how fake they seem.

All in all I'm not terribly disappointed. I never thought it could possibly hold a candle to Moonlight just by the subject matter alone. I will tune in again for sure to see how Dr. Andy's character is fleshed out. But originally this was episode 2, so I don't know how long it will take to get to the characters.

helloeeze,

I think the characters will be the key. I don't find this gritty but then I wasn't looking for true grit. Just good story-telling, drama, characters, something that touches or entertains me. I don't watch any of the doctor shows so I have no comparison. It got to me on an emotional level because I am not used to seeing people act decently in most TV shows, where hope and compassion hold their own. It did keep my interest, actually, whereas ML didn't until Fever when my BFF forced me to pay attention to Alex. Go figure.

Of course it could be better, I suppose, though I don't know how. I like watching to see how it unfolds, and hope that it keeps me wanting more. Maybe it won't but I hope so. Maybe one day it might even be great. I can't compare it to ML because it would be like comparing apples and oranges. ML was from another plane. Sorry you didn't care for TR.

I don't know about anyone else, but it was actually strange to watch Alex act in this one. For some reason, I wasn't expecting that. Kinda like the Lost characters must feel when the island time-shifts... all jolt-y and surreal. I think because it was a little rough around the edges at the beginning, the effect was more noticeable.

In the end, though, it wasn't as over-the-top as I feared. Either they dialed back the pathos, or the reviews were beyond cynical. They could think a little harder about how to smoothly work in the 'education' part, but other than that, it shows some potential. I do think there's room for some interesting character development. And they're pretty close to figuring out how to pace it and weave in the medical/procedural parts.

It's not Moonlight, but then again, there was no compelling romance/tragedy/instant chemical reaction in this 3R episode... and that's what drew me to Moonlight. But 3R does show potential for snarky, which was the other part of Moonlight that sucked me in.

And it has Alex ... on my TV screen again ... every week . Grace, I'll melt with you ...

HotMicks wrote:I don't know about anyone else, but it was actually strange to watch Alex act in this one. For some reason, I wasn't expecting that. Kinda like the Lost characters must feel when the island time-shifts... all jolt-y and surreal. I think because it was a little rough around the edges at the beginning, the effect was more noticeable.

Yeah, I had that same feeling at the beginning. I think it was the editing. It's like he was acting in a vacuum. The pacing or rhythm was off in the editing, I"m guessing. I never forgot it was Alex but I think that's the ghost of ML neurons firing. I really had no Mick moments, tho. I saw Dr Y.

lafluffy wrote:

HotMicks wrote:I don't know about anyone else, but it was actually strange to watch Alex act in this one. For some reason, I wasn't expecting that. Kinda like the Lost characters must feel when the island time-shifts... all jolt-y and surreal. I think because it was a little rough around the edges at the beginning, the effect was more noticeable.

Yeah, I had that same feeling at the beginning. I think it was the editing. It's like he was acting in a vacuum. The pacing or rhythm was off in the editing, I"m guessing. I never forgot it was Alex but I think that's some leftover ML neurons firing. I really had no Mick moments, tho. I saw Dr Y.

Maybe that was it... I'll have to watch again ( ). It could be the editing, because the camera work was bugging me at certain points (it got in the way).

And I did have ONE Mick moment... the same one many others had, apparently: the donut scene. He went at the donut in the same way... it was funny - Alex's signature 'thing' is inhaling donuts.

HotMicks, I agree. The "message" was a little heavy-handed at times (do people really think doctors won't try to save them just so they can grab their organs?) but I thought the scene with the donor family saying goodbye was really touching.

For me the opening was strong - I liked the interaction among the team and some of that got lost later on as the separate storylines took over. I especially liked Andy and Pam and hope to see a lot more of that. I liked Kate Moennig and Alfre Woodard (of course) although the explanation of her daddy issues was also a little unsubtle.

Daniel Henney and Chris Hanke didn't really make much of an impression on me but it's early days.

The biggest thing for me though was that it was competently done (from some of the reviews I was worried about it being an absolute train-wreck), well-paced and engaging. I confess it's difficult for me to be objective as I'm just SO happy to have Alex back on my TV but it was definitely good enough that I'll be back next week.

As for realism, well I have no medical experience so I really couldn't say, although medical staff expecting administrators to work miracles certainly sounded about right.

Red

ETA: I got my actors and characters mixed up

HotMicks wrote:

lafluffy wrote:

HotMicks wrote:I don't know about anyone else, but it was actually strange to watch Alex act in this one. For some reason, I wasn't expecting that. Kinda like the Lost characters must feel when the island time-shifts... all jolt-y and surreal. I think because it was a little rough around the edges at the beginning, the effect was more noticeable.

Yeah, I had that same feeling at the beginning. I think it was the editing. It's like he was acting in a vacuum. The pacing or rhythm was off in the editing, I"m guessing. I never forgot it was Alex but I think that's some leftover ML neurons firing. I really had no Mick moments, tho. I saw Dr Y.

Maybe that was it... I'll have to watch again ( ). It could be the editing, because the camera work was bugging me at certain points (it got in the way).

And I did have ONE Mick moment... the same one many others had, apparently: the donut scene. He went at the donut in the same way... it was funny - Alex's signature 'thing' is inhaling donuts.

Bwah! You're so right! Talk about chipmunk cheeks!