Doctors have been diagnosing drama throughout TV’s history
The doctor is in. And it’s a good thing for television. Ever since the black-andwhite tube invaded homes, the medical show has been the palliative that audiences seem to need. From the clean-cut Dr. Kildare to the acerbic Dr. House, the medicine man has been diagnosing TV drama.
Its earliest renderings included “Marcus Welby, M.D.” Played by movie actor Robert Young, Welby would actually listen to his patients and with empathy and authority do his best to cure them. “Dr. Kildare” was a young intern transposed from radio and two movies, and featured Richard Chamberlain as the earnest Kildare working under the guidance of his august superior.
“Quincy, M.E.,” became the first crime scene investigator to prowl the airwaves — a show that gave birth to all the “CSIs” that followed. There was “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” which saw Jane Seymour tending the ill on the post-Civil War frontier. Chad Everett was the young surgeon working under the sometimes combative eye of his mentor in “Medical Center.”
“St. Elsewhere” featured some of the best writing on TV and introduced Denzel Washington and Mark Harmon as young physicians toiling at a Boston hospital that had seen better days. “M-A-S-H” followed the book and Robert Altman’s film with Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Wayne Rogers as Trapper John. The series (which is still in reruns) was set near the firing lines of the Korean War. And while it was a comedy, it did not obscure the horrors encountered in an Army field hospital.
“Chicago Hope” was writer David E. Kelley’s contribution to the healing world with a sizzling ensemble cast that included Mandy Patinkin, Christine Lahti, Adam Arkin and Rocky Carroll. “Doogie Howser, M.D.” boasted a 16-year-old genius as a second-year resident surgeon in an LA hospital. And the biggie, “ER,” not only ushered in seemingly realistic emergency room care, but also introduced George Clooney as the ER pediatrician who raised the temperature of fans. The show was so successful that it enjoyed 15 seasons and made Clooney a star.
“Grey’s Anatomy” seems to have found the secret to immortality, having already been renewed for its 19th season. Ellen Pompeo plays the chief of general surgery at a Seattle hospital who copes with the exigencies of the job and her personal life.
But by and far, the most popular medic on the tube has been the renegade — the one who breaks the rules in order to mend them. That started with “Ben Casey,” who was so unorthodox that he wore his hospital tunic unbuttoned and talked back to his superiors. Twentyeight years after his service on the war front, “Trapper John, M.D.” (this time
Pernell Roberts) found himself at a San Francisco hospital challenging authority while he succored his patients.
Hugh Laurie, as the pill-popping physician on “House,” not only bucked the rules, but he also ignored them. Matt Czuchry stars as the cocky resident on Fox’s “The Resident,” which airs its season five finale May 17.
Ryan Eggold says he finds his character on NBC’s “New Amsterdam,” “very driven and very altruistic and very sort of out-of-the-box and a little contrary to the way things have been going — rebellious — I guess is the word.” That series is ending with its upcoming fifth season.
If television has stumbled on the prescription to successful drama, viewers have no trouble picking it up at the flat-screen pharmacy. From “The Good Doctor” to “Good Sam” to Dick Wolf ’s carefully nurtured “Chicago Med,” there are also innumerable medical shows practicing on the streaming sites. Among those hanging up their shingles on the streamers are “Scrubs,” “The Surgeon,” “Code Black,” “The Healer,” “House,” “Night Watch,” “Body of Proof,” “The Knick,” “Emergency” and “Saving Hope.”