Is it a coincidence that two of the best dramas on TV are savage critiques of medical culture? ER thrives in its 13nth season, even if it errs on the side of cheap laughs, disaster blowouts and sentimentality. Besides taking the most prized advertising eyeballs to Africa, it boasts complicated, sometimes unsympathetic gay characters, and larger social problems writ human-scale in the faces of a vastly talented pool of character actors. Added bonus: its kids are always superbly directed, believable. Risky move: Archie’s Redemption.
Teetering between character tutorial and comedy, House has a far trickier agenda. Hugh Laurie has turned this guy into a gruff-yet-unloveable monster, who stands in for The Man. But wait, there’s more: in his demonic romance with science and emotionally ingrown toenail, he also represents the medical profession as a whole. This season’s addiction jack-pot story arc with David Morse features fraying codes of loyalty among doctors, friends, bosses, subordinates, ethnic stripes, and dwarfs. Care to go for a spin?
PS: If it’s NOT a coincidence, what does that mean?
rock culture approximately
This blog published under a Creative Commons license
an ArtsJournal blog