Medical Investigation

Network: NBC; Genre: Crime/Mystery, Procedural Drama; Content Rating: TV-14 (for gruesome medical imagery); Presented in Widescreen; Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Season Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)

In addition to being a brilliant show itself, Graham Yost's 2002 crime drama "Boomtown", served to introduce the world to the powerhouse acting talent of one Neal McDonough. As morally questionable district attorney David McNorris, McDonough crafted an unforgettable anti-hero - both invigorating and frightening - of nuance, shifty motives, deep demons and unpredictable loyalties. He grabbed every scene by the throat and managed to stand-out in an already flawless cast. It certainly made me sit up and notice and I wasn't alone. This was the type of star-making performance that demanded to be noticed. Screamed for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy award if I've ever seen it.

Well, it was ignored.

The least NBC could do was realize what they had here and find a place to once again harness McDonough's electric talent, which brings me up to my anticipation for "Medical Investigation". Also starring Kelli Williams (recently jettisoned from David E. Kelly's "The Practice"), "Medical" follows a group of medical investigators for the National Institute of Health as they identify a mysterious illness, hunt down the source of the epidemic and concoct an antidote. All 3 parts are usually wrapped together with one big revelation. Many of the cases, seem to be solved way to easily. And that includes a moment halfway through where the detectives end up back to square one.

McDonough is wasted. His purpose (like everyone else on the show) is not to be a character, but to be a vehicle that does the job, spouting the biomedical jargon over cell phones. Nothing more. Anyone could play these parts. Even if you squint really hard and pretend this is the 2nd coming of David McNorris that won't make "Medical" any more entertaining. Although it is fun to watch him chew up and spit out this dialog. He is such a strong presence he gives even this material a little zing. But if this where the first time I'd see McDonough I would be saying that he was a terrible actor - stiff, dry and unappealing. That's how stifling this show is.

The brief moments of insight into Dr. Stephen Conner's (McDonough) private life are lifted wholesale from any number of places. He can't make it to his son's little league game on time. He has to tell his son mom and dad are getting a divorce but they still love him. He sits down and plays a round of cards with his crew. The show treats this as a favor to us, a complete afterthought filling time in a shorter episode. You can almost see the hole left from when it was tacked on. In fairness, it looks decent visually. The visual gimmick - Conner visualizing the possible scenarios that led to the viral outbreak - is slight but effective. The musical selections are the only thing that passes the show quickly, but even at that, I'm sure "Donnie Darko" fans will agree, if you're going to use "Mad, Mad World" for a closing montage song you'd better earn it.

Unlike the blood-boiling murders of "CSI", this show doesn't even provide us something to hiss at or root for. The villains are viruses just doing their natural thing. The victims are sick people laying in hospital beds covered in blisters. What are we supposed to do with that? The real meat, of course, involved with biological viruses is - say it with me - the danger of them being unleashed by terrorists. "Medical" is too gutless to play with that and of the many instances where terrorism is suspected (this is NBC, so if it is it is always politically correct domestic terrorism) is always turns out to just be an accident. Very "CSI".

All though this point can be made with any procedural show, "Medical" in particular, runs as its fuel on the raw emotional drama of the victims. The problem is that in the high concept network mandate to keep these shows with self-contained stories the characters - the victims we're supposed to care for - are rotated in and out each week. We never really get to know them other than as a story device for that hour, then their story is wrapped up and they are gone next week. As a result of this we don't really feel for them and the emotion the show so wants to grip us in never surfaces. We don't really feel for the kid loosing her father to smallpox or mother losing her daughter - we feel for the idea of it. That's all the show can hope for in this format.

It is the procedural drama, stripped down to only it's most tedious procedural beats, most disinterest in its characters and its least visually stylish. Even in perilous situations you'd think someone would crack a joke every now and then, but no. "Medical" is very much a shining example of why I never thought a procedural show made for great entertainment. "ER", in it's prime, swamped us in the middle of the action. This show is as tedious and detached to watch as it probably would be sitting in the waiting room and peeking through a window. We are just spectators. The show isn't dumb, but it is as hollow and lifeless as this genre comes.

* / 4

We are nearly at the end of the season in New Zealand and I have really enjoyed this show. It is so watchable and I like to try and guess the commonality before the cast. It's a shame the show is not being renewed for a second season as I would like to see more character development. I am a fan of Neal and Kelli too and think their characters work well together bringing just enough professionalism combined with a more personal note. I think it's good there is a new storyline each episode while the casts' lives carry on in the background. Each episode concludes and we can wait for the next outbreak. I wish the cast luck for future projects and will have to wait for repeats I guess.

I just saw the pilot and the Case of the Blue Men (used as the Pilot) was a retelling of a 60-year old WWII era mystery. For those who want to read the original case that they recycled check out a book by Berton Roueche called "Eleven Blue Men". The story was also included in his "The Medical Detectives".

The story was gripping and showed how the step-by-step procedure of this type of investigation proceeds. The fact that I already had read the book years ago, spoiled the ability for me to solve the mystery before they did as did the fact that they did not go into their databases and locate the 60-year old case. Of course since this is TV (and they were recycling the WWII era case) this meant that they could not use their Databases to find the report due to them setting it in current time and pretending that the WWII case never occurred. Also the episode would be over if they had found the report in their Database.

Always enjoy the great acting talents of Neal McDonough,(Dr. Stephen Connor),"Boomtown,TV Series,'02, who never seems to stop for a breath of fresh air trying to solve the reason for an illness that causes patients to get BLUE! Kelli Williams,(Dr. Natalie Durant),"It's a Shame About Ray,",2000, who gives a great supporting role. This new series looks like a great success and should give plenty of entertainment, this hour show simply flew BYE! I found out that a mixture of Salt Peter and regular salt can cause plenty of trouble. There was lots of fast action with a gal with very sexy legs and a news reporter who got in the wrong place at the right time.

This is not an abysmal show, though it doesn't take a whole lot of motivation to get me to look for something else at 8:00 on Friday evenings. I tend to agree with people on the message boards for this show who are critical of the dialogue, writing and acting.

However, the same approach was done much better nearly ten years ago, in "The Burning Zone". That show had more drama, more tension, better suspense and less predictability. To add to the mix, there were hints of an overall hidden agenda a la "X-Files". Alas, since that show was good and it was on UPN, it only ran for one season. (A rule of thumb - if you have a bad show, pitch it to UPN and it'll get on the air; if you have a good show, pitch it to UPN and it'll be canceled after one season or less.) In any case, give Medical Investigation another season to settle in and it might mature into a show that can draw viewers from alternatives. If not, I don't give it a favorable prognosis.