What's it about?
At long last, Emily Owens feels like she is an actual grown-up. She can finally put her high school days as the geeky-girl-with-flop-sweats behind her. She's graduated from medical school, and she's beginning an internships at Denver Memorial Hospital, where, not-so-coincidentally, her med-school crush Will Collins is also an intern. So why does everyone keep warning Emily that the hospital is just like high school? She will soon find out the hard way. Even with the long hours, the heavy workload, and no shortage of personal drama filling her first days as an intern, Emily still fees like she's the new geeky kid all over again, and it's just as awkward as high school. At Denver Memorial, Emily is just beginning to learn that although she may be a geek, she may also grow to be a great doctor, flop sweats and all.
(from CW.com)
You should watch if...
• ...you need another surgical intern TV show post-SCRUBS/GREY'S ANATOMY.
• ...you need another TV show with an "adorkable," insecure, bumbling female lead.
• ...you're following the careers of Meryl Streep's seemingly endless brood of blonde actress daughters.
So, how was it?
I'm a huge fan of Mamie Gummer's work on THE GOOD WIFE -- her deceptively naive midwestern Lawyer, Nancy Crozier, has been a devious and delightful adversary. So I was looking forward to seeing Ms. Gummer get a chance to headline her own show, although I was at the same time a bit nervous, considering A) it's just another doctor show and B) it's on the CW.
As I suspected, Ms. Gummer is by far the best thing about this show. It's refreshing to see a show on the CW not starring a stick-thin, runway-ready, drop-dead gorgeous model/actress. Not that Mamie Gummer is unattractive, but she's decidedly more "real" looking than any other actress on the CW I can think of off the top of my head. It's especially fortunate they went for talent over looks this time, considering the show isn't actually all that great. This would be a certified flop if you swapped out, say, Kristin Kreuk for the lead.
EMILY OWENS, M.D. sadly brings nothing new to the operating table (rimshot!) -- it's just another iteration of the medical intern genre already pioneered by both SCRUBS and GREY'S ANATOMY. As GA has just begun its ninth season, there's very little of that dead horse left to beat, but the CW execs seem to think it's a great time to resurrect it. Too bad, then, that they essentially carbon-copied the GA pilot instead of finding anything new to say. Consider: We're following our nervous blonde medical intern with a thing for voiceovers on her first day at a teaching hospital. She meets the other interns in the locker room, among whom are friends, foes, and potential lovers. There's a black Chief of Surgery. Their resident is unforgivingly tough, and starts the day by outlining her long list of rules. The nervous blonde intern is put in charge of a young patient whose seemingly innocuous condition takes a sudden turn for the worse when no one else is around and she has to run the code herself. One intern has a tough-as-nails doctor parent. Another doctor has a parent who has a life-threatening medical condition that's being kept secret. Ring any bells? (If you're not familiar with GA, every single one of those plot points is taken DIRECTLY from the pilot of that show.)
The only differences between the EO pilot and the GA pilot are that Emily underscores the entire hour with voiceovers, as opposed to the opening and closing monologues by Meredith Grey; Emily is much more the "lead" of EO, whereas Meredith is just the focal point of a large ensemble cast; and the unavoidable love story on EO is so much more cliché. Remember the surprise of finding out Meredith's one-night stand was actually her boss and the awkwardness that ensued? On EO, we're treated to a boring love triangle where the lead is obsessed with a guy who's no good for her while another equally cute guy doctor is secretly pining after her. Been there, done that.
All of this probably makes it sound like I loathed the show; I didn't. Mamie Gummer is such a magnetic actress -- she oozes relatability -- that you can't help but fall in love with her. I just hope that her character undergoes some fast change and outgrows her "adorkableness" (she is currently given to using words like 'ooky' and staring at men's jawlines). I also hope the writers decide to find a unique voice for the show -- even its marketing campaign is a carbon copy of another medical show this year -- THE MINDY PROJECT. (TMP tagline: For everyone whose life is a work in progress. EO tagline: Practicing medicine. Working on life.)
And the verdict is:
Okay. I may give it another episode or two to see if it gets better.
Based on Ms. Gummer alone, I'm willing to give this show one or two more episodes to see if it will come into its own and stop borrowing (or stealing wholesale) plots from earlier, better shows. If EMILY OWENS, M.D. doesn't improve, then I'll just cross my fingers and hope for an early cancellation so Ms. Gummer can move on to something deserving of her talents.
What about you, Fellow Addicts? Will you be checking into Denver Memorial Hospital for another visit? Or have you already signed your discharge papers? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
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