Favorite Medical Dramas! Part 2
Medical science has always fascinated me so it’s no wonder that I love medical shows whether they are real or scripted. I’ve seen so many over the years, but here are some picks of shows that I’ve enjoyed and that I continue to watch today. Here is part two! Enjoy! (Part One)
Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.
Lahela `Doogie’ Kamealoha juggles a budding medical career and life as a teenager, which proves to be a struggle.
This show is an obvious reboot of Doogie Howser, but it’s a refreshing take on an original. I appreciated that the new series pays homage to its original content while creating its own narrative. It’s a good blend of a medical drama and a coming-of-age story as Lahela tries to navigate her job while also being a teenager. I enjoyed the gorgeous backdrop of Hawaii, and the show has some beautiful cinematography. It’s a fun overall watch and has a solid cast.
Nurse Jackie
Emergency room nurse Jackie Peyton does everything she can to provide her patients with the best care possible while navigating the waters of a crumbling health-care system. But she has a secret that is increasingly difficult to keep from people — she relies on Vicodin and Adderall to get her through high-stress shifts at a New York hospital, where she isn’t above bending the rules to keep things running smoothly in the face of indifferent doctors, penny-pinching bean counters and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Nurse Jackie had a lot of buzz surrounding the show during its original run on TV and I can see why only after watching one season. The narrative and characters had me hooked from the first episode. It’s a mashup of some of my favorite medical dramas, but has a wisecracking nurse as its lead character. Her character is conflicting since she does so many good deeds, but also hides so many secrets. There’s so much social commentary laced within the plot and I’m looking forward to how the characters will be explored in the latter seasons.
Code Blue
The “Doctor Helicopter” system was legalized in Japan in June 2007. A medical team is dispatched to the patients on a helicopter to provide medical care in the field as soon as possible. Four young physicians are assigned to this latest medical system as “fellows”. At the start of their “fellowship”, they experience traumatic medical situations, deal with personal ambitions, witness the fragility of life, and they grow personally and professionally.
It’s been many years since I’ve watched this drama, but it’s so good that I’d be willing to rewatch all the seasons. This is one of the top medical J-Dramas that has always stuck out in my mind. It includes many of my favorite Japanese actors and they create such good on-screen chemistry on the screen that it makes you root for the characters. The show is action-packed with quieter moments of reflection for the main characters and each season shows how their career evolves. I thought the Doctor Helicopter system was so fascinating to learn about!
Getting On
This series is based on the British series of the same name.The series is set in the Billy Barnes Extended Care Unit of the down-and-out Mount Palms Memorial Hospital in Long Beach, California. The show follows the lives of the staff involved in the ward’s daily operation, specifically Dr. Jenna James, the ward’s director of medicine; Dawn Forchette, the head nurse; Didi Ortley (Niecy Nash), a nurse; and Patsy De La Serda, the supervising nurse.
This series is equal parts charming and equal parts heartbreaking. It’s a medical drama that is an emotional rollercoaster ride and is very heavy. Even in its very somber setting, it’s filled with humorous yet sensitive narratives and characterizations. I liked that the series not only focuses on the doctors and nurses that are hard at work, but that it profiles some of the resident patients too.
Descendants of the Sun
A love story between Captain Yoo Shi Jin, Korean Special Forces, and Doctor Kang Mo Yeon, surgeon at Haesung Hospital. Together they face danger in a war-torn country.
Descendants is a mixture of Romance and a Medical Drama show. What I really enjoy about this show is that it’s not only set in a different setting than I’m used to for K-Dramas but also that the plot is character driven. Granted it might move a bit slower than other K-dramas, but I like that it doesn’t have those typical over-the-top antics, and we see how relationships form and break over the course of the story. I love the two lead actors in this drama and they do such a good job of acting out their roles, plus their on-screen chemistry was amazing.
Resident: Story of 5 Interns
Shizuku Miyama heard her father, who is a doctor, say that he doesn’t have any expectations from his daughter because she is a girl. Since that time, Shizuku Miyama has strived to become a doctor to get recognition from her dad. She is now a medical resident and goes through training with four others. The 5 residents are all assigned to work at an emergency center for the next 3 months.
The show revolves around 5 interns from different areas of medicine as they work in the ER. Each of them has different personalities that tend to clash at many times. Each character is dealing with their internal struggles on the job in their personal lives. So far I like the medical aspects of the show and the strong character development. While the show focuses on medical aspects each character gets equal screen time for the plot to focus on their stories and why they entered the medical field.
Do you watch medical drama shows? If so, which ones do you enjoy/recommend watching? Comment below!
The only one I’ve seen on your list is Nurse Jackie and, if you like the first season, I think you’ll find that you become even more hooked as it goes on. But I think Edie Falco plays an amazing role, however, it’s one of those series where it’s the secondary characters who kept me coming back. Medical dramas aren’t my favourite, but I did also enjoy the Australian dramedy Offspring (via NF) because of its focus on obstetrics which isn’t something I feel like I’ve seen explored very often in medical series (and, so, most of the cast is female).The setting of Descendants sounds interesting to me, too, for the same reasons you’ve said!
I’ll have to look up Offspring. I did watch a Korean drama (mentioned on the list for part one) called Obstetrics and gynecology years ago and I liked how they focused on that department and its doctors. I need to pick up Nurse Jackie again and finish the rest of the seasons.