COMBAT HOSPITAL

COMBAT HOSPITAL

JUNE 21, 2011-SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

Once again, American television has to rely on other countries for new shows because the only thing Hollywood is good for anymore is the crap of reality TV.  JUNE 21, 2011-SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

Combat hospital is one of those shows that may be a summer sleeper with great potential.  The kids are out of school, and with good family support, are mobile and being normal children who do not want to spend their summer indoors.  So most parents are drawn away from the boob tube by the kids and do not get to wind down from the day until sunset.  By 10pm the eyes are drooping and sleep is a barbarian just sucking the last drop of energy.   

 This is M*A*S*H in a drama setting and extended 30 minutes.  It is based on a real life Canadian NATO role 3 war zone hospital during 2006, smack dead in southern Afghanistan. 

Rebecca Gordon (Michelle Borth) and Bobby Trang (Terry Chen) are thrown into the world of combat medicine and quickly need to adapt to the world of war.  Gordon is a trauma surgeon who is in her element when the operating room lights go on.  She is fierce about making crucial decisions when it comes to life and death. 

Colonel Xavier Marks (Elias Koteas) is a lifelong veteran surgeon of makeshift military hospitals and is the head of the Role 3 Multinational medical unit.  He will be the officiator of the new recruits with his guidance and experience.  Trang is slow to adapt to the on-the-spot training that comes with military war hospital life.  He needs to be pushed when he is in doubt of his own abilities.  Colonel Marks will keep the balance between these two completely different personalities and counsel them with direction and support. 

British neurosurgeon Dr. Simon Hill (Luke Mably) is a volunteer in the war zone hospital facility.  His life outside the hospital is more luxurious and accommodating than the quarters that the military must live in.  This bewilders the servicemen and women unable to comprehend his wanting to be there.  The mental well-being is left in the hands of Major Grace Pederson (Deborah Kara Unger), an Australian psychiatrist.  The troops that pass over her metaphoric couch need tender care crossed with a sturdy hand of assurance.  The nursing team starts with Commander Will Royal (Arnold Pinnock) and never lets any member of the hospital forget that the nurses are the heart and soul.

After having Off The Map ripped off the schedule, it is hard to allow complete indulgence in another ABC medical show setting.  Now that I have disclosed this inner feeling, Combat Hospital took more than 30 minutes before the pull began.  Michelle Borth's skill is drawing the viewer in visually at first then picking the character down to her raw being.  Her delivery is completely open to the drama of her situation but the dry humor holds through the commercials.  The cast as a whole allows the director (Iain B. Mac Donald) to keep the scenes alive with movement that blends well with the dialogue. 

 Hopefully the networks will follow the great thought processes that cable has when letting the full season play out.  The networks moving shows to different days and time slots does nothing but decimate their ability to have an audience open up to a new show.  The viewers have become skeptical and wait to see if the show will be there every week before they get consumed by the characters.  Only time will tell for Combat Hospital.