Medical dramas over time
Have you always been a fan of medical dramas?
I vaguely remember watching shows like Emergency - not at all like todays ER, this one was about two cute paramedics if I remember correctly, and shows like Marcus Welby - which was about a kindly older doctor - at least in my childhood recollection it was anyway.
As I grew older I watched shows like Chicago Hope and St. Elsewhere, and even Quincy … although I don’t remember getting into St. Elsewhere all that much, but I was a big fan of Chicago Hope.
Did you watch those or similar medical dramas years ago? Have you found that the medical dramas of today are quite different? More focused on the characters and the drama surrounding the illness rather than the profession? House and Grey’s anatomy are quite different than the early shows I remember seeing.
The show’s of old made doctors and other professionals out to be heroes of their time - focused on their patients. We barely knew much about their personal lifes or their feelings of insecurity. Todays medical drama characters are more like every day folk like the cast of Grey’s Anatomy struggling to make it in a tough profession, and struggling with things that happen in their personal lives.
These days we know more about the Doctors in the shows we watch than perhaps we should. It makes them seem more real, but seeing Dr. Gregory House suffer with his pain and exhibit withdrawl symptoms when he stopped his vicodin is futher than many of the shows of the past were ever willing to take us into the personal lives of the doctor heros we worshipped.
How do you feel about this change in medical dramas? Have you watched some of the older shows that I mentioned above? How do you think they compare to todays medical dramas like House, ER, and Greys Anatomy?
I really would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment.
medical, medical drama, medical TV shows, house, greys anatomy, ER, medical dramas through the years, medical drama more personal, St. Elsewhere, Chicago Hope, Marcus Welby, Quincy, Emergency
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