From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 5th, 2013 04:09 am (UTC)		(Link Me)

Great to see Jamie angsting. How I love Jamie angst.

	From: rikibeth	Date: February 5th, 2013 04:33 am (UTC)		(Link Me)

I do not, as a rule, like medical dramas. I do like the Japanese guy. I find it interesting that they had THREE conditions that have affected people close to me (two in one patient, that had affected two different people I know).

And Jamie was very pretty.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 5th, 2013 04:53 am (UTC)		(Link Me)

Dr. Ridgeway was much more llikeable on screen vs the book. Ty recovered his confidence better too. Not that there won't be moments he waivers later, but I think I prefer the show vs the book in that aspect.

	From: asta77	Date: February 5th, 2013 04:56 am (UTC)		(Link Me)

Having read A LOT of reviews prior to Monday Mornings debut, and now having seen the pilot episode, I have to say some of the criticism was completely justified. It only took five minutes for me to find the extreme closeups and camera tricks (mostly lens fair) out of control and completely unnecessary. As the episode progressed, I sometimes felt as if I was watching the work of two different directors. While the 'artsy' stuff was a distraction, I felt the surgical scenes were extremely well filmed. Usually operating rooms look as if they are on a sound stage, but, here, it looked real and made me uneasy when things went horribly wrong.

While the characters were either fleshed out better (Sarayu Rao was terrific as Sydney) or have the potential to be fleshed out better (Bill Irwin was only briefly seen as Buck, but in that few minutes he felt more fully realized than he did on the page) than in the novel, I did feel some plot points were too condensed or overly edited. I wondered if Ty's flashback to his childhood left non-readers of the book confused? Sydney was barely phased from being engaged to being dumped in record time, which seemed weird. And maybe Tina's loveless marriage should have waited until episode two. Yeah, I think even the brief scene made it clear the marriage is no longer a marriage, but simply two people sharing a house, but it seemed rather shoe-horned in.

It seems like the most changes may have been made to Tina's character (not a bad thing since she was my least favorite character in the book). It appears she and her husband have no children. Even if we weren't to see the kids, I was looking for hints - photos or drawings on the fridge - to show they existed, but I didn't see anything. This isn't a bad thing. I felt the the storyline with Tina's kids was one of the weakest, and at times most infuriating, subplots in the book. It also seems that rather than Tina and Ty being involved in an affair, there's a close friendship and perhaps a desire for it to be more.

Overall, I felt the series was well cast. The actors either fit the images of the characters I had in my head well or exceeded my expectations. Sarayu, in particular, I thought was great. She made me chuckle a couple of times and I think levity is going to be an important element to the show (which wasn't so present in the book).

And David E Kelley, when he's at is best, can do a fine job of juggling humor with drama. I was greatly relieved that the excesses of some of his more recent work was not to be seen here. Granted, the show could go off the rails, but I remain optimistic!

Ok, I'm sure I've forgotten some things and I may come back later and add more after a second viewing. I must admit, at times, all I could think was, "JAMIE! On my TV! YAY!!!" ;D

	From: zegeekgirl	Date: February 5th, 2013 07:02 am (UTC)		(Link Me)

Alright, a few more assorted thoughts I didn't touch on above, before I drag myself to bed to crash. (God damn having to be well rested for work in the morning, anyway ;) )

- Virtually every adjustment they have made so far from the novel works for series, IMO. I could sit here well into the night and expand on that but if you read the novel you know what I mean. :) And yet, as Asta noted above, it is perfectly cast re: the characters Sanjay wrote.

- Pains me to say it, but I do agree that the pilot over-emphasizes Park's language barrier in a way that teeters toward stereotype. I don't think that is their intention, at all. In fact, I think the intention is a noble one i.e. there are a LOT of foreign doctors who come here to train in great hospitals and who are of immense value to our medical community, but who struggle to adapt quickly to our culture; that is what Park is all about. I just think they may not have gauged the impact quite right. (None of this reflects badly on Keong Sim, there is a really complex performance there I hope we see more of.)

- I cannot emphasize enough how important that scene is with Hooten talking to Alison while Quinn is in surgery. NO ONE is talking about this!; everyone is emphasizing how harsh Hooten is in the M&M's but that scene demontrates to an enormous extent precisely why he is giving Ty such a hard time. He KNOWS Ty is an exceptional surgeon, and he goes the extra mile to reassure Alison of that in that moment. He knows Ty is better than rushing to make a judgment call without doing all of his homework. That he gives Ty such a ringing endorsement only to have this result occur is what informs the latter M&M scene, completely.

- Speaking of the harshness of the M&M's, it strikes me that I am seeing a lot of tweets and comments elsewhere making assumptions that someone will die every week and bring about the M&M of the moment. Um... why? There are plenty of errors in patient care that do not result in death, necessarily. *eyebrow* ;) (keeping my mouth shut about something in particular that is a spoiler if you didn't read the book... mwahaha)

- I was rather chuffed to see the EW post-show recap call out the use of a late-period Pink Floyd track... in a show like this?! WHAT. That bowled me over. Even though I am not quite sure it entirely worked in the scene (it does at first, but it plays out a little too long to the point where in Ty and Tina's scene in the hall, it feels a little intrusive...) Still, major brownie points to the music supervisor. Enough surely to mitigate the use of "Gimme Shelter" at the end... easy fallback Stones, ahoy! ;) (P.S. now that Jamie is in a contemporary show you will probably hear me be overly-critical about the song choices more often. I apologize in advance. Sometimes I think I missed my true calling... XD)

- People have been calling Gato a warm father figure, haven't they? Frankly, I would go so far as to say he is motherly. To the kids. Hooten is the dad, Gato is the mom. THINK ABOUT IT. *chuckle*

- Oh, hey.... I haven't mentioned that Jamie Bamber fella have I? ISNT HE SOMETHING?!! ;) To be honest, it is a busy pilot so I am looking forward to see where he takes Ty in the subsequent eps (I have a feeling given the size of the ensemble we may not get a fully rounded sense of everyone until 3-4 episodes in). He has a few moments to shine, certainly; very good when he breaks the news to Alison but that is really Tara Summers' moment (Man, I love her... so great.) Still, that look on his face when he reads Quinn's father's medical history and it sinks in? Nailed it. Gaaaaaah!

That's plenty from me, someone else hurl your thinky thoughts at the page. ;)

Edited at 2013-02-05 07:07 am (UTC)

	From: kim_j_8472	Date: February 5th, 2013 07:24 am (UTC)		(Link Me)

I haven't read the book, so I apologize right now; other than that, this is pretty much what I wanted out of medical drama. I just went through a whole weekend getting certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and will do it for pediatrics later on in March and everything looks and sounds very real for the pilot. I'm sure there's some license taken for Hollywood's sake, but it's not showing, which is good.

The cast is composed of very specific and distinguishable types; all of whom exist truthfully in the hospital setting. I'm specifically glad that we have two Asian regulars (again, not read the book, don't kill me). The language barrier is a real thing (and I'm Asian). It's cringing to watch and if you're not familiar, it's Mr. Miyagi of Medicine time, but that's Hollywood for you. I do love how level-headed trauma doc Ving is here. That's really how ER guys operate (which is what I want to be). I'm anticipating that he will break down at some point, because this is the only character who I saw as a bit too superhuman at this moment (that and Molina's character). It's a good mix of angst and control. Lastly, I've avoided most medical soaps because I can't stand the ratcheting up of tension at the expense of real science. Everything gets defibrillated in "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy." Ugh. But not here. Asystole and no BP is sadly what it is.

As for our Ty? Poor lovey. I mean it. This character is full of the hard-core angst (with backstory to back it up) that I think is Bamber's mainstay. They cast him perfect. It's awesome. Easiest commitment to DVR I've had since it was invented, truly. Tight pilot. Can't wait for more.

	From: shallowz	Date: February 5th, 2013 02:11 pm (UTC)		(Link Me)

I haven't seen the episode yet, and I'm not going to look at the comments until I do. If I'm repeating what anyone else said, my apologies. Just wanted to say iTunes has the pilot ep free for download.

I'm looking forward to Dr. Scruff. I'm sure he doesn't even have to warm up his stethoscope as hot as he looks.:)

	From: anamarya	Date: February 5th, 2013 09:49 pm (UTC)		(Link Me)

ok, me finally home. I hoped to have time to do a fast rewatch (when I wans't trying to watch the episode, drink coffee, respond to over-night emails, etc) but it wasn't meant to be.

I'll try to stay brief and not overly repeat what other people said. Well, not too much, at least.

Overall - it was nice, even ok. yes, it could have been way better but in the same time way worse. I usually wait for more than one episode before really deciding if I like a show so why would this be different?
I liked the fact that the show seems more real than other medical drama out there. I include here the blood - you know, it;s strange when there is no blood after a major surgery.... and the shoes - people are going to wear short shoes then they are running and standing for hours to no end. And I did liked the sound. at least for me it sounded ok.

I don't know if I liked the image (laking a better word). I mean, the whole - zooming in and out and "fading"? or whatever the term is. I'm afraid that it's going to be hard to focus if this continues. well, during the M&M meetings, when they to the close-ups with the faces (or the hands) of the person being questioned is ok. But the rest of the time...

And I like the scrubs.

In terms of characters
- I liked El Gato (predictably). I can't wait to see more about him. And I like that his scrubs are green. Makes him different.
- I loved Sydney. She is cute, funny, ambitious, agitated. At the end of the day I would compare her to a cat and not Vilanueva.
- The big boss - well, i didn't liked him so much. Which I guess is a good thing. I don't think that we are supposed to like him. But he does remind me of the Departamental Chair from when I first started teaching.
- I was prepared to hate Tina even if this last couple of months I started liking Jennifer. I have "issues" with cheating, especially when there are kids involved and when it seems like the cause, not the effect of a separation. So, I didn't liked her in the book but here she is (or at least appears to be) different. Not that we see much of her except with Ty.

This is pretty much it.

Now - pilot vs book. There were a lot of things that I liked about the book and there were absent here. The background on characters. More about Sydney's failed relationship, more about Vilanueva's life, the whole explanation about the flashbacks (ok, i understood them, but that possibly/probably because I previously read the book), etc. I'll try (and probably fail) to be patient and see if maybe all of this will sooner of later appear.

ok - finally to the point.
Predictably, JB as Ty made me cry. Because, you know.... I liked him. Like I already said, I would have liked to see more about the flashbacks and about his overconfidence. But his grief seemed genuine and because he is acting with all his body. I loved the whole hads-thing during the time that he was on the podium, I liked the way that he was just laid there during the first M&M meeting.
I'm no expert in english accents (3rd language and all of that) but he sounded different here. american but not like BSG and not like Outcast either.

and ok, I'll admit it - I do expect that shower. Because... reasons. And the thing from the book. That would be nice. But since I don;t see how he;s going to leave town anytime soon :((

I was supposed to be short, wasn't I? anyway, if I'll remember something I'll come back.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 5th, 2013 11:48 pm (UTC)		(Link Me)

Is it okay if I'm a little critical?

The sound was awful. I had trouble understanding the dialog even with the captioning on! This is unusual for me. Part of the cast was mumbling and the Indian woman was talking way too fast. I felt like I was watching a foreign language film, one where I didn't know the language.

I hated the songs being played over everything. This approach is hackneyed. You see it in every show since at least "Buffy", which was when I first noticed it. Can the "sound track music". Dare to be different.

Was I the only one who thought Jamie blew the accent when he went in to talk to the mother after Quin died? It sounded English, not American to me. OTOH, his anguish is always superb.

Diorite

	From: anteros_lmc	Date: February 6th, 2013 12:24 am (UTC)		(Link Me)
	Huzzah for the Internet Fairies!

I haz seen it! And I thought it was pretty damn good. I should add that I'm no tv critic, in fact I hardly ever watch tv (unless there are boats or vipers on ;) and it must be at least ten years or more since I last watched a medical drama, so I thought this was rather sharp. The camera tricks didn't bother me at all, but I probably haven't seen enough shows for them to become cliched. The one thing that really did bug me was the soundtrack, which was dire. Silence would have been better. The characters were all sufficiently interesting for me to want to know more about them and one or two of them already seem to be developing distinct personalities, Gato in particular. I thought Jamie was really very good indeed, though I confess I had to watch some of the angstier moments through my fingers, he suffers way too convincingly :}

	From: onlyariana	Date: February 6th, 2013 02:38 pm (UTC)		(Link Me)

Well, I certainly didn't hate it but if I hadn't been already sold on it and excited about it I don't think the pilot would have pulled me in. I'm sure it's super tough with an ensemble to intro all the characters and still tell a story.

I loved Sydney. I miss having alliteration in her name to pair her up with Harding Hooten in their perfectionistic tendencies but that's a tiny detail. I didn't get why everyone was giving her a hard time when she was only trying to be a good doctor and help others be good doctors. Maybe that was supposed to be like a, "Here goes Sydney again on another rant. Why does she do these things *every* meeting." Because what she was saying made perfect sense to me. But even Hooten seemed to want her to shut up. :-(

Jonathan Silverman is still the best friend from Girls Just Want To Have Fun. When I see him I think he's about to play Tune in Tokyo.

Buck was weird. His jerky movements and odd facial expressions. I don't get him.

Watching Quinn's surgery was tough. It was a tad gory for me but I think that was because I was on edge, knowing what was going to happen. Near the end when Ty said "Uncontrollable bleeding" at the M&M conference. That was heartbreaking.

I agree with people saying Hooten was coming off as mean. In the books he wasn't cruel, just exacting. Here it was like he was enjoying watching doctors squirm just for the pleasure.

Tina didn't have much to actually do but even so I think the scene with her husband could have been cut. I get they wanted to give Jennifer more of an intro but with the time constraints I think it was wasted space.

I loved Gato in the book. On the screen I think too much of his character came just from him being Ving Rhames.

Possibly if this had been a 2 hour pilot it would have been amazing. (The camera close ups, music, etc. don't bug me too much though they certainly don't endear the show to me.)