Cool News
Hercules Does Not Emerge Unscathed From NBC’s TRAUMA!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
A great-looking and action-packed but dopey Jerry Bruckheimer medical drama from screenwriter Dario Scardapane (whose prior claim to fame appears to be his status as the co-writer the 1993 Mario Van Peebles Afro-western “Posse”), “Trauma” follows emergency medical technicians as they tend to an ongoing series of highly cinematic mishaps – like a tanker-involved freeway pile-up set off by a sexting commuter.
The most memorable presence is Jamie Bamber’s magnetic blonde sister Anastasia Griffith, best known until now as the hot sister on “Damages.” The most recognizable are Jamie Sheridan (“The Stand,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) as the ER chief and Cliff Curtis ("Training Day") as a chopper pilot.
The action can be eye-popping, notably the teaser’s two-helicopter-and-a-building mishap high above downtown San Francisco, but the dialogue is third-rate and the characters are dull, clichéd and unlikable.
USA Today says:
… Here's hoping you like loud noises and big explosions, because those are about the only things this medical drama has in its puny, if flashy, little head. … The latest amped-up plan, apparently, is to move so fast you won't notice the humorously tin-eared dialogue ("She's not trained! It's a lawsuit waiting to happen!"), but it may not be humanly possible for any show to go that quickly. …
The New York Times says:
… It’s entirely possible that these people and their problems will become more interesting as the series goes along, but you can’t tell from the pilot; at this point they’re still constructs more than real characters. …
The Los Angeles Times says:
If you can make it through the clunky dialogue, overwrought scene-setting and general predictability of "Trauma's" first episode, there are several important lessons to be learned: Don't wear your iPod while you're checking out a generator because then you won't be able to hear the guy asking if it's OK to throw the power back on. Don't text while driving, especially if the sexual nature of those texts causes you to leer and laugh with such wild abandon that you cause a 20-car pileup that involves multiple explosions. Most important, if you are going to have a "wild man" emergency helicopter pilot as one of your main characters, do not give him a nickname like Rabbit and force him to wear aviator shades and a skintight uniform. The last person to do this with any dignity was Erik Estrada in "CHiPs," and that was the '70s, man. …
The Washington Post says:
… Cynics might scoff that on "Trauma ," NBC's explosive new action series about a San Francisco medical-rescue team, the best acting is done by the helicopters. The whirlybirds get a very large amount of screen time in the hour-long drama that premieres Monday night. Considering the relative lowliness of the genre, however, the show looks to be encouragingly human and dramatically respectable just the same. And then, of course, there are the crashes, bangs, explosions, flips and loop-de-loops, all of them kinetically exciting and expertly choreographed. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… just a not-very-good medical series. … It's almost - but not quite - enough to be considered a post-work popcorn-type series where you check your brain on the side table and watch stuff blow up. Except that the relationships and dialogue will at some point make you scream, with or without your brain. That's the problem with medical dramas. Every over-turned car, every leaking tanker, every person who needs to have their heart jolted by those ubiquitous paddles - well, you've seen it. You've heard the cocksure banter from the in-the-line-of-fire medical teams. And you've seen how it haunts them as they take it home. Or how they escape all the pain by having sex with each other.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… "Trauma" benefits from some fine performances – [Cliff] Curtis, especially, plays his role with panache -- but to be redeemable or at least interesting, the characters need to reveal more complexities, stat. Without them, viewers may skip the drama of "Trauma."
The Newark Star Ledger says:
… The problem with "Trauma" is that it clearly wants to be a 21st century adrenaline machine, and the pilot isn’t all that exciting, even though it’s likely to be the most expensive and stunt-filled episode the series will do for a long time. If a helicopter crash, a multicar freeway pile-up, and a bunch of pretty fireballs aren’t enough to quicken the pulse, how sedate will the show feel on a more restrained weekly budget and schedule? …
The Boston Herald says:
… Despite the disasters in the first hour, there’s precious little excitement. If “Trauma” is going to thrive, it needs a script doctor, stat.
The Boston Globe says:
… “Trauma’’ may impress with its pyrotechnics, especially if you’re watching it on HDTV, but the personal dramas may not be original and engaging enough to keep you watching for more than an episode or two. …
Variety says:
… The big action pieces are reasonably impressive, but without stronger characters, that adrenaline boost won't be enough to keep the show off life support.…
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… a riveting, multilayered show about fallout; survival amidst the ruins -- a standout among the fall season's offerings. …
9 p.m. Monday. NBC.
Kubrick’s
Masterpiece!!
$8.99 Blu-ray!!
Worf And Data In HD Shipping Now!!
$11.50 Per Blu-ray Trek Movie!!
-
+ Expand All
-
But that's because Dexter is the best show on tv right now. Fact.
-
Seriously - it's the only way to make yet another doctor/nurse/paramedic drama stand out.Set in the year 2512 as the space medics battle alien diseases, injuries caused by a crumbling space station and wounds suffered by soldiers in the latest intergalactic war.Just don't show it on a Friday night. Or on FOX.
-
Why is NBC still so desperate to be the network of medical, cop, and rescue dramas? That type of crap has left them in last place for years. The one show that isn't one of those three genres, Heroes, comes along with REAL potential to be the NBC flagship--and they let it get destroyed after the 1st season! NBC primetime deserves to die out, especially since they're so content to be the last place channel of reality shows and Leno.
-
B/w Dexter and Supernatural, this is gonna be a great fall season.
-
This show wasn't on my radar, AT ALL, until my RSS feed for Bear McCreary's blog fired up after a while of inactivity. See, Trauma is his next big project going forward until Caprica hits the air. So, he goes into how he designed the musical style, how he's building around certain sounds, so on. And another BSG connection? The director of the pilot is the same guy who did the Caprica pilot, Jeffery Reimer. Furthermore, one of the sound designers on Trauma also worked on BSG -- and is the guy who won one of its 4 Emmys, Daniel Colman.
So yeah. The writing might not be up to par, but a lot of the people behind the scenes are from BSG. And as I can't get enough of Bear McCreary's work, that alone is going to get me to watch the pilot. -
Sep 28, 2009 8:58:01 AM CDT
BTW Herc, Conan O'Brien concussed himself on TTS Friday
by american mythos
They had to discontinue the taping on Friday when Conan hit his head during a skit on the show. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital where it was determined he received a concussion. I was surprised not to see a thread for it, especially when they'll surely air the footage of the accident on tonight's episode (Conan is reportedly coming back to work tonight). Imagine being 6'4"--6'5" in loafers--and falling and hitting your head on the ground. Is he the 1st talk show host to actually concuss himself? Now he joins the proud pantheon of injured talk show hosts, which includes Geraldo Rivera (hit by white supremacist) and Richard Belzer (knocked out by Hulk Hogan). Who else is there?
-
Just to replace them with bad knock offs? And more Leno?
-
One Adam 12, see the woman...Ahhh, this show sounds like it will make me nostalgic for 1970's medical/cop junk...
-
So its Star Trek told from McCoy's perspective....?
-
Make a nightly dramedy with Jay Leno as the lead. It could be about a sex crimes detective (Leno) who moonlights as an EMT while practicing stand-up comedy on the weekends to make extra money to put himself through medical school to fulfill his true goal of becoming a doctor at Cook County General Hopsital. Kevin Eubanks can be his wise-cracking pot dealer/booking agent for his weekend stand-up routine who's always practicing guitar when Leno comes to pick up his weed. It's so obvious that's what NBC really wants to do.
-
I choose all my entertainment by who's doing the sound design and score.
-
It's still entertainment. And I said I was going to watch the pilot. I'm not going to commit past that.
-
Just giving you some shit, no biggie. By what I've read, this is supposed to be big, loud and dumb. So score and design may be its only saving graces.
-
...that may the first time in years anyone has used the words "Erik Estrada" and "dignity" in the same sentence.
-
Traumatically bad.
-
You make it sound so less interesting when you put it that way.But yes.:(
-
Thanks for the Tonight Show story, American Mythos. I was wondering why he had a repeat on Friday.
-
...correction: it's ER: The Later Years: Outdoors.
By which I mean more worried about spectacle than character development. -
this coming from USA TODAY?
-
I think you hit it there, sir. Especially with the recent success of the Star Trek movie, a new Star Trek series focusing on the medical operations of Star Fleet's biggest hospital, or on a space station somewhere would be a hit show. As long as they wrote it with the comedy and edge of the recent movie... GOLD! Like a futuristic version of M*A*S*H.
-
This is what an exciting day consists of: smoking and playing checkers, calming down the heart rate of the stray crackhead about to overdose, finding out the guy who called 911 for an exploding blood cot is really has AIDS and just needed a ride to the hospital for his monthly checkup, and about a thousand old geezers who forgot to take their meds. Not exactly a harrowing, eventful day.
-
medical show? But any guesses on next week's South Park...Obama and health care? My bet's on something with Michael Jackson, or Terrence and Phillip fearing they're the next celebrities to die...
-
um, did anyone think this would be good? If I wanted to see bad dialog and cheap special effects I would watch Bad Boys again
NBC should have their own Trama unit...because after this season it will be a blood bath in the executive offices -
I thought the show was from Peter Berg, who brought the wheelchair bound Herc from Friday Night Lights to Trauma, not Jerry Bruckheimer.
-
Leno's ratings have quickly dipped below a 2. Mercy debuted at a 2.3, Community is about the same, and now Trauma is starting out on the same night as House and Dancing With The Stars. After football season is over, they are fucked.
-
Sep 28, 2009 3:26:15 PM CDT
I'd rather they'd remake "Emergency", like the original!
by mrmysteryguest
-
Be still my heart.
-
Shit about hospitals and doctors? I swear hospital show/real life footage takes up probably 50% of TV time.
-
Its about docs performing medical surgeries ...but, at dramatic crash sites! EXTREME! It has good-looking doctors ...but, they're younger! EXTREME! Its just like any other hour-loung drama on television ...but, its shot on hand-held cameras! EXTREME! The colors in the picture are normal ...but, are oversaturated so the whites look really bright! EXTREME! Its structured like E.R. ...but, without any great storylines or character arcs! EXTREME!
-
I thought Mercy was bad but this was even fucking worse. Terrible terrible shows. They make the last few seasons of ER look like The Wire
-
yNvTHnaB KoAkTU
-
hFYmls ZxinKNtR
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- A hot redhead (not Harry) is set to play lead in Fede Alvarez's remake of EVIL DEAD! -- 166 total posts 166 posts
- UPDATED: Talkbacker Bob Orci tweets STAR TREK old set pics! -- 243 total posts 87 posts
- The Friday Docback Spelunks 'The Caves Of Androzani'!! DOCTOR WHO Story #136, And More!! -- 90 total posts 81 posts
- RIDDICK Sequel Details Via A New Press Release!! -- 84 total posts 73 posts
- Here Comes THE GODMOTHER! -- 71 total posts 71 posts
- Rest In Peace Ben Gazzara -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- INSIDIOUS-ER? -- 120 total posts 42 posts
- ABC Has Cast The Lead In Its Future Nuclear Nation Pilot!! And They’ve Chosen Wisely!! -- 39 total posts 39 posts
- The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day, you bitch! You never backed away from anything in your life! Now fight! FIGHT! -- 136 total posts 37 posts
- AWAKE, This Season’s Best Broadcast Pilot, Gets NBC’s Old ER Slot March 1!! THE FIRM To Burn Off On Saturdays!! -- 37 total posts 37 posts