Medical Drama “Transplant” Isn’t about Transplants and That’s the Only Interesting Thing about It.

NBC is desperate for content considering production on fall TV series is just starting and the first new episodes won’t be available until October or November. To fill the gap they purchased the rights to Canadian medical drama “Transplant”. On numerous occasions in this blog I’ve asked the question “Do we really need another medical drama?” And with rare exceptions the answer is no. Fortunately our organs are working just fine and we don’t really need a “Transplant”.

The main character is Bashir Hamed, a Syrian refugee who has been accepted to live in Canada under their refugee assistance program. He’s accompanied by his preteen sister Amira. They have transplanted their lives fleeing the Syrian Civil War to live in Canada. The show has nothing to do with medical transplants.

In the opening episode he’s working as a short order cook in a Middle Eastern restaurant in Toronto. Suddenly a semi truck crashes into the front of the restaurant injuring him and 4 other people. He manages to pull himself together and remove some shards of glass from his abdomen and then proceeds to help the other victims. One is a 50 something-year-old woman who is in full cardiac arrest and he beats on her chest and gives her CPR. Another is his friend who I believe owns the restaurant and he’s got blood behind his eyeball so Bashir cuts the corner of his eye socket to relieve the pressure. Then he moves on to a man with a fractured skull and a blown pupil so he gets a power drill and drills a hole into the man’s temple to relieve the pressure. He doesn’t have time to treat his other friend who has a dislocated arm.

The next scene shows him waking up in the ER with all of the other victims after having been transported there. No one knows that he had performed all of these procedures on the victims because the guy with a hole in his head was actually Dr. Jed Bishop the head of the ER at that hospital. They presumed that Dr. Bishop had performed all of the procedures including drilling a hole in his own head.

That’s a pretty exciting and interesting beginning of a TV show but it falls apart quickly after that. Despite the insistence that he stay on the hospital gurney and wait for further treatment, he keeps getting up and wandering around the ER looking for someone. It turns out he’s looking for a friend who was also injured in the accident. We never do quite understand their relationship. I think they are roommates. We do discover that his friend doesn’t have immigration papers. They eventually meet up and he puts the friend’s dislocated shoulder back in place. Then he goes in search of his kid sister who is missing. She has gone to the hospital looking for her brother because she heard about the accident on TV.

The police investigating the crash are trying to determine who is the driver of the truck. Because Bashir is obviously Middle Eastern and is behaving erratically the police become a highly suspicious of him. I get the idea that we are supposed to be sympathetic towards this Syrian refugee who obviously has rad medical skills but is working as a fry cook. We are supposed to be appalled at the idea that they assume he’s some sort of terrorist who deliberately drove the truck into the restaurant.

But it’s hard to be sympathetic towards Bashir when he is behaving so irrationally and suspiciously. If he was an ordinary All-American (or I guess all Canadian in this case) white guy behaving like he was behaving he still would have been a prime suspect. The whole thing just seemed totally irrational.

We get introduced to other ER doctors trying to treat the patients and solve the mysteries. They finally figure out that he is the one who did all of the procedures. He still runs around the place acting suspiciously and drawing attention to himself eventually getting himself handcuffed to a gurney by the police until they can finally find the real driver of the vehicle. Apparently his brakes failed, he jumped from the vehicle and got run over by it. They release Bashir. By then I don’t care anymore.

Dr. Bishop miraculously recovers from his brain bleed and is sitting up in bed shouting orders to residents in a matter of hours which is totally ridiculous. Then he asked that Bashir come in to visit him after hearing the story of how he saved him and the other victims. It turns out that Bashir had applied for a job in the hospital and been turned down by Bishop. Dr. Bishop decides to reinterview him giving him a second chance and that wraps up the pilot episode.

We really don’t learn anything more in that first episode about where or how he got his medical training. From other reviews and a Wikipedia article I’ve learned that he was a trauma doctor during the Syrian Civil War. His credentials aren’t any good in Canada where he has now “transplanted” his life and so he is going to end up serving as an ER resident in the hospital.

Dr. Bishop’s magical recovery shows us that we are not going to get credibly accurate medicine in this series. We only briefly get introduced to the other characters but they already come off as stereotypes. One is the perky young female resident who tries too hard to make a good impression. Another is a driven surgical resident who is out to compete with everyone and has a chip on her shoulder. Bishop is a hard-nosed, grumpy but brilliant doctor who is worshiped like a God by the other personnel in the hospital. By the way Dr. Bishop is the only actor I recognized. He is played by the Scottish actor John Hannah who did a couple of seasons of “Agents of SHIELD” as Holden Radcliffe but I remember him most as the character Batiatus from the
“Spartacus: Blood and Sand”
TV series.

Unless you are just desperate for the heartwarming struggles of a Middle Eastern refugee trying to make it in the big bad Western world you would do better to watch Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor,
Chicago Med
, or just about any other medical drama on TV. I’m giving it a solid rating of “Skip It“.

“Deputy” is Nothing Special

The first new show of the midseason is Fox’s procedural cop drama “Deputy“. The show stars Stephen Dorff who has most recently been seen in the 2019 season of HBO’s “True Detective“. In this show he plays LA Sheriff Deputy Bill Hollister. He’s your typical hard-nosed cop who hates authority and breaks all the rules. As the show opens he’s being disciplined for refusing to engage in an ICE operation to round up illegal immigrants saying that it’s his job to protect them and not round them up just so that LA County Sheriff Department can get federal grant money for cooperating with ICE.

The show then goes to a case in the field where he engages in a high-speed car chase that is ridiculously over-the-top. Not quite “Fast and Furious” ridiculous but clearly unrealistic. It involves all sorts of dangers to the public such as him speeding down side streets and narrow alleys at high speed and eventually running the suspects off a bridge where they crash into a street below. That kind of reckless behavior would have someone kicked off any police force.

As the chase concludes, the higher-ups come to inform him that the sheriff has recently died of a heart attack and because of an arcane law from the days of the wild West, his most long serving deputy will be made interim Sheriff until an election can be held. And of course that’s him. So suddenly this almost rogue cop who everyone hates and who can’t follow the rules is now in charge of the entire LA County Sheriff Department.

The entire premise is so ridiculously contrived that you have to hold your nose just to buy into the concept. If the characters were compelling and the stories interesting you might be able to get by the ridiculous premise but unfortunately none of that happens.

Hollister is accompanied by his only friend in the department Detective Cade Ward played by Brian Van Holt most recently seen on TV in the series “Cougar Town” which I never watched. The show also features his driver/bodyguard a young lesbian woman named Deputy Breanna Bishop played by Bex Taylor-Klaus most recently seen in “13 Reasons Why” and also appeared in 9 episodes of “Arrow” as the character “Sin”. These two sidekicks are mildly interesting but can’t save this otherwise un-extraordinary cop show.

The plot of the opening episode was nothing special. The action sequences were okay although as I said before quite unbelievable. If you want a good action filled cop show you should skip this and watch SWAT or Hawaii Five-O on CBS.

I’m giving this a solid rating of “Skip it“.

“Sunnyside” Celebrates Incompetent Politicians

Sunnyside” is a new sitcom from NBC starring Kal Penn. He’s of course most known for his role as Kumar Patel the Harold and Kumar movies. He plays Garrett Modi who is a disgraced former New York City councilman. He got elected promising to look out for the little people and then sat on his ass for years doing nothing. He was unanimously voted out of office by his colleagues after a DUI arrest that went viral on YouTube.

He tries to reinvent himself and redeem his image so he can get back into politics. Along the way he runs into a group of immigrants who need his help to pass their naturalization test.

The cast of immigrants is played by a variety of different ethnic types. You won’t recognize any of them. It’s a little bit difficult after just one episode for all of these strange characters to define themselves. Penn’s character is your typical loser who is self-centered and lazy. The premise is that when he takes up the cause of these people, it turns his life around.

I always judge a sitcom by the standard “Did it make me laugh?” And I suppose I got a chuckle or two along the way. But it’s not really very memorable.

I suppose there is potential here if you get to know the characters but I’m not sure it can hold your interest that long. It isn’t terrible but it really isn’t very interesting. I’m giving it a recommendation of “Skip it“. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s an early cancellation.

“Almost Family” is Almost Worthless

The new Fox drama “Almost Family” is the story of Julia Bechley played by Brittany Snow. Her father Leon Bechley played by Timothy Hutton is a famous fertility doctor. It is revealed that he has used his own semen to impregnate 100 women. Julia discovers that among them are childhood friend Eddie Palmer played by Megalyn Echikunwoke, and retired Olympic athlete Roxy Doyle played by Emily Osment. I haven’t bothered to tell you the resume of these people. You can click on the names to look them up on IMDb.

Although technically a drama, at times the show is a bit too lighthearted for such a serious topic. Some of the characters are bit goofy and the others are mostly unlikable. Only Snow’s character comes across as mildly sympathetic trying to deal with the situation.

The show is based on an Australian TV series titled “Sisters“. That was going to be this show’s original title and then it was changed to “Not Just Me” and then finally its current title. This tells me even the writers and producers couldn’t really decide what the show was all about.

I was only able to make it through about half of the one hour pilot episode before giving up. I give it my worst rating of “Worthless“. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 25% and Metacritic gave it 40/100. I’m not going to waste my time or yours discussing it further.

“Carol’s Second Act” Can’t Compete with her Previous Work

CBS has been touting Patricia Heaton’s new sitcom “Carol’s Second Act” as her return to CBS. This is referring to her highly successful starring role in “Everybody Loves Raymond” where she played Ray Romano’s wife Debra for nine seasons. Since then she’s had a variety of TV roles on other networks including another nine years on “The Middle“… a show I never watched but it must’ve been reasonably good to harass that long.

Like last year’s series “The Rookie” in which Nathan Filion becomes a rookie cop in his 40s, in this sitcom Heaton plays a retired teacher who decides to start a second career in medicine. The show picks up on her first day as an intern where she is often mistaken as an attending physician because of her age. She’s also mistaken as the head resident because she’s wearing a long lab coat which she explains isn’t really long, she’s just short.

At times she uses her experience as an evidentiary school teacher to treat her fellow younger interns like they were eight-year-olds which is neither interesting nor funny. It tries to be poignant but fails that that as well.

As I previously noted in my review of “Bob Hearts Abashola“, any sitcom that has to rely on poop or fart jokes does not bode well for quality comedy. Sadly this sitcom suffers the same fate.

It is mildly reminiscent of “Scrubs” in that it is a hospital workplace comedy and although I wasn’t a big fan of “Scrubs” I don’t think this new entry into the genre stands up to even that low bar.

Kyle McLaughlin costars as the chief attending doctor and although he has played somewhat comic roles in the past, the broad comedy of this sitcom and the goofiness of his character doesn’t seem to work very well. The rest of the supporting cast consisting of nurses and other interns is so interesting it’s not worth it to describe them.

As I’ve often stated my ultimate test of a sitcom is “Did it make me laugh?” Unfortunately this one didn’t.

Before I waste anymore of your time or mine let me just say I’m giving it a strong rating of “Skip It“. Move along… Nothing to see here.

“Witches” Should Be Left Undiscovered

Recently BBC America debuted a new series “A Discovery of Witches” that originally appeared on Sky One network in the UK. Season 1 runs for eight episodes. There will be a season 2 and 3 but no word on if they will be aired in the US.

The premise is that various “Creatures” namely witches, vampires, and demons live among us and hide in plain sight. The main character Diana Bishop is the last in a long line of distinguished witches. She however rejects her abilities and tries to avoid using magic of any kind although it occasionally leaks out of her. It’s not just that she is worried about being revealed for who she is. She just doesn’t want to belong to the whole community of creatures. She works as a historian with a special interest in alchemy and how it eventually led to scientific inquiry. S he visits Oxford to research some of Elias Ashmole’s papers. When she checks out a particular manuscript she discovers it is somehow bewitched and triggers some series of strange events. The manuscript believed to be long-lost may hold the key to the origins of vampires and other creatures.

Along the way she encounters a vampire named Matthew Clairmont. Apparently in this particular universe vampires are day walkers. Although vampires and witches are not supposed to get along, they team up to uncover the mysteries of this lost manuscript. From what I’ve read about the series there is eventually some sort of romantic attraction develops between the two of them. Unfortunately I didn’t see any evidence of that. In my opinion the characters do not have any chemistry between them.

Bishop is played by Australian born actress Teresa Palmer. Although she has appeared in a few movies I have seen, I did not recognize her. So for me she’s pretty much an unknown. Vampire Matthew is played by Matthew Goode who I recall from his role as Ozymandias in “Watchmen” but also appeared in “The Good Wife” and “Downton Abbey“. Bishop’s mother is played by Alex Kingston who is most famous as River Song the wife of Doctor Who. She only appeared briefly in the first episode so even though I’m a fan of hers, she doesn’t play a big enough part to keep me watching.

I found nothing particularly interesting about the entire first episode. I’ve seen glowing reviews on IMDb but I don’t get it. As I said previously there is little or no chemistry between the main characters. The idea of some mysterious manuscript that holds the key to everything just didn’t excite me. It’s not funny. It’s not dramatic. It’s not romantic. There is little or no action. I suppose if you stuck with it you might get interested in the characters but a show has to grab me in the opening episode if I want to invest in it and this one just didn’t. I’m giving it a strong rating of “skip it”.

“Deadly Class” Is Neither Deadly nor Classy

We’ve seen many books, films, and TV series in which teens or young adults are put in life or death situations sometimes requiring these young people to use deadly force. Of course we have “The Hunger Games“, “Maze Runner“, and “Divergent” books and films that fit this category. On television we have “The 100” and to a lesser extent “Marvel’s Runaways” just to name a few. With the exception of Runaways all of these are in a futuristic dystopia or post-apocalyptic setting in which everyone faces life-and-death situations and the teens have no choice but to occasionally use deadly force just to survive.

However the new series “Deadly Class” from Syfy Channel is set more or less in the real world of 1980s US. This is not really science fiction or fantasy at all. It is based on a graphic novel by Wesley Craig. Our main character is Marcus Lopez. He’s a homeless teenager who escaped from a boys facility after a fire which killed most of the other residents. He gets recruited into a private high school called Kings Dominion Academy which is an underground school for assassins. Various gangsters, yakuza, and other nefarious types send their children to the school to learn “deadly arts”. He gets recruited because it is mistakenly believed that he murdered the other residents thus making him an experienced killer.

The Academy is run by a mysterious Oriental character named Master Lin whose family founded the organization to help poor people fight against the establishment. It’s based on the premise that some people just deserve to die. Marcus decides to go ahead and join to get off the street and perhaps learn skills so he can seek revenge against Pres. Ronald Reagan whom he blames for the death of his parents. Reagan cut funding for mental health programs releasing thousands of mentally ill patients onto the streets. A crazy woman jumped off a building, landed on his parents, and killed them.

In some ways the Academy sort of reminds you as a very dark and dangerous Hogwarts if the only class they taught was a dark arts class. However it wasn’t “defense against the dark arts” rather it was dark arts itself. Except remember these aren’t wizards. This isn’t sci-fi or fantasy. Despite being based on a comic book (excuse me graphic novel) there are no superheroes or supernatural elements. This is allegedly the real world.

When we look at terrific events of the dystopian young adult franchises, we can tend to set aside a bit our revulsion of kids killing kids even in something as dark as “The Hunger Games” because it’s the corrupt evil adults who are forcing the kids into the situation. However in this series, there seems to be no redeeming value to the entire situation except for the standard rationalization that they are only killing really bad people.

The thing that makes the dystopian franchises palatable apart from the necessity of the circumstance is that the storylines and the characters are compelling. We can’t say any of that about “Deadly Class”. The characters aren’t memorable. The situations aren’t compelling. Their struggles with moral dilemmas seem completely contrived even more that in the dystopian franchises. It seems as though we’re telling a story about killer kids just for the shock value of it. If there’s some deeper metaphorical meaning behind the entire concept, it is lost on me. If we want to tell a coming-of-age story about how difficult it is to grow up as a teenager these days in a violent world, then just tell the real story and don’t contrive some bizarre teenage academy for assassins.

I’ve not bothered to detail any of the characters beyond the main one or even tell you the actors names because none of them are anybody you’ve ever heard of and none of them are very interesting characters to begin with.

By the way if you’re looking for action in this series you’re going to be disappointed as well. Although they are supposedly being trained as killers, you’re not going to see spectacular fight sequences or action set pieces like you might see in a show like “The Badlands”. That’s why I said in the title that the show is neither deadly nor classy.

I waited until I had seen two full episodes before the writing this review because I wanted to see if there was some deeper meaning or some redeeming quality to the entire series but I haven’t discovered it yet. I gave this one every opportunity but in the end I give up and I’m giving it a very strong recommendation of “skip it“.

“Fam” is Contrived Family Comedy

The first new sitcom of the winter season is “Fam” on CBS. The premise is Clem is a young woman who is recently engaged to her adoring fiancé Nick. Just as they begin to make wedding plans her ne’er-do-well out of control 16-year-old half-sister Shannon shows up and moves in with her. Clam is white and Nick is African-American but race is never brought up the entire first episode. So this isn’t “blackish” or “The Neighborhood“.

Clem is played by Nina Dobev who was most recently been seen in “The Vampire Diaries“. Her fiancé Nick is played by Tone Bell who appeared on one season of the sitcom “Whitney” but was most recently seen in “Disjointed“. The sister played by Odessa Adlon recently seen in “Nashville“. Her quirky character is the only bright spot in this otherwise ordinary sitcom. We also get a few laughs from Clem and Shannon’s father played by Gary Cole recently seen in “Chicago Fire” and as Christine Baranski’s husband on “The Good Fight“. He is a stereotypical bad father who makes all sorts of lame excuses for how he was never there when the girls were growing up. He brings a couple of laughs here and there.

The opening plot is full of sitcom clichés. The girls had told everyone that their father is dead because he’s been such an ass. Of course he shows up and spoils the lie. Also Nick accidentally eats some pot laced nuts right before a family gathering.

The laugh track is obviously fake and overdone as is usual for a new sitcom.

If you have read any of my other sitcom reviews you know that my ultimate test of any comedy is “Did it make me laugh?” I have to admit I did get a couple of chuckles out of the teenage girl but for the most part there’s nothing special about this. If you’re desperate to pick up a new sitcom on your schedule you might give it a try and see if it grows on you. But for me and my household, I’m rating this one a mild “Skip It“. Nothing special here. Move along.

Visiting “The Neighborhood” Will Not Make You “Happy Together”.

CBS just premiered 2 back to back sitcoms on Monday night. Neither of them are worth your time.

“The Neighborhood” is about a white couple that moves into a mostly black LA suburb. The white couple is Dave played by Max Greenfield recently seen in “New Girl” and Gemma played by Beth Behrs formally the blonde of “2 Broke Girls“. Their next-door neighbor is Calvin played by Cedric the Entertainer and his wife Tina is played by Tichina Arnold whom I’ve never seen before.

The whole thing is a one joke show. So a white couple moves into a black neighborhood. They try too hard to fit in. Some of the black people accept them and some don’t. End of story. This one gets a solid “Skip It

The other show “Happy Together” has an even weaker premise. A guy is the accountant for an Australian popstar. When the popstar’s life becomes a shambles and is chased by paparazzi he ends up moving in with the accountant and his wife. It stars Damon Wayans Jr. recently from “New Girl” and Amber Stevens West who recently appeared in “The Carmichael Show“. The popstar is played by Felix Mallard whose only previous credits are an Australian soap opera. I could barely watch one episode. This one gets a solid “Worthless” rating. It’s my candidate for the first show to be canceled. We will see.

“God Friended Me” Uninspired and Predictable

From films like “Oh, God” to “Bruce Almighty” and their sequels to TV shows such as “Touched by an Angel” to “Joan of Arcadia” to “Saving Grace” to the recently canceled “Kevin (Probably) Saves the World” the idea that someone is called by God to do special things in the world has pretty much been done in film and TV for many years. CBS’s new comedy/drama “God Friended Me” attempts to update the genre to the social media era we currently live in. I’m not sure there’s much left to explore in this premise.

I liked Joan, Grace, and Kevin but not because I was inspired by the idea that God or angels or other supernatural beings were encouraging them to make a difference in someone’s life. And as a person who considers himself a man of faith I’m not turned off by the religious theme. But I’ve only washed these shows because the characters were compelling and the scenarios were interesting or humorous apart from the godly guidance aspect of the shows.

Unfortunately I can’t say the same for “God Friended Me”. Our hero Miles Finer is an atheist podcaster who is this son of a preacher. He lost his faith when his mother was cured of cancer (thanks to his prayers) but then was soon after killed in a car accident. He is played by Brandon Michael Hall. While trying to promote his podcast promoting the idea that there is no God, he receives a Facebook friend request from none other than God. After declining the request several times he finally accepts it and gets a friend suggestion from God for a man named John Dove. He then immediately bumps into him on the street. Out of curiosity he follows him into the subway and ends up saving him from killing himself when John attempts to jump in front of the train.

Thinking that the whole thing is a hoax he turns to his friend Rakesh to help him track down this bogus “God” account. Meanwhile another friend suggestion from God leads him to a reporter named Cara Bloom played by Violett Beane. She is most noted for her role as Jesse Wells speedster resident of Earth-2 on “The Flash“. Together they try to explore who is pulling this presumed hoax on him. Along the way they uncover secrets to her past that connect the two of them.

There is nothing inspired or original about the entire experience. If you have seen any of these other similar shows then the story is totally predictable. There is a sort of heartwarming conclusion to everything as you might expect including his reconciliation with his estranged preacher father played by Joe Morton. Morton most recently played bad guy Rowen “Command” Pope on “Scandal“. It’s uncertain whether or not he will be a major character in the show or not but on the surface it looks like a waste of his talents compared to the meaty part he had in “Scandal”.

With the cancellation of “Kevin (Probably) Saves the World” after one season if you are hankering for this particular genre I suppose it might appeal to you. But somehow this one just doesn’t do it for me. Out of deference to people who might like it I will give it a “Could Be Watchable” but overall for me it’s a “Skip It“.