Miami Medical episode reviews

Letting the Exiles Bleed on Main Street

April 2010 -- The April 2 series premiere of the CBS drama Miami Medical portrays a senior nurse mainly as a skilled and authoritative administrator who helps the brilliant physicians who provide all important care at a level one trauma center. Nurse Tuck Brody is one of the show's five major characters, albeit the least important. He displays some clinical knowledge, sometimes speaks to patients, seems to be part of the show's "Alpha Team" of trauma surgeons, and has some authority over other nurses, perhaps as "charge nurse," as he is once called here, or "head nurse," as the CBS website says. Brody is closer to the evolved handmaiden portrayal of nursing often seen on NBC's ER than the more extreme passive servant depiction that continues to dominate today's most popular network shows, notably Fox's House and ABC's Grey's Anatomy, though it seems unlikely that Brody will ever make the difference in patient outcomes that ER's nurse Sam Taggart sometimes did in that show's final years. In accord with Miami Medical's overall portrayal of hotshot trauma clinicians, Brody may do more swaggering than any television nurse we've seen. But it seems to be largely vicarious, because Brody is also an eager cheerleader for the show's physician glorification. Brody repeatedly presents his trauma surgeon colleagues as intergalactic gods. Think we're exaggerating? Brody calls them "the best and the brightest," "the envy of the known universe," and not just the "rock stars," but the "Rolling Stones" of medicine. CBS promotion has embraced the rock star angle, and by the second episode, the show's main title theme was the Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown." But oddly, the show seems to have no comment on the skills of the nurses. The minor nurse characters get a few lines (again as on ER), but since Brody is the show's Designated Nurse, it appears that other nurses will rarely play any significant role in patient care, and that in the clinical scenes, only the physicians will really matter. The pilot was written by executive producer and show creator Jeffrey Lieber. more...

From our 2009 fall series TV preview

September 13, 2009 -- Details about the CBS show that was to be named Miami Trauma are understandably a bit fuzzy, but it seems the show will focus on an elite trauma unit, particularly a former military surgeon and other surgeons who work to save patients in the "golden hour." According to the CBS web site, one character will be Tuck Brody, a "head nurse who keeps the doctors on track and the patients' families updated." But available previews, which obviously may not reflect what the show actually turns out to be, suggest that Brody will play no major role, and that the show will consist mainly of swaggering trauma surgeons saving lives pretty much by themselves.

Miami Medical contact information:

Executive Producers:
Jerry Bruckheimer, Jeffrey Lieber, Jonathan Littman and Steven Maeda

Brett Gold, Publicist
(212) 975-7931
brett.gold@cbs.com

Andrea Ballas, Director, Publicity
818-655-1581
andrea.ballas@cbs.com

Amy Miller, Director, Publicity
(212) 975-4757
Amy.Miller@cbs.com