On TV, the doctor is in. Always.
In the Pittsburgh-set series on the streaming platform Max, Wyle is playing perpetually-under-the-gun emergency room physician Michael (Robby) Robinavitch.
Now comes word from
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So what accounts for the enduring popularity of medical shows?
Perhaps what draws viewers is the juxtaposition of the familiar with the dramatic.
Most people are unlikely to interact much, if at all, with judges, cops, or firefighters. But everyone has contact with doctors and nurses at some point in their lives.
The medical professionals of your typical hospital series bring a combination of competence and commitment to situations where the stakes can be literally life-or-death. (While also finding time for romantic entanglements galore.) Yes, they're fictional. Yes, it's an idealized portrait. But it doesn't hurt, brand-wise.
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Can the American TV audience's appetite for all things medical be slaked? Doubtful.
Even a partial list of series that have been set in hospitals or other medical-care environments would have to include 'St. Elsewhere,' 'Grey's Anatomy,' '
And that list is apparently about to grow by one.
Don Aucoin is the Globe's chief theater critic and an Arts critic-at-large. He was formerly a TV critic-reporter at the Globe, and writes periodically about television.
Don Aucoin can be reached at
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