Latest news with #BerlinER
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Running Point,' 'Last Breath' and 'Toxic Town': Best and worst new releases, movies and TV, this week
With the 2025 Oscars right around the corner, if you need a break from Academy Awards picks, there's plenty of new content that was released this week in Canada to watch this weekend. Running Point starring Kate Hudson, Brenda Song and Chet Hanks landed on Netflix, in addition to the series Toxic Town, with The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood. On the movie front, Last Breath with Finn Cole, Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu is now in theatres. And a German-language series on Apple TV+ surprises as a no small feat to impress an audience with a medical drama because, let's face it, there's a lot of them. But nothing else has been able to capture this uneasy chaotic feeling that we get in Berlin ER. The German-language series is so gripping that you quickly feel incredibly invested in all its characters. As co-creator and executive producer, ER doctor-turned-screenwriter Samuel Jefferson, highlighted to Yahoo Canada, there was an understanding that the medical cases of the patients in each episode were not going to be the core of the story, and that's part of what makes the show so interesting. The lives of the nurses, doctor and paramedics are what pull you in. Berlin ER isn't your glossy, shiny, sterile medical drama. It's dark, gritty, devastating and stomach churning. While I also love The Pitt, Berlin ER impressed me even more. If you're loving Aimee Lou Wood in The White Lotus right now, fill the days in between episodes with Toxic Town, also starring Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker, and Bridgerton icon Claudia Jessie. It's shocking, heart-wrenching and based on a real-life British scandal of mass poisoning in the steel town of Corby. It's been called "the British Erin Brockovich," with a group of mothers who gave birth to children with health issues confronting officials about management of toxic waste. The performances, which you will expect with this cast, are impeccable, with the story effectively navigating disseminating the facts around this horrific scandal with these incredibly moving personal stories of its characters. Last Breath is based on the true story of Chris Lemons, a deep sea saturation diver who, in 2012, experienced a freak accident that led to him being stuck under the sea, deprived of oxygen for 30 minutes. Starring Finn Cole as Lemons, along with Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu, Last Breath proves that sometimes sticking to familiar beats in a film's construction, but executing it with attention to detail, can be just as interesting as a more original idea. As someone who is claustrophobic and my worst fear is drowning, I have never felt so anxious and uncomfortable watching a movie. With the film's captivating cinematography, I felt the tension through the screen in a surprisingly impactful way. Starring Julianne Nicholson, Eliza Scanlen, Umi Myers and Eilidh Fisher, Dope Girls fills a massive gap in entertainment. A post-World War One story focused on the women that were left without the men in their lives as they left for war. And Dope Girls isn't afraid to state the reality that, for some, their independence, and being able to take on jobs held by men, was a good thing. I'm leaving room for improvement here because I haven't seen the whole series yet, just the first three episodes, but there's a great disruptive energy in the show, or as Nicholson described it, a "punk rock" way to tell this story. The performances are strong, but I'm really just curious to see how all the moving parts come together in the show's remaining episodes, because I'm hooked. This one hurts, because I deeply enjoy so many people in this series, stars like Kate Hudson, Brenda Song, Jay Ellis, and Max Greenfield, and co-creators Mindy Kaling, David Stassen and Ike Barinholtz. But this is a case of a show that's trying to do too much, drowning out the talent it has, and trying to force the comedy through when this entire cast can handle better material. But I'm not completely ruling out more of this show. It has all the elements to be a great series, hopefully, if it continues, it can find its rhythm.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Berlin ER' on Apple TV+: Every other medical drama is tame in comparison to this brilliantly intense show
Medical dramas set in North America have this sort of glossy look to their hospital settings, a colour palette of white and blues, oftentimes looking quite sterile. While The Pitt has recently been praised for its stress-inducing and authentic storytelling, the new Apple TV+ show Berlin ER (Krank: Berlin) takes things several notches. Unlike any other medical drama you've seen, Berlin ER is much grittier, more chaotic, emotional, all with a sardonic edge. And that goes far beyond the medical cases and into the personal lives of the nurses, doctors and paramedics we meet on the show. The German-language series is addictive and takes no short cuts in its path to creating a gripping, sometimes stomach-churning, series. After her personal life imploded in Munich, Dr. Suzanna Parker, played by Haley Louise Jones, makes the move to Berlin, thrown into the absolute mayhem of the hospital's emergency room. Tasked implementing work place reforms, that seems like an impossible task. The unit is run with limited equipment, and what they have is quite antiquated, it's understaffed and run in a state of chaos. It doesn't help that the doctors and nurses are completely resistant to Dr. Parker's effort, mostly because they just don't have the time to worry about anything other than the patients in front of them. Among Dr. Parker's new colleagues is Dr. Ben Weber, who's an incredibly competent doctor but is frequently trying to sober up from his drinking and drug use to get back to helping patients. But his motto for working is very much, do what needs to be done, forget about the formal process, much to Dr. Parker's dismay. "He does it his own way, and he has this passion," Popadic told Yahoo Canada. "When I talk to our creators, Samuel [Jefferson], who was a surgeon in London, and Viktor [Jakovleski] has a friend who worked in a Berlin hospital, he got mentally ill, and they both were like, 'Ben is based on these two guys.' This put the thing on a whole other level for me." A core advantage of Berlin ER is that co-creator and executive producer, Samuel Jefferson, is an emergency room physician-turned-screenwriter. When he was in film school London he was still working as an emergency room doctor, and when the recommendation came to create a medical drama, he wasn't enthusiastic about the idea. "[I] flatly refused. I think because I was just way too close to it and I was still in it, and it was still doing what it was doing to me," Jefferson said. "And I think then gradually, as time passed, ... I realized as the show went on like, oh I'm really releasing something that I had in me. And I think writing is therapy." "There was obviously a lot of therapy that I needed and I think that just sort of poured out of me once that started coming, and we started getting into the show. I never really censored myself ... or stopped anything coming out." With an emergency room being built to film the show, Jefferson recalled the first day on set when he realized he could actually use all the props, including the medical machines brought in for the show, which was an odd feeling for him. "It was a really weird feeling of stepping back into a past life almost, and it was a little bit traumatic," Jefferson shared. "So I think it's been good for me to get it out." "And I think for a lot of doctors and nurses that work in the profession, you have to be seen as heroic. Sometimes ... it's very hard to admit, 'I can be unwell as well,' or 'I can have problems.' It's sort of almost a love letter to them as well, to be like, it's OK. We see you. You're allowed to be messy and a bit human." But within this robust material, Jones has a particularly unique task of playing Dr. Parker, because she's a character who gets completely thrown into the complexity of her new work environment, starting from a place where she's just entirely overwhelmed. The actor said it was a "joy" to start from that place as her character. "It gives you so many layers to work with and I love the fact that I could sort of discover Berlin ER through her eyes," Jones said. "Also I love her struggles and I empathize with her so much. ... Just being a female in this world comes with its own set of challenges and I loved to explore that." "It added to the struggles that we have as human beings, and also topics like being bullied, being bullied in the workplace, or being forced, basically, to sort of stand your ground, and almost prove, even though you don't want to prove, that you're able to do your job, and that you have a right to be there. I really, really love being able to explore those topics." And a real draw of Berlin ER is how it balances the jobs of these medical professionals, with their personal lives, and the concerns of the patients. It's a tricky balance to struck but the show does so in a was that feel completely filled and stressful, but not overstuffed. "It adds a secret to the character and I loved everything, every struggle that added to her," Jones said. "And I think we all know that, from life, you can be at work just trying to do your job, but there's this thing that's nagging, or pulling on your heart, or your stomach." "There's this extra thing that's sort of like an undercurrent constantly, and your mind keeps going there. And I really loved exploring that and the tension that it created." While it's teased at the beginning of the season that Dr. Parker is dealing with something complicated related to her family in Munich, for Dr. Weber, his substance abuse becomes an interesting factor in his story. "It was quite intense," Popadic said. "Because I talked to people who had similar problems, and it really took time to really get it inside of me." "I also talked to doctors ... who worked with addicts, and I think to get to this state of mind or to get it into your body, it took me the most time for my preparation." As Jefferson explained, in order to get that unique intensity and raw storytelling for the show, there were a few core elements that were established from the beginning. "It was always on the table that it had to be authentic, and not necessarily realistic, like one-to-one to the actual job, but the authenticity of really what it's like," Jefferson said. "And I think life can be as messy and terrible as it is beautiful and funny." "I think with the show, there's some irony to the fact that a lot of medical shows look clinical. And actually, my experience of working as a doctor is medicine is way more like farming than it is working in a lab. It's messy and it's smelly and it's gritty, but it's also fun and a bit freewheeling, and it's a lot more chaotic, I think, than we might want to think it is." Jefferson added that it was always known that Berlin ER was not going to be a show like House where much of the drama came from the medical cases. "We wanted it to be much more behind-the-scenes, doctors and nurses lives and the pressure of the job," he said. He explained that "tiers" were established for the medical cases on the show. The first tier was composed of cases that added a "spice" or "flavour" to an episode, any case that could be visual or feel "a bit Berlin". Then there are the medical cases where the patients were named and would be around for a whole episode. The third tier was for patients who impact a main character's journey, included in multiple episodes. "A roller-coaster is how I tried to always think about it, like where are we on the journey for the person who's giving us their time at home to watch it," Jefferson said. "And a lot of the content I see that passes for TV now doesn't do that. It's just sort of a flat ride." "But I think with us, we really wanted to be, 'Give us your attention and your time, and we'll take you on something, and keep you in the centre.'"
Washington Post
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Want to be prescribed a new hospital drama? These TV doctors are ready to treat you
LONDON — No matter your ailment, there are plenty of TV doctors waiting to treat you right now on a selection of channels and streamers. Whether it's Noah Wyle putting on his stethoscope for the first time since 'ER,' Morris Chestnut graduating to head doctor, Molly Parker making her debut in scrubs or Joshua Jackson trading death for life on a luxury cruise, new American hospital dramas have something for everyone. There's also an outsider trying to make a difference in 'Berlin ER,' as Haley Louise Jones plays the new boss of a struggling German hospital's emergency department. The show's doors slide open to patients Wednesday on Apple TV+.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Want to be prescribed a new hospital drama? These TV doctors are ready to treat you
LONDON (AP) — No matter your ailment, there are plenty of TV doctors waiting to treat you right now on a selection of channels and streamers. Whether it's Noah Wyle putting on his stethoscope for the first time since 'ER,' Morris Chestnut graduating to head doctor, Molly Parker making her debut in scrubs or Joshua Jackson trading death for life on a luxury cruise, new American hospital dramas have something for everyone. There's also an outsider trying to make a difference in 'Berlin ER,' as Haley Louise Jones plays the new boss of a struggling German hospital's emergency department. The show's doors slide open to patients Wednesday on Apple TV+. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. These shows all contain the DNA of classic hospital dramas — and this guide will help you get the TV treatment you need. 'Berlin ER' Dr. Suzanna 'Zanna' Parker has been sent to run the Krank, which is only just being held together by hardened — and authority-resistant — medical staff and supplies from a sex shop. The result is an unflinching drama set in an underfunded, underappreciated and understaffed emergency department, where the staff is as traumatized as the patients, but hide it much better. From former real-life ER doc Samuel Jefferson and also starring Slavko Popadić, Şafak Şengül, Aram Tafreshian and Samirah Breuer, the German-language show is not for the faint of heart. Jones says she eventually got used to the blood and gore on the set. 'It's gruesome in the beginning, highly unnerving. And then at some point, it's just the most normal thing in the world,' she explains. 'That's flesh. That's the rest of someone's leg, you know, let's just move on and have coffee or whatever.' As it's set in the German clubbing capital, the whole city seems to live at a frenetic pace and the staff deals with the pressure by partying. The music, the lighting and the pulse of the drama also rubs off on the audience. 'When I saw it the first time I was sitting there, my heart was racing,' says Jones of watching the program. 'I knew what was coming, but I just, you know, my body just reacted. And I think that really says a lot.' Would she agree to be treated by Dr. Parker? Jones reckons it depends on what day you catch her. DIAGNOSIS: 'This is Going To Hurt' gets the 'ER' treatment — side effects include breathlessness and heartbreak. 'The Pitt' Emergencies are often against the clock, but in 'The Pitt,' they are on a timer. Attached to a bomb. Each episode shows an hour of Dr. Michael Robinavitch's emergency room shift on one of the worst days of his life. After avoiding all doctor roles since the finale of 'ER' in 2009, Wyle pulls on the navy hoodie of a weary Dr. Robby — this time in Pittsburgh. Initially an idea for a 'ER' reboot with producer John Wells, the show morphed into a fresh take on the challenges medical professionals face in the wake of the world-shifting pandemic. 'It felt a little sacrilegious to try to walk back into that arena prematurely,' says Wyle. 'It was really only thoughtfully, soberly, cautiously and meticulously that we attempted it again.' Robby is calm and competent in showing his medical students how it's done, while keeping his own mental health crisis hidden. Not that there are many places to hide: Wyle explains that they are setting themselves apart from other hospital dramas by turning up the lights, cutting the mood-telegraphing music and showing the real dimensions of the department. 'All of those kind of lend themselves to doing something different,' he says. 'Rattling the cage, you know, trying to put a new spin on an old form.' Joining him in Max's 'The Pitt' are co-stars Tracy Ifeachor, Katharine LaNasa, Patrick Ball and Supriya Ganesh. As for his own medical knowledge, Wyle says there are procedures he feels adept at least pretending to do. With the amount of time he's spent playing a doctor, he could have earned his own degree by now. 'I've been doing this long enough,' he says. 'So I'm either the worst student or one of the best doctor actors around.' DIAGNOSIS: With front-line workers against the clock, it has a similar pathology to both 'ER' and '24.' 'Watson' Also in Pittsburgh, you'll find The Holmes Clinic for Diagnostic Medicine, where it's still life-and-death, but your heart rate can afford to slow a little. It's run by Dr. John Watson, former colleague of Sherlock Holmes, the famous sleuth who has bequeathed the funding for the medical center. Chestnut he plays the lead 'doc-tective,' as he puts it, leading a team trying to solve medical mysteries while avoiding old foe Moriarty (Randall Park) — Watson is still dealing with a traumatic brain injury from their last encounter. And Chestnut is no stranger to the long words and Latin terms that accompany hospital dramas. Chestnut was a nurse in 'ER,' a former army doc in 'Nurse Jackie' and a pathologist in 'Rosewood.' More recently, he was the ruthless and talented neurosurgeon Barrett Cain on 'The Resident.' Luckily, his Watson has a better beside manner and uses cutting-edge science to help puzzle out a unique selection of patients, alongside his staff, played by Eve Harlow, Inga Schlingmann and Peter Mark Kendall. The Sherlock mythology is provided by show creator, Arthur Conan Doyle fan and ex-'Elementary' writer Craig Sweeny, who brings a case-of-the-week style to the program. Chestnut reckons it's this literary twist on the medical mystery formula that sets it apart from 'House MD,' whose lead character was more of a Sherlock. And he wouldn't hesitate to be treated by Dr. Watson because 'he wants to understand you as a person' and 'truly cares' about his patients. DIAGNOSIS: More tests needed to confirm if 'Elementary' or 'House' is the leading condition. 'Doc' Over her 30-year career, Molly Parker has never played a doctor before. In 'Doc,' based on a true story, she jumped right in with the top job, chief of internal medicine, at Minneapolis' Westside Hospital. A car crash causes the overachieving, work-centric Dr. Amy Larsen to lose eight years of her memory, turning her into a patient with a traumatic brain injury. Parker portrays both versions of Larsen through Fox's debut season — the career woman in flashback and the mother learning to trust again in the present. The focus of the show is on feelings over physical ailments, as Larsen has to deal, all over again, with the loss of her son. 'What I liked about this is that it has all the elements of that genre, like it has the high stakes and the mystery illness and the romantic love triangle,' explains Parker, who stars alongside Anya Banerjee, Jon-Michael Ecker, Amirah Vann and Omar Metwally. 'But at the center of it is this woman who is going through this really profound grief.' Parker has learned 'not to diagnose yourself on the internet,' a deeper respect for health care workers and that playing a doctor is not easy. 'The most you can do is sort of try to get the words right sometimes,' she says with a smile, admitting she still can't pronounce the name of one particular drug. 'It's, like, so important in the entire season,' Parker adds, 'and I said it wrong every single time.' DIAGNOSIS: For fans of 'Grey's Anatomy,' where complications come from relationships rather than infections. 'Doctor Odyssey' An honorable mention goes to Dr. Max Bankman of 'Doctor Odyssey,' who set sail at the end of 2024 and is finishing up Season One's maiden voyage March 6 on ABC. Joshua Jackson, who previously portrayed real-life man of malpractice Christopher Duntsch in 'Dr. Death,' is on board as the accomplished and smiley new head of a luxury cruise liner's medical team. 'Doctor Odyssey' comes from super producer Ryan Murphy and is set in the same world as his '9-1-1' franchise, with an upcoming crossover episode starring Angela Bassett. Philippa Soo and Sean Teale complete the ship's medical threesome contending with a surprisingly frequent number of bizarre illnesses and accidents that befall the guest stars (episode one: a broken penis). Jackson acknowledges the cases are 'absurd and fun and wild and over-the-top,' much to the amusement of his brother, who runs an actual ER. But that is the appeal, he says, for viewers to 'exhale' and find 'welcome relief' from the stress of real life. 'To have this, you know, pretty bauble in the middle of your week to just come in and go on an adventure,' Jackson explains. 'The stakes are high, the relationships are intense. Everything's very dramatic. And 42 minutes later, you realize you're just in the most beautiful place in the world.' Unfortunately, his own medical skills remain more Dr. Death than Dr. Bankman. 'I could really, really, deeply mess somebody up,' he says. 'I have just enough terminology and jargon to sound like I know what I'm doing, but none of the practical skills.' Jackson wouldn't hesitate to put his own health in the hands of Dr. Bankman, though, citing the miracles he's able to perform weekly on The Odyssey. DIAGNOSIS: Call '9-1-1' for a therapeutic trip on 'The Love Boat.'
Associated Press
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Want to be prescribed a new hospital drama? These TV doctors are ready to treat you
LONDON (AP) — No matter your ailment, there are plenty of TV doctors waiting to treat you right now on a selection of channels and streamers. Whether it's Noah Wyle putting on his stethoscope for the first time since 'ER,' Morris Chestnut graduating to head doctor, Molly Parker making her debut in scrubs or Joshua Jackson trading death for life on a luxury cruise, new American hospital dramas have something for everyone. There's also an outsider trying to make a difference in 'Berlin ER,' as Haley Louise Jones plays the new boss of a struggling German hospital's emergency department. The show's doors slide open to patients Wednesday on Apple TV+. These shows all contain the DNA of classic hospital dramas — and this guide will help you get the TV treatment you need. 'Berlin ER' Dr. Suzanna 'Zanna' Parker has been sent to run the Krank, which is only just being held together by hardened — and authority-resistant — medical staff and supplies from a sex shop. The result is an unflinching drama set in an underfunded, underappreciated and understaffed emergency department, where the staff is as traumatized as the patients, but hide it much better. From former real-life ER doc Samuel Jefferson and also starring Slavko Popadić, Şafak Şengül, Aram Tafreshian and Samirah Breuer, the German-language show is not for the faint of heart. Jones says she eventually got used to the blood and gore on the set. 'It's gruesome in the beginning, highly unnerving. And then at some point, it's just the most normal thing in the world,' she explains. 'That's flesh. That's the rest of someone's leg, you know, let's just move on and have coffee or whatever.' As it's set in the German clubbing capital, the whole city seems to live at a frenetic pace and the staff deals with the pressure by partying. The music, the lighting and the pulse of the drama also rubs off on the audience. 'When I saw it the first time I was sitting there, my heart was racing,' says Jones of watching the program. 'I knew what was coming, but I just, you know, my body just reacted. And I think that really says a lot.' Would she agree to be treated by Dr. Parker? Jones reckons it depends on what day you catch her. DIAGNOSIS: 'This is Going To Hurt' gets the 'ER' treatment — side effects include breathlessness and heartbreak. 'The Pitt' Emergencies are often against the clock, but in 'The Pitt,' they are on a timer. Attached to a bomb. Each episode shows an hour of Dr. Michael Robinavitch's emergency room shift on one of the worst days of his life. After avoiding all doctor roles since the finale of 'ER' in 2009, Wyle pulls on the navy hoodie of a weary Dr. Robby — this time in Pittsburgh. Initially an idea for a 'ER' reboot with producer John Wells, the show morphed into a fresh take on the challenges medical professionals face in the wake of the world-shifting pandemic. 'It felt a little sacrilegious to try to walk back into that arena prematurely,' says Wyle. 'It was really only thoughtfully, soberly, cautiously and meticulously that we attempted it again.' Robby is calm and competent in showing his medical students how it's done, while keeping his own mental health crisis hidden. Not that there are many places to hide: Wyle explains that they are setting themselves apart from other hospital dramas by turning up the lights, cutting the mood-telegraphing music and showing the real dimensions of the department. 'All of those kind of lend themselves to doing something different,' he says. 'Rattling the cage, you know, trying to put a new spin on an old form.' Joining him in Max's 'The Pitt' are co-stars Tracy Ifeachor, Katharine LaNasa, Patrick Ball and Supriya Ganesh. As for his own medical knowledge, Wyle says there are procedures he feels adept at least pretending to do. With the amount of time he's spent playing a doctor, he could have earned his own degree by now. 'I've been doing this long enough,' he says. 'So I'm either the worst student or one of the best doctor actors around.' DIAGNOSIS: With front-line workers against the clock, it has a similar pathology to both 'ER' and '24.' 'Watson' Also in Pittsburgh, you'll find The Holmes Clinic for Diagnostic Medicine, where it's still life-and-death, but your heart rate can afford to slow a little. It's run by Dr. John Watson, former colleague of Sherlock Holmes, the famous sleuth who has bequeathed the funding for the medical center. Chestnut he plays the lead 'doc-tective,' as he puts it, leading a team trying to solve medical mysteries while avoiding old foe Moriarty (Randall Park) — Watson is still dealing with a traumatic brain injury from their last encounter. And Chestnut is no stranger to the long words and Latin terms that accompany hospital dramas. Chestnut was a nurse in 'ER,' a former army doc in 'Nurse Jackie' and a pathologist in 'Rosewood.' More recently, he was the ruthless and talented neurosurgeon Barrett Cain on 'The Resident.' Luckily, his Watson has a better beside manner and uses cutting-edge science to help puzzle out a unique selection of patients, alongside his staff, played by Eve Harlow, Inga Schlingmann and Peter Mark Kendall. The Sherlock mythology is provided by show creator, Arthur Conan Doyle fan and ex-'Elementary' writer Craig Sweeny, who brings a case-of-the-week style to the program. Chestnut reckons it's this literary twist on the medical mystery formula that sets it apart from 'House MD,' whose lead character was more of a Sherlock. And he wouldn't hesitate to be treated by Dr. Watson because 'he wants to understand you as a person' and 'truly cares' about his patients. DIAGNOSIS: More tests needed to confirm if 'Elementary' or 'House' is the leading condition. 'Doc' Over her 30-year career, Molly Parker has never played a doctor before. In 'Doc,' based on a true story, she jumped right in with the top job, chief of internal medicine, at Minneapolis' Westside Hospital. A car crash causes the overachieving, work-centric Dr. Amy Larsen to lose eight years of her memory, turning her into a patient with a traumatic brain injury. Parker portrays both versions of Larsen through Fox's debut season — the career woman in flashback and the mother learning to trust again in the present. The focus of the show is on feelings over physical ailments, as Larsen has to deal, all over again, with the loss of her son. 'What I liked about this is that it has all the elements of that genre, like it has the high stakes and the mystery illness and the romantic love triangle,' explains Parker, who stars alongside Anya Banerjee, Jon-Michael Ecker, Amirah Vann and Omar Metwally. 'But at the center of it is this woman who is going through this really profound grief.' Parker has learned 'not to diagnose yourself on the internet,' a deeper respect for health care workers and that playing a doctor is not easy. 'The most you can do is sort of try to get the words right sometimes,' she says with a smile, admitting she still can't pronounce the name of one particular drug. 'It's, like, so important in the entire season,' Parker adds, 'and I said it wrong every single time.' DIAGNOSIS: For fans of 'Grey's Anatomy,' where complications come from relationships rather than infections. 'Doctor Odyssey' An honorable mention goes to Dr. Max Bankman of 'Doctor Odyssey,' who set sail at the end of 2024 and is finishing up Season One's maiden voyage March 6 on ABC. Joshua Jackson, who previously portrayed real-life man of malpractice Christopher Duntsch in 'Dr. Death,' is on board as the accomplished and smiley new head of a luxury cruise liner's medical team. 'Doctor Odyssey' comes from super producer Ryan Murphy and is set in the same world as his '9-1-1' franchise, with an upcoming crossover episode starring Angela Bassett. Philippa Soo and Sean Teale complete the ship's medical threesome contending with a surprisingly frequent number of bizarre illnesses and accidents that befall the guest stars (episode one: a broken penis). Jackson acknowledges the cases are 'absurd and fun and wild and over-the-top,' much to the amusement of his brother, who runs an actual ER. But that is the appeal, he says, for viewers to 'exhale' and find 'welcome relief' from the stress of real life. 'To have this, you know, pretty bauble in the middle of your week to just come in and go on an adventure,' Jackson explains. 'The stakes are high, the relationships are intense. Everything's very dramatic. And 42 minutes later, you realize you're just in the most beautiful place in the world.' Unfortunately, his own medical skills remain more Dr. Death than Dr. Bankman. 'I could really, really, deeply mess somebody up,' he says. 'I have just enough terminology and jargon to sound like I know what I'm doing, but none of the practical skills.' Jackson wouldn't hesitate to put his own health in the hands of Dr. Bankman, though, citing the miracles he's able to perform weekly on The Odyssey.
