Miami Medical Starring Jeremy Northam TV Review

When I heard that the wonderful Jeremy Northam, one of my favorite English actors of all time, was going to star in a new series on American television, at first I was shocked and then overjoyed. Jeremy Northam is known for his work as quite a serious actor, starring in costume dramas like the acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. It seemed improbable that Jeremy Northam would accept a gig as a hot doctor on the new Jerry Bruckheimer show Miami Medical, yet Northam stars as Dr. Matthew Proctor, the new head of the trauma center in a fast-paced Miami hospital.

As I tuned into Miami Medical when it debuted April 2, 2010 on CBS in its Friday at 10 p.m time slot, I really wanted to like this series. If Miami Medical was a runaway hit I could then look forward to Jeremy Northam in my living room for many seasons to come (look what the hit TV show House did for the career of Brit actor Hugh Laurie!) Would I fall in love with Miami Medical starring Jeremy Northam and does the show have the potential to be a big success for the network?

Jeremy Northam Television Debut in Miami Medical

Unfortunately, I spent a good deal of the first hour of Miami Medical wincing and glancing away in horror, so it's hard to get a good grasp on the long term potential for this series. Miami Medical starring the accomplished Jeremy Northam is executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the mastermind behind the megahit TV franchise known as CSI. I've never watched CSI or CSI Miami because they're not my cup of tea and even the commercials alone are so intense that they often turn my stomach.

So I suppose I was a poor candidate to sit through the gut wrenching new Miami Medical, which piles on the blood guts and gore so thick that only the most intrepid viewer, used to shocking explicit scenes such as those featured in CSI type crime dramas, could comfortably watch this show. Miami Medical begins innocently enough with a happy young couple driving around sunny Miami in their car, the pregnant wife asking her husband to stop for some ice cream.

This being a show about a trauma center, we know that they are destined for some horrible fate or another, and soon they are injured as the ice cream shop blows up, sending them straight to Miami Medical for emergency treatment. The grisly violence of the first few moments of Miami Medical had me looking away in horror, but for fans of the forensic crime genre, it should be more of the same gory stuff they've come to expect from shows like CSI Miami.

In the Miami Medical trauma center, we learn from what feels like hackneyed dialogue that trauma center doctors are rock stars of the medical world, and the docs at Miami Medical are Rolling Stones! One point made over and over again is the concept of "golden hour," or the brief window of time that physicians like the ones at Miami Medical have to repair damage and save a patient's life. Miami Medical paints in very broad strokes and generalities, using an MTV style of jump cutting and shaky camera work that at times left me as nauseated as the victims in their trauma center. So it's hard to care much for the patients or doctors working in the Miami Medical trauma center, as so much of the series feels like a sacrifice of substance in favor of glossy, excessively violent, music video flavored form.

About a quarter of the way through the first episode of Miami Medical, the head of the trauma center (played by Homicide star Andre Braugher) snaps, stripping off his clothes and walking out of the hospital. Enter Dr. Matthew Proctor, the world weary, sarcastic Brit doctor with a heart of gold played by Jeremy Northam. Immediately, Northam displays great presence and though the dialogue he's given to work with is rather cliched at times, he manages to invest the character with some layers that hint at Proctor's own dark tormented past. I'm glad I taped the first Miami Medical episode, as I'd like to go back and review Jeremy Northam's work again (I sat through much of Miami Medical with my hands over my eyes to avoid seeing the horribly disfigured burn victim and the over the top gore the series dished out to viewers).

In my opinion, Miami Medical is redeemed by the excellent cast who give some fine performances. If you're used to seeing Jeremy Northam in period costume in films like Emma and Gosford Park, it's a striking change to see him in Miami Medical. He's exchanged gentlemanly courtly dialogue and striding on horseback across the moors for a blood soaked trauma center, rumpled hair and a rumpled tee shirt, and lots of sardonic dialogue that plays off his fish out of water status as the lone Brit in a Miami hospital.

While I'm still getting used to seeing genteel Jeremy attach a severed hand while assuring his patient he'll be ambidextrous at self-pleasure, it's all good and Northam definitely has a future in American television if Miami Medical doesn't pan out for him. I really enjoyed Lana Parrilla as one of the Miami Medical trauma docs vying for head of the trauma center "Alpha Team," a spot that eventually goes to Jeremy Northam's Doctor Proctor. She brings some nuances to her role and manages to give us a sense of what her character is all about. Mike Vogel does a nice turn as one of the brash young trauma doctors, reminding us that this flashy show called Miami Medical, a series that too often verges on caricature, does have a heart and soul after all.

Will Miami Medical Survive Golden Hour?

If the first hour after a trauma occurs is the golden hour that influences life and death, then surely the pilot episode of a show like Miami Medical can also be considered its own golden hour that determines success or failure. According to Zap2it.com, Miami Medical debuted to good ratings; it won the timeslot with 7.6 million viewers and CBS won Friday night. So is Miami Medical a bona fide hit?

Based on my experience with Miami Medical, my prognosis is that ratings will fall off after the curiosity that roped in viewers for the premiere dies down; and then the show will lapse into a coma. My prescription involves some reconstructive surgery on Miami Medical to rely less on flashy camera work, cliqued themes, boring dialogue and excessive gore, and developing the characters and stories to allow the delightful and skilled cast of actors to shine.

Warning: if you're at all sensitive like me and have no experience with gruesome crime dramas like CSI, you'll be shocked and sickened by the explicit scenes and themes in Miami Medical. I really like Jeremy Northam, but I'm not sure if I can sit through another week of violence and buckets of gore just to see his fine acting. Northam does a great job and adds variety to his acting resume by playing Dr. Proctor in Miami Medical, but I'm disappointed that Northam's TV debut is in a show I have great trouble watching. If Miami Medical flatlines, I sincerely hope American TV picks up on this very talented British actor and gives him another acting vehicle worthy of his considerable talents.

Sources:

Miami Medical Official CBS Site:

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/miami_medical/

Miami Medical Overnight Television Ratings:

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/04/tv-ratings-cbs-nbc-duke-it-out-miami-medical-is-most-watched-friday.html