But I Play One on TV

Scott Hardie | March 26, 2011
Police officers have a dangerous job with potential for lots of exciting moments. Trial lawyers can be theatrical and win justice for the little guy. Doctors make life-or-death decisions doing complex procedures and rescuing people from the brink of death.

There's a reason why there are so many series about cops, lawyers, and doctors on television. Glancing over the current primetime schedules of the four major networks, I count four lawyer shows, three doctor shows, and a whopping eighteen cop shows (some of which are also about lawyers, thanks to Law & Order).

Cops and lawyers are all over the cinema as well, from Dirty Harry and Marge Gunderson, to Atticus Finch and Erin Brockovich. The same qualities that make for such riveting television carry over to the big screen.

So what about movie doctors? Titles like M*A*S*H and Patch Adams come to mind, but those are comedies (however bleak the former may have been, and the latter too in a different sense). Why aren't there more dramas and thrillers about the medical profession, if it's such a natural setting for good stories?

Erik Bates | March 28, 2011
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Steve West | March 29, 2011
Psychiatrists make good movie doctors. Especially ones that are at least mildly evil. Hannibal Lecter was recently voted as America's favorite movie character. Or at least near the top of the list. Other near doctors that come to mind that were compelling and I'd like to see more of are Nurse Ratched and Dr. Caligari.

Scott Hardie | March 29, 2011
Maybe you're right, Erik. Something about medical stories makes them better suited to an episodic, small-screen format. ER was written as a feature film, but Steven Spielberg convinced Michael Crichton to turn it into a television series instead, and it was a huge hit. M*A*S*H was an acclaimed and popular movie, but it found even more success on the small screen. I can't imagine more recent titles Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy working well as movies, but I guess those are more relationship-oriented workplace shows than traditional medical dramas.

Netflix (if you're logged in) has a pretty good list of medical dramas, psychiatric and otherwise: Extraordinary Measures, Awakenings, Girl Interrupted, John Q, Dead Ringers, The Doctor, Dying Young, Extreme Measures, Article 99, and more.

Jon Berry | March 29, 2011
Naomi Watts plays a pretty great doctor character in Eastern Promises, and a big part of the story stems from that fact. That said, I would be lying if I said it was a medical film in any capacity.