Wednesday, October 13, 2010

TV Series Spotlight: Miami Medical



Mike Vogel was in "The Deaths of Ian Stone", an exhausting horror movie where the protagonist dies repeatedly then relives his life in a different scenario. Released in 2007, this was shown at the Galleria about a year ago, albeit with a bad print. What was undeniable was the charm and gravitas of its lead actor, Mike Vogel. A year after "The Deaths...", Mike Vogel would star in one of our all-time favorite films, "Cloverfield", a movie that was quite powerful it was almost irrelevant that it starred relative unknowns that time, Vogel included.

But in "The Deaths of Ian Stone", I somehow predicted that I'd see more of Mike Vogel in the future. I was sure of that. When I finally got hold of our copy of Jerry Bruckheimer's "Miami Medical", a series that premiered in CBS last April but was eventually cancelled last July (after a 3 month run), I was more than ecstatic given the chance to ogle at Mike Vogel in his scrubs... and off it (episode 4, beach scene). There's even a bonus to this: I was a huge fan of the British film "Emma" when we were still in pig tails, mainly because of the palpable chemistry between Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam!

And Jeremy Northam leads the pack of trauma surgeons in "Miami Medical". And I just couldn't help on celebrating! It's a 2-in-1 punch.





This 13 episode TV series follows the lives of a team of brilliant trauma surgeons in a Miami hospital. Northam is Dr. Matthew Proctor, the "resident eccentric" who we soon discover was once a combat doctor, a gulf war veteran who encountered an almost fatal accident that changed his perspective in life. Lana Parrilla plays Dr. Eva Zambrano (who would have been the chief resident had Proctor not shown up), the brilliant lady surgeon who bemoans lack of social life. Her father is a surgeon back in Havana, and she plays buddy flirtations with my favorite, Dr. Chris DeLeo - played by Mike Vogel - the resident playboy who has dated "most of the yoga instructors in Miami", including their assistants. Though I just finished episode 4 as I write this, Dr. DeLeo's character will soon garnish his happy-go-lucky demeanor with a freeloading brother (I wonder if he's as gorgeous) who eventually turned out to be ill! Finally, Elisabeth Harnois plays Dr. Serena Warren, the fresh-out-of-med-school 1st year resident who has to catch-up with her charming seniors! I loved that scene where she tells off an arrogant senior Orthopedic consultant who superseded the disposition of a critical patient under her care.

The writing isn't seamless and the situations that pile up seem too extreme to be believeable, but hey, they have to try harder as there's been a lot of medical dramas in the past, and really now, what medical condition hasn't been covered?

In the 4 episodes that I have so far seen, there's been a bomb explosion and the confounding vehicular accident involving a pregnant lady - and his husband who suffered a carotid tear from a shard of glass; lots of GSW - gun shot wound, don't you know? - and GCS - glasgow coma scale, duh! - involving a shooting incident by a hotel poolside, an implausible fall when a ledge of a hotel room cracks off, a lady who refused a life-saving dialysis because she was adopting a baby from Russia, "dry-drowning", etc.

I am aware of Dr. DeLeo and Dr. Zambrano's open-flirtations, but when colleagues mainly consider each other as buddies, romantic tension between characters becomes an almost implausible narrative strain. Let them fight away - from rivalries, from procedural bickerings, etc. instead of chugging down a bottle of beer together at a bar, or patting each other's shoulders by the beach.


Mike Vogel is Dr. Chris DeLeo.


Lana Parrilla is Cuban Dr. Eva Zambrano.



Elisabeth Harnois is Dr. Serena Warren, the first year resident.



Mike Vogel is married, and is father to 2 daughters. He stands 5'10". Vogel, in German and Dutch, means "bird"! ;->



Mike Vogel will next appear in 2 feature films, "The Help" and "Heaven's Rain".



If you didn't catch the comedy "She's Out of My League", go grab a copy if you wanna see a handsome face.



Jeremy Northam appeared in "The Tudors" as Sir Thomas More. While playing the small role of Osric and understudying the title role in a 1989 production of "Hamlet," Jeremy replaced star Daniel Day-Lewis when the actor had a total breakdown in mid-performance. Scary!



Jeremy Northam from a Westend play I'd have loved to watch, "Certain Young Men".



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