US TV

Review: Miami Medical 1×1 (US: CBS)

Jeremy Northam in Miami Medical

In the US: Fridays, 10/9c, CBS

LES MOONVES: Damn it! I need a producer in here, stat!

Enter JERRY BRUCKHEIMER

BRUCKHEIMER: What is it, sir?

LES MOONVES: Thank God you’re here, Bruckheimer. CBS has no medical shows

There’s a stunned pause

BRUCKHEIMER: No medical shows?

LES MOONVES: That’s right. No medical shows. We just don’t have any. I need you to make me one – now!

BRUCKHEIMER: But, sir, you can’t rush something as important as this!

LES MOONVES: Don’t give me that, Bruckheimer. It’s an emergency! Right now, you’re making CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York for me, and The Forgotten for ABC. No way you didn’t rush half of those out. So give me your pitch – now!

BRUCKHEIMER gives himself a shakedown and begins to pitch

BRUCKHEIMER: So it’s like ER, in a trauma hospital.

LES MOONVES (warning): Expensive. Contract renegotiation is always a bitch on ensemble shows.

BRUCKHEIMER: Small cast! It’ll be shot in… Miami, so we can have lots of shots of women in bikinis. It’ll be stupid, like CSI: Miami, but life-affirming like The Forgotten.

LES MOONVES: Dialogue?

BRUCKHEIMER: Painful.

LES MOONVES: Plots?

BRUCKHEIMER: Tortured and over-elaborate.

LES MOONVES: Characters?

BRUCKHEIMER: Thin and poorly sketched. Noble, but comedic black orderly. Fiery ambitious Latina. Brilliant but cocky young doctor. Young doctor with a heart. That kind of thing. But there’ll be plenty of blood, explosions, that kind of thing to keep the prurient interested.

LES MOONVES: We need something else.

BRUCKHEIMER: What?

LES MOONVES: A Brit. Like with House.

BRUCKHEIMER: How about that guy who played Sir Thomas More on The Tudors?

LES MOONVES: Jeremy Northam? Excellent!

BRUCKHEIMER: But, sir, I don’t think it’s going to work. Look what happened to Three Rivers. It’ll be just the same as Trauma on NBC but less exciting and less well written and that’s ratings poison!

LES MOONVES: I don’t care! Give me 13!

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The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Justified

In the US: Tuesdays, 10pm, FX
In the UK: Starts this month on Five USA

We’re three episodes into Justifed, so time to pass a verdict. Based on one of Ellmore Leonard’s short stories, Justified sees US Marshall Timothy Olyphant return home to his native Kentucky, where he has to face not just criminals but a variety of old memories.

Now, the first episode was really good, filled with sparkly dialogue, intriguing characters and a decent plot to boot. And, of course, Timothy Olyphant is just outstanding. Okay, just about every Southern/Kentucky stereotype possible gets trawled out, but it’s done reasonably subtly (and for all I know that’s exactly what it’s like there).

Trouble is, the next two episodes have been pretty dull. They’ve been "dumb Southern criminal of the week" shows, with Olyphant slow-talking his way through a variety of situations, while his equally slow-talking Southern fellow officers rush out the guns whenever possible. The spark of the dialogue and the zing of the characters have gone, and the plotting has also disappeared in some creek somewhere.

It’s still not bad. It’s still well written and thoughtful, with the characters all served well and nothing dumb and CSI: Miami-ish happening anywhere. It’s just not very interesting any more. You can watch it. If you like The Mentalist, you’ll love this. I’m just not feeling the love as much, so I’m probably going to drop it from my viewing – which is a shame given the quality of the first episode.

Carusometer rating: 2
Rob’s prediction: Give the plummeting ratings, I reckon this is going to last a season at most, but it might be survive longer if it’s given a chance to find its feet.