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| 'Medical
Investigation' Variety 9/05/04 While NBC and Fox exchange jabs over dueling boxing shows, there's been little fuss regarding the near-identical medical franchises they've simultaneously developed, each involving crack teams of doctors diagnosing mystery illnesses. In this case NBC gets there first, and while the concept is derivative of "CSI" and a dozen other sources, the network's lab has cultivated a slick, well-cast drama with a really lame title. "Medical Investigation" won't make anyone forget "ER" but, benefiting from moribund competition, could be well-positioned to deliver a healthy-looking Nielsen chart. Granted, there would be something rather disheartening about Neal McDonough and producer Laurence Andries following the brilliant but canceled "Boomtown" with a shallow consumer product that fares better, but welcome to the business of procedural drama, circa 2004. As the head of a National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) emergency-response unit, McDonough and "The Practice's" Kelli Williams flit around in helicopters, wrestle with medical gobbledygook and spout lines like, "If the wrong person coughs on a plane in Hong Kong, two days later, 100 people are dead in Boston." It's all a bit of wish fulfillment for viewers with managed-care plans, which have heard of doctors but never actually seen one. In fact, these MDs not only solve an impossibly difficult case within the prototype hour, but still find time for a "B" plot. The main focus involves seemingly unconnected New Yorkers showing up in the hospital looking blue -- as in Smurfs, not feeling depressed -- with Michael Nouri (was "Flashdance" really 21 years ago?) prominently featured as one of the victims. In addition to the fast pacing, the show employs by-now familiar Bruckheimeresque visual tricks, as McDonough's character, Dr. Stephen Connor, "sees" spectral images of what transpired as he seeks to piece the puzzle together. Personal lives will apparently take a back seat to cases, though we do learn Connor is estranged from his wife but still hustles to attend his son's Little League games. All the while, the clock is tick-tick-ticking, with plenty of synthesized music to remind viewers the stakes are high. Of course, you can't discover what poisoned an omelet without breaking a few eggs, so the group's super-cute communications specialist (Anna Belknap, who occupied the same Friday timeslot last season in "The Handler") shamelessly flirts with a curious reporter and then locks him in a dark room. While this is not standard operating procedure as PR strategy goes, at least part of this behavior is strongly encouraged. Fox actually has a more challenging concept in "House," with an angry, troubled medical genius at its center. Somehow, though, "Medical Investigation" feels like a better fit for its network, which, after a Thursday preview will schedule the show Fridays opposite ABC's "20/20" and CBS' ill-conceived "Dr. Vegas." If nothing else, that should be good news for cable. Both CBS' and NBC's development this year appears to begin from the premise that it's not necessary to aim high in order to hit the target. That might not be the most exciting prospect for critics, but scanning the Nielsen standings, it's hard to argue with their diagnoses. Filmed in L.A. by Landscape Entertainment in association with NBC Universal Television Studio and Paramount Network Television. Executive producers, Laurence Andries, Bob Cooper, Scott Vila, Marc Buckland, Michelle Ashford; co-executive producers, Jason Horwitch, Mark Israel, Barry Schkolnick, James C. Hart; supervising producer, Daniel Arkin; producer, David Graziano; director, Buckland; writers, Horwitch, Ashford; story by Horwitch; Dr. Stephen Connor - Neal McDonough Dr. Natalie Durant - Kelli Williams Eva Rossi - Anna Belknap Frank Powell - Troy Winbush Dr. Miles McCabe - Christopher Gorham Camera, Clark Mathis; editor, Andrew Doerfer; music, Kevin Edelman; production designer, Robb Wilson King; casting, Janet Gilmore, Megan McConnell. 60 MIN. |