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Brother, can you spare a name?

When it was in casting and development, Jason Horwitch's drama, featuring a mobile medical team from the National Institute of Health, was known merely as NBC's Untitled Medical Mystery Drama. In May, as the show landed a spot in NBC's fall schedule, it acquired a new moniker that was no less vague. Speaking to reporters at the semiannual Press Tour, the creative team behind "Medical Investigation" can only sigh when issues of the generic appellation are raised. Clearly they've heard it all before.

"If you've got a better title, let us know," challenges executive producer Laurence Andries ("Boomtown"). "Literally."

"We're working at getting 'Friends' as the title, but somebody says it's been taken," kids Marc Buckland ("Ed"), another member of the executive producing team.

"Medical Investigation," which stars an ensemble led by Neal McDonough ("Boomtown") and Kelli Williams ("The Practice"), can't even look to shorten its name, as the initials "M.I." already have a strong association with "Mission Impossible." There's some solace, though, in the fact that even if "Medical Investigation" is a title that bores critics and viewers, at least it won't confuse them. A similarly themed FOX medical drama will have to overcome the undescriptive title of "House" (the last name of Hugh Laurie's cranky doctor).

"The title, I think personally, is pretty terrific because it says exactly what the show is," explains McDonough.

One early test name, "The Cure," might have proven more evocative, but it also could have led to disorienting mental associations with perpetually brooding Robert Smith.

"The good thing about this title is people will see 'Medical Investigation'... in the newspaper and there will be no question what this show is about," Buckland says. "And if we get people to watch this show, we're confident they'll stay with the show because it's solid."

Certainly the cast and crew of "Medical Investigation" know the difficulties of making a drama stick in the difficult Friday night 10 p.m. time slot. From "Boomtown" to "Ed" to "The Handler," there are veterans of any number of worthy projects that failed to find an audience on Fridays.

Andries knows the bottom line.

"Frankly, if it's a hit show, it becomes a good title."