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PILOT REVIEW: The Night Shift

THE NIGHT SHIFT












Starring: Eoin Macken, Jill Flint, Ken Leung, Brendan Fehr, Daniella Alonso, Robert Bailey Jr., Jeananne Goossen, JR Lemon, and Freddy Rodriguez

Created by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah
Written by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, Directed by Pierre Morel

The Night Shift is a new medical drama centered on the night shift staff at San Antonio Medical Center. The new chief of the night shift is Jordan Alexander (Jill Flint), and she is charged with getting the rowdy staff under control and with pressure from hospital administrator Michael Ragosa (Freddy Rodriguez). The most brilliant staff member is a rebellious doctor, TC Callahan (Eoin Macken), who recently returned from a stint in Afghanistan. He often sides with another doctor with military experience, Topher (Ken Leung). Rounding out the main cast is psychiatrist Dr. Landry Miller (Daniella Alonso) and two new residents, Krista and Paul (Jeananne Goossen and Robert Bailey Jr.).

THE GOOD: There are a lot of likable characters in this show and doctors who are easy to root for, even if they are stereotypes. Jill Flint and Eoin Macken are solid in the lead roles while there is lots of comic relief from the two residents, especially Robert Bailey Jr. as Paul. While hardly the first medical drama to do so, the show does a good job of capturing the craziness of one shift at a busy, understaffed and overworked hospital, just like St. Elsewhere did so brilliantly years ago. Now I'm not comparing this show to that classic, but it's not a bad idea to model their style and intensity to one of the classic medical dramas.

THE BAD: I'm sure one reason this show is not getting great reviews (thought I haven't read them) is that it's pretty generic. While that's not a horrible thing (and I'll go into that in a minute), it does allow itself to be open to some pretty obvious stereotypes. Freddy Rodriguez's character is one big stereotype: the bully administrator who is seemingly working against the staff, but who has a back story that makes him more sympathetic. It seems like every new workplace drama has that type of character and it was pretty obvious how things were going to go with that character. Other than that, the show also does have perhaps a few too many medical "miracles" as is so often the case.

BOTTOM LINE: The Night Shift is not bringing anything new to the medical genre, but that's not a bad thing if it's doing well and I think the early signs are promising. If they can keep the characters interesting, it can overcome some stereotypical situations (look at Chicago Fire). I'll definitely give it another look next week and I'm excited to see what happens when Scott Wolf comes on board for an extended arc.
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