As I have said before, 2009 sees no less that 8 new medical dramas each looking to find its niche. Mercy decided to view the hospital from the point of view of the unsung heroes known as the nurses, this of course might have been an original idea had not Showtime already produced Nurse Jackie and TNT produced Hawthrone.  With the loss of ER this is an important show for NBC and although planned to air mid season it was rushed out to fill the gap caused by a delay in the production of Parenthood.

Don’t under estimate the nurses, on her way to work Veronica (Taylor Schilling) attends the victim of a car crash after the saving some guys life, she threatened with law suit after his fiancé discovers she is only a nurse and therefore knows nothing. In actual fact Veronica the sexy nurse is an Iraq vet who has seen it all, we don’t know how she ended up back in a New Jersey hospital, but I am sure there is a good reason. New girl Chloe (Michelle Trachtenberg) arrives for her first day and despite being top of her class the slightest whiff of reality freezes her in her tracks. There is the usual office politics and power games between the doctors as Veronica up stages them with her in depth knowledge.  Of course her private life doesn’t run smoothly either, separated from her husband she sneaks off for rendezvous with one of the Doctors and at the end of a busy day the girls all head down to the local bar.

Comparisons to Nurse Jackie are immediately obvious; our lead character is a nurse, with a wealth of experience that surpasses the doctors. She rebels against authority for the good of the patient and carries out an affair with one of the doctors. Fair enough, it is understandable why a show would pick such a professionally moral character, with slight amoral private life.  Then we turn to the other nurses, we have the new girl Chloe who has a love for colourful scrubs, we switch to nurse Jackie where we have the new girl Zoey… who has a love for colourful scrubs. Then we have the shaven headed ethnic gay nurse, sure, Mercy has the Hispanic Angel, while Nurse Jackie has the middle eastern Mo-mo. This is not to say that Mercy has stolen these ideas and characters, it is just one of those horrible coincidences that must have made series creator Liz Heldens’ head burst. On the plus side not everyone has Showtime, so for majority of the audience these characters will feel at least somewhat fresh and original.

In conclusion this is just another medical drama that fails to throw anything new into the mix.  Nurse Jackie felt more real even though the situations were more exaggerated.  When you look at 46 year Edie Falco you think there is someone who has seen it all, but young newcomer Taylor Schilling would more easily pass as an intern than an experienced nurse. The nurses work hard and they play hard, if you like medical drama, this will probably float your boat, if you want more out of hour of TV you probably aren’t watching this anyway.

Created and Written by: Liz Heldens
Directed by: Adam Bernstein
Starring: Taylor Schilling, Jaime Lee Kirchner, Michelle Trachtenberg, James Tupper, Diego Klattenhoff, James LeGros, Delroy Lindo, Kate Mulgrew, Guillermo Díaz
Date premièred: 23rd September 2009
UK Details: TBC