TRAUMA - Episode 12, March 15

[Dustdevil]

Last night, I sat around with my best friend -- a 20 year Dallas Police officer -- and watched a DVD marathon of "Hill Street Blues" episodes from 1981. We both (I am an ex-cop) commented on how absolutely realistic that show was. Neither of us could remember a single episode ever where we shook our heads and said, "oh, that's bullshit!" Best I can remember, nothing was ever in an episode that pushed the bounds of reality. That was thirty years ago. Why can't "Trauma" (or "Turd Watch") at least meet that one standard?

Same thing with character development. You actually cared about the people in Hill Street Blues because you got to know them, beyond their professional life and who they were sleeping with. How hard is that to do?

Hill Street Blues characters weren't all angels. Sooner or later, seems like almost all of them pulled a shady deal that pushed legal boundaries. But then they went on being professionals that you still cared about. They made mistakes. Sometimes they made mistakes that cost people their lives. But they went on with their life and career, rising above it, and going on being a professional. I don't see that happening in "Trauma"

And, of course, nothing ever blew up on Hill Street Blues, yet it remained interesting enough for people to keep tuning in season after season. It CAN be done.

I can't speak for all the criticisers here, but I personally am not asking for perfection by EMS technical standards. Like many here, I'm simply asking for an interesting and stimulating show that stays relatively within the boundaries of reality. Again, it CAN be done. We're not asking for miracles. Hell, I'm not even asking as a medic. I'm simply asking as a viewer. I WANT to like this show. I think all of us do. But for fuck's sake, give me something to work with!

Edited March 20, 2010 by Dustdevil

[Defiant1]

I can't speak for all the criticisers here, but I personally am not asking for perfection by EMS technical standards. Like many here, I'm simply asking for an interesting and stimulating show that stays relatively within the boundaries of reality. Again, it CAN be done. We're not asking for miracles. Hell, I'm not even asking as a medic. I'm simply asking as a viewer. I WANT to like this show. I think all of us do. But for fuck's sake, give me something to work with!

well hell dust just lower your standards then and you'll probably find it entertaining

[Dustdevil]

well hell dust just lower your standards then and you'll probably find it entertaining

Hell, I long ago admitted that I find it entertaining, but then so are train wrecks.

[fiznat]

We both (I am an ex-cop) commented on how absolutely realistic that show was. .... That was thirty years ago. Why can't "Trauma" (or "Turd Watch") at least meet that one standard?

I'm not sure, but I do know that Trauma is not the first to fail in that department. I can't think of a single show about medicine on TV right now (or recently) that is genuinely realistic. My guess is that in order to show realistic medicine, producers would probably have to compromise a portion of the drama, and nobody has been willing (or able) to do that yet. Maybe the compromise is different with cop shows, I donno.

Same thing with character development. You actually cared about the people in Hill Street Blues because you got to know them, beyond their professional life and who they were sleeping with. How hard is that to do?

I bet it is really hard. This isn't unique to cop or medical shows-- I would imagine that EVERY show struggles to get their audience to connect with the characters on a level like that. If there were a simple formula then everyone would be doing it, but it seems to be pretty difficult because very few shows have attained that level of viewer involvement. Shit, you had to go back thirty years to find an example!

[Richard B the EMT]

Hell, I long ago admitted that I find it entertaining, but then so are train wrecks.

Can we all come watch at your next train wreck?

LOL

Edited March 22, 2010 by Richard B the EMT

[Dustdevil]

Okay, finally watched it tonight. Better late than never.

Are the fags on this show ever going to start shaving like real men? Enough with the metrosexuality already.

How did the car stop itself after it hit the dear and the driver was dead?

Why did they even start CPR on that traumatic arrest? Did they forget they were in a helicopter?

More emotional break-downs after unsuccessful CPR? Give it a rest already!

Wiping his hair and face with his gloves still on? I don’t think so.

Tyler kissing pill bottles? WTF do they even keep in prescription pill bottles there?

Sucking sound when injecting Epi (in a 5cc syringe)?

Giving guy O2 without first evaluating him? Major fail.

And like

tcripp

asked, why wasn’t the monitor in the backyard with the “difficulty breathing”?

Epi for infarct? Then NTG? Didn’t he do exactly the opposite?

Bimbo actually trying to convince the guy that he did the right thing when he actually killed the patient?

WTF was this EMT practising protocol ALS for anyhow?

Bimbo is just as culpable for this mistake both for allowing it in the past, as well as for sending an ALS patient off alone with an EMT partner.

Both should be fired, sued, and prosecuted.

We all kill someone sooner or later? Funny… I haven’t in 35 years. She must suck.

Yeah… never heard of the “probie curse”. In fact, I’ve never even heard of a “probie” at all until last year.

Didn’t even call for assistance on the guy who leaped from the ambulance.

Helo responding to chest pain in the city?

Glen kills one by playing medic, and he goes right back to doing it again? Why was he not IMMEDIATELY taken off the street?

Marisa gets pissed off at new flight medic for being cautious, but then thinks it’s just fine when Rabbit does it? They’re screwing with her character again, and I don’t like it.

New flight medic leaves pt on the pat without giving a report?

Ummm… no spare LP batteries or AC power?

They work on stabbing victim forever without ever removing his shirt?

I really wanted to see the bi-sexual nurse.

At least the shrink confirmed what I’ve been saying all along. Rabbit doesn’t have PTSD. Although, she still screwed up with that “rescue personality” nonsense, which has been disproven in recent literature. Agreed with

scoobymedic

though; good on Rabbit for going back to therapy.

I didn’t recognise the shrink from Star Trek (didn’t watch Next Generation), but I did remember her as Klinger’s wife. We’re going to eventually see all the usual Asian actors on this show, I suspect. Rabbit’s dad was one of them.

Edited March 30, 2010 by Dustdevil

[melclin]

I gotta say, for what its worth, I think the script is getting better.

"Mmmmmm hot and nasty".

"Yeah, just like my men".

Edited March 30, 2010 by melclin

[Dustdevil]

LOL! I forgot what his line was, but I remember the captain's reaction!

[Richard B the EMT]

Rabbit's shrink was from both ST-TNG and ST-DS9, in the same role. they just didn't feature her too much, and for the most part just stated that she, and the character's daughter, were planet-side somewhere.

When I researched it, she was the only "regular" character that didn't have a picture of her (the actress) alongside the character listing on any of the ST sites.