Fall 2023 TV Overview! Despite the Hollywood strikes, good portrayals of nursing are coming on the BBC’s Call the Midwife and on Netflix’s Virgin River. But when more shows appear, the prime-time landscape will likely…
Tag: medical dramas
“Save one life, you’re a hero. Save a hundred lives, well then you’re a nurse.”
Nursing will be back to prime time. The big news is Netflix’s release of Ratched, but the streaming giant will also offer more of the actually-pretty-good portrayal of nursing on romantic drama Virgin River. And it seems there will always be the BBC’s Call the Midwife, with its strong portrayals of nursing. But on the new show Transplant, about a refugee trauma physician, nurses are peripheral helpers. And otherwise, the landscape will be dominated by other physician-centric dramas, ranging from Chicago Med, which has several skilled nurses, to Grey’s Anatomy, which never has.
Tearing up the bureaucracy
“Call the Midwife” can be expected to offer a consistently good portrayal of nursing. “Chicago Med” and “The Resident” will show viewers some nursing skill, advocacy, and autonomy. But the physician-focused vision of top shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Good Doctor,” on which nurses are still handmaidens, will likely dominate another Hollywood season.