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83A smart, sedate Canadian production imported by ABC for a summertime run.
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75It's unlikely that any TV drama filmed in Toronto could ever come close to the bloody reality of war, but ABC's new series, Combat Hospital, makes a pretty compelling attempt at doing so.
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67Placid and often incomprehensibly bland, Combat Hospital still has flashes of intelligence. Definitely worth a second look.
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63Combat Hospital has the look, feel and pacing of an old "M*A*S*H" episode--minus the humor and preachiness--and the soapy elements of fellow ABC hospital drama "Grey's Anatomy" (a smarmy British doctor, nervous newbies and the no-nonsense unit chief--with the heart of gold, of course). But these aren't necessarily drawbacks. This is an episodic TV drama, after all.
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50As if afraid they will be accused of not taking things seriously enough, the creators walk through much of the pilot as if through a minefield, which is to say ver-ry slowly and ver-ry carefully. Not the best pacing considering the subject matter.
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50Like fellow Canadian import Rookie Blue, Combat Hospital seems almost purposefully forgettable. Watch a China Beach rerun instead.
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40Still, for a show chronicling this modern conflict, Combat Hospital seems painfully old-fashioned, as the script by Petrie, who shares story credit with creators Jinder Oujla-Chalmers and Douglas Steinberg, recycles any number of hospital-show cliches in the pilot alone.
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40Combat Hospital is as bland and generic as its title.
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40Imagine any "M• A• S• H"-style cliche and odds are good it will turn up in Combat Hospital whose predictability makes it a dull summer entry that may encourage viewers of this week's premiere to become deserters before next week's episode.
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30The "medical drama" is far too paltry to sustain the series without ramping up the relevance of the war context.