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Television: The Great Equalizer?

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This weekend sitting at lunch with my brother, the talk inevitably turned to this fall’s television shows. This has always been the way with my siblings. We are many years apart (some an actual generation) so we’ve not had a tremendous amount in common over the years, but we could always count on television for guaranteed conversation. Our tastes run the gamut from true crime to silly sitcom. No matter the genre, I love sharing television with my siblings and I’m not quite sure what we’d do without it.

As my own kids are getting to an age where their shows of choice are more bearable for adults, we’ve started to share some favorites too. In fact, The Gilmore Girls has allowed me a closer relationship to my daughter than I think I’ve ever had. You can imagine then, when I heard there may be a new show on television I could share with my tween, I was all over it.

Rather than wreck my description, I’m going to let the Executive Producer Jenny Snyder Urman tell you in her own words.

“It’s called Emily Owens MD and it stars the amazingly talented Mamie Gummer.  Mamie, who has acting genes embedded in her DNA (her mom is Academy award winner Meryl Streep), stars as Dr. Emily Owens, a first year intern who realizes that the hospital she’s working at feels strangely like… high school.    The jocks are in orthopedics, the popular girls are in plastic surgery, the geeks in neurology… you get the point.  It’s a medical drama, but it’s also a coming of age story in a lot of ways.  Emily is on the verge of becoming the kind of person she’s always wanted to be.  Only problem?  Those anxieties and insecurities that she had in high school – the ones she thought she’d outgrow – they’re still there…” 
So that’s the show. Sounds a lot like many other shows in hospitals (or vet clinics) right? Well, the real reason I agreed to watch the preview was the rest of that letter. Here is what it said,
“Which is something I can relate to.  Because I thought I was so over high school dynamics.  And then my son enrolled in preschool.  Okay, fine… I’m not one of the popular moms.  I tell myself it doesn’t matter, I remind myself just how busy I am (did I mention the kids are 17 months apart), but let’s be real.  If one of those moms invited me over for a Chardonnay and green apples and Brie (which is what I imagine popular moms snack on), I’d probably weep.”
Oh my gosh I want to be this woman’s friend. Anyone who feels that way as a mom has to be able to write great episodes about feeling that way as a doctor. So, I gave Emily Owens, MD a shot and you know what? After the torturous opening scenes (I have a visceral reaction to other people’s embarrassment) I liked it. I liked it enough that I wish I had watched the preview closer to it’s premier date because I’m dying to know what happens next.
I’ll admit, at first the voiceover seemed a little too reminiscent of that “other” hospital show, but a few minutes in I was able to ignore it and focus instead on the characters that I liked well enough to want to know what they’re up to next. And no, not just the cute boys. (For the record I like the geeky “second choice” better.)
The best part, so far anyway, is that I think I can share it with my kid. I’m only one episode in but there wasn’t much that was objectionable for a ten year old. Lucky me, the equalizer strikes again and thankfully this time it doesn’t involve anything on Nick.
Emily Owens Premiers Tuesday, October 16 from 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT on the CW Television Network. Check it out. Then we can talk about it over school lunch. Oh, wait…
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Comments

  1. Amy, Using Our Words says

    Love just what you loved (about the description, haven’t seen the show). I’ve been in a situation where not being a “cool” mom has meant my son is left out. I’m hating that and trying to figure out how to play the game so my shortcomings don’t impact him. Sigh…I though junior high was so 1990.

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