Posted on: Friday, February 11, 2005
'Medical Investigation' evolves with more heart
By Bridget Byrne
Associated Press
Like the viruses it attempts to eradicate, NBC's "Medical Investigation" has evolved to survive.
As a result, it's attracting an average of 8.8 million viewers each week and scoring well in the coveted 18-to-49 demographic in its Friday time slot.
Executive producer Steve Mitchell came aboard after episode 5 to help build an awareness that this forensic-driven show differs from the "CSI" dramas because "our victims are alive and our stories are about people who try to keep these people alive."
Mitchell believes audiences don't want to hear an excess of medical jargon, but rather want to react emotionally, much as you might when you're told a loved one is sick.
"You don't hear anything the doctor says. All you are thinking is 'Can you save them?' " Mitchell said.
Kelli Williams, who plays pathologist-epidemiologist Natalie Durant, uses much the same example when discussing the demands and expectations people place on doctors to play God and save the day.
"My daughter broke her arm a couple of years ago and I wanted the doctor just to fix it immediately, just cure her painlessly, although I know that's just not reality," says Williams, formerly of ABC's "The Practice."
"Anyone can do a forensic drama, but when you have a forensic drama that has emotion, that's the catch right there," says Neal McDonough, who plays the take-charge Dr. Stephen Connor, head of a medical team that races around the nation (and sometimes the world) chasing diseases.
McDonough — previously on NBC's praised but quickly canceled "Boomtown" — says Connor is a man who probably "wishes to God this wasn't his true calling, but it is."
Initially Connor "barked a lot and got mad a lot and ordered people around, and I said after two or three episodes of this the audience is going to get tired of him," McDonough says, during a lunch break.
So plot lines have been developed that provide more insight and sympathy for how the gravity and passion of Connor's work negatively affects his personal life.
The forensic aspect of the show still requires the cast to get their tongues around some hefty terminology.
McDonough says he goes home each night and studies medical journals "to see exactly what I'm saying."
"Here's some," he says, his blue eyes sparkling with a sort of grim satisfaction as he points to an upcoming line: "Contaminated L-tryptophans can cause eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome ..."
Since the docs-on-national-health-watch drama debuted last September, it has acquired new executive producers, shifted to a greater focus on humanity rather than science, and allowed its leading man to become less gruff and more team-oriented.
'MEDICAL INVESTIGATION'
