Off the Map

...Think sorority girls and stud muffins play at being doctors in the jungle complete with simpleton "locals" and formulaic drama and that is all you need to know.

...Because this show is shot in Hawai'i, the scenery is spectacular. It will make you all the angrier that not more was done with the writing, casting, and scripts.

...I made it through 1 and 1/3 episodes, but no more. The acting is passable, but the music is sappy, the stories are predictable, and the casting is well, to be kind, extremely uninspired. This could easily have been the Disney Channel does jungle medicine with high schoolers.

...I can guarantee you that it is only a matter of time before one of the "doctors" has to land an airplane due to an accident with the pilot.

...yes it is that bad.

... The networks wonder why the cable channels have all the hits now-a-days. Well I give you "Off the Map" as exhibit Number 1.

Various doctors work in a clinic in a non-specific South American country. Mamie Gummer, Caroline Dhavernas, and Jason George portray some of the doctors.

Shonda Rhimes was attempting another doctors show. It's an easy sell to the TV exec suits. Imagine Grey's Anatomy in the jungle. Non-specific is in fact the mantra for the whole show. The jungle in Hawaii just looks too pretty. The tiki bar is pulled out of numerous other shows. The whole show just feels fake. Add on Rachelle Lefevre, and it seem like some kind of Models for Doctors program. Shonda should have spend more time trying to give more realism to the show.

First, i must say there is something likable about this show, it kept me watching for all 13 episodes and i don't regret it. Maybe it was nature which is beautiful, i don't know. But on the other hand i found it kind of boring, not just because of the stories, true some of the episodes were interesting but there was quite a few boring ones in sense of predictability. After 10 minutes into the episode you knew exactly what is going to happen in the next 30 minutes and not just with medical part of the show, but with personal life of characters which are also very predictable. There is of course their love life and we all know that in this kind of TV series they usually pair up among group and that is also the case here, just enough that it becomes annoying and their life before they came to the clinic to make a fresh start is cliché..so if i summarize, i kind of liked it but if it were less predictable it could actually be a good TV series.

p.s. sorry for my poor English and also this is my first review so bare with me :)

This is a great show that has wonderful character interaction and breath taking scenes. The new medical drama that comes with each new week is amazing and very unique! This is a show to watch from the beginning. I think it's beginning to catch it's groove. Everyone keeps complaining about this show being shot in the same location as where lost was shot at. Who cares? The shows have nothing to do with the other. Give this show a chance. I promise you'll slowly fall in love. Each new episode adds more drama and interweaves the story line even more. The actor/actresses that star in this show make it shine as well. They are very likable characters that make you care.

The idea was pretty good, and it all started off nicely. However, it soon became obvious that the general plot outline and the larger character arcs hadn't been properly thought through. It was obvious by the end of the only season that the writers had got themselves stuck in a quagmire that would easily force the whole show into absurdity when attempting to get out of it.

Sure, there were a few leads still dangling at the end, such as an ethical dilemma concerning local farmers' subsistence, even though that particular one would have caused the series a number of problems in many other ways. But I think the larger problem is that the show from the start was inherently political while hesitating to actually become political as such. You cannot describe third world problems and Westerners' frustrations with them without eventually addressing their underlying causes, and if you do, you probably become too "liberal" for American TV. On the other hand, remaining in status quo relegates the main characters to becoming Benevolent White Teachers of the colonial kind, and that obviously wouldn't work either.

It was a good attempt and I'm sad to see it wasted, but it also serves as a lesson in thinking things through properly before launching a series. I hope the idea will be picked up again some day without the fear of actually dealing with the issues it encompasses.