Doctor Odyssey

I do not normally watch medical dramas, but this one caught my attention with the added element of it being on a cruise ship. And it is just that, a medical drama on a cruise ship. Which made it stupidly awesome. Certain things are made better with an added element of cheese, like the Golden Bachelor/Bachelorette. This show is so cheesy and stupid that I will probably keep watching it anyway. It's a perfect, ridiculous, brain cell killing, destress show. Overused jokes? Check. Major plot holes? Check. Nonsensical storytelling? Check. It's basically perfect, if you can handle cringing for an hour.

This is definitely The Love Boat meets House series. Caught my attention when I learned Don Johnson was back in a series. I had also just watched an Australian series that featured several of the Fringe actors. Made me wonder what dreamboat Pacie from Dawson's Creek was up to these days. Then just like that he shows up in this new series as the head doctor.

So far there has not been enough of Don Jonson. Hope there will be more of the Captain in the future. Joshua Jackson has the major role so far. Not sure I like him jumping into bed with a cremate so quickly, thou.

Hard to believe all the medical equipment they have available on this one cruise ship, though. I can't get this kind of care in one medical clinic in my state. In just these couple early episodes, they have handled conditions that, perhaps, these passengers should have not been traveling with and should have stayed home..

I don't think this show would win a lot of points for accuracy or realism, but I am really enjoying the escapism it provides me so far - go out weekly on a gorgeous looking boat with beautiful people shot in bright colors practicing impossible medicine? - why not..

The 3 main actors are well known and deserving of their street cred, they mesh well together, sometimes making you forget that they are supposed to not know each other, and I always find it refreshing when a show tackles interpersonal issues head on instead of forcing it (through lazy writing) into a conflict for the sake of drama - normal people talk to one another!

There are some continuity issues with the personalities of the characters, it feels like they haven't yet fully got it down, but I'm rooting for them - I'm having a great time so far.

The show turned icky when that threesome happened and the nurse got pregnant and they didn't know whose it was. It's just awful.

It's hit a stalemate and isn't entertaining by any stretch of the imagination. They need to have it to be more about the guests, not just mini stories, that are not important enough for a full show. Their stories are so brief it's like they are not even worth being on the boat.

The main characters are just so flat, they have no depth at all. The guest characters don't have a chance to be flat or funny. The show doesn't have enough time to dive into anything worthy of a story. This is just a sad show and it had so much potential. Very sad.

So.... I'm in the UK and this show wasn't heavily marketed. I was of the belief this was a serious drama, but I watched the first couple of episodes, stuck to the screen as I couldn't believe how absolutely awful this show was.

The scripts, storyline and characters are all ludicrous and I couldn't believe the show had made it to screen.

But... by episode 3 the penny dropped. This is a Ryan Murphy wet dream. It's supposed to be this bad. It's a bit of fantasy full of beautiful people doing silly things. Once I understood that, I actually started to enjoy it.

It really isn't much more ridiculous than the Love Boat was back in the 70s and 80s. If you're able to suspend belief for an hour, you can relish in a bit of fun TV.

The show clearly has a decent budget. It looks rich on screen and the replica cruise ship they've built is fairly convincing.

I'll keep on watching.