purakek

In this ensemble cast drama which predated ER and Grey's Anatomy, I got my first glimpse of what goes on in a hospital. Usually, doctors are just supporting bits or extras in the typical TV drama, but here we have young, winsome doctors trying to make it in a medical setting dealing with various diseases as well as personal problems. No bloody scenes but lots of melodrama. It didn't last long, and I can only remember a few episodes (like the patient whose hand was caught in the elevator door and a street clown who broke a lot of bones in her ankle after a perilous somersault). Nevertheless, it was the first time I saw Mike Farrell before he went to MASH and the last I've seen of Broderick Crawford. Good to great, too bad it didn't last long.

In the 1970s, TV capitalized on ethnic comedies such as Good Times and The Jeffersons (thanks to the rippling effect of the first all-American Bunker family). As a result, comedies were created based on how an ethnic family copes with then modern-day America. Most of these mutations were duds, such as Mr. T & Tina, That's My Mama and sadly, Viva Valdez. Think about The Flower Drum Song but replace the Asians with Mexicans. You have a father who's overprotective of his family, a mother who's heavily into needless histrionics and teens/young adults living the modern life with clearer accents. Add to that, Jorge Cervera Jr., who gets special billing, as a newly-arrived cousin who's catchphrase is "Hello, everybody!". Why Cervera Jr. got a special billing I don't know and his acting abilities here make me wonder even more why he's even in the cast. Slight laughs but nothing groundbreaking here. Should not have been made at all.

Eischied is a continuation of the character Baker portrayed in the TV miniseries, "To Kill a Cop", which I believe is his best. Then again, that doesn't say much. The JDB movies are almost always awful, with the possible exception of Walking Tall and some appearances in James Bond. And television during these times was in pursuit of toned-down bestsellers. In To Kill a Cop, he plays the hero who's not above to doing amoral (and perhaps, immoral) things to keep his job. Yet, he redeems himself with the successful capture of the bad guys. In the TV series, however, they toned down (almost eradicated) the moral ambiguity of his character. So, now he's a "good" cop after the bad guys. It's of average quality which could have been redeemed if they only made Eischied the morally questionable cop he really was.