Code Black is the anti-Grey’s Anatomy.
We didn’t open Code Black Season 1 Episode 1 with any sex between co-workers or any profound talk on elevators; that’s not what this new CBS drama is about.
Instead, the network is aiming for the next ER, a series medical procedural that focuses more on cases than the doctors who deal with them.
Not that the doctors aren’t important, of course. We still need to like the staff members who deal with intense cases everyday at Angels Memorial Hospital.
And they are:
- Senior nurse Jesse Sallander (Luis Guzman), who refers to himself “your mama” because there’s nothing that happens at the hospital that he doesn’t know about.
- Dr. Leanne Rorish (Marcia Gay Harden) a risk-taking residency director who is all about tough love and who is fueled by rage after an accident three years ago.
- Christa Lorenson (Bonnie Somerville), a resident/mother who is often serves as Rorish’s punching bag.
- Mario Savetti (Benjamin Hollingsworth), Lorenson’s younger colleague and, we’re just guessing here, her future love interest.
- Neal Hudson (Raza Jaffrey), who oversees the Emergency Room.
On the premiere, Christa performs an emergency C-section in an ambulance while Dr. Rorish gives her instructions over the phone. This leads to a moment in which we learn Christa lost her son to cancer.
We also learn that Rorish lost “everyone” she loves somehow.
For the record, a Code Black takes place when there are more patients than resources at the hospital.
We’re told early on that the average hospital faces five per year, while the one featured here features nearly one per day.
So viewers can prepare for a lot of action, just not the bedroom kind Grey’s Anatomy has been so successful at portraying.
Go ahead and watch Code Black online to see if you’re interested in the other type of action