You may find better shows on TV this fall, but you certainly won't find one more earnest than ABC's "Gideon's Crossing."
This new medical drama is so earnest, so sincere, so dramatic you might almost feel like you're in a real doctor's office facing a life-and-death situation.
Not that that's altogether a bad thing. "Crossing" is excellent drama, strongly written and well-acted. The big question, however, is whether it will remain as unremittingly serious as tonight's pilot episode — which might make it a bit heavy for weekly viewing.
One of TV's finest actors, Andre Braugher ("Homicide: Life on the Street") stars as Dr. Benjamin Gideon, chief of experimental medicine at a prestigious teaching hospital in Boston. He's the mentor to a group of young residents (played by Russell Hornsby, Rhona Mitra, Eric Dane, Hamish Linklater, Ravi Kapoor and Sophie Keller) to whom he's trying to impart not just his medical wisdom but his people skills as well.
Inspired by the book "The Measure of Our Days," by medical doctor Jerome Groopman (who's a consultant on the show), "Gideon's Crossing" is attempting to be a medical drama unlike "ER," "Chicago Hope" or "City of Hope."
"I think that the theme of the book is part of what sets the show apart, which is that illness changes people's lives," said executive producer Paul Attanasio, who not only created "Homicide: Life on the Street" but is an Oscar-nominated film writer whose credits include "Quiz Show," "Donnie Brasco" and "Disclosure."
"Sometimes it enhances or deepens their lives. And doctors are privileged to participate in that event. . . . That's very different as a story-telling approach than what the other medical shows are. You get into really the deeper stories of people's lives."
Unlike "ER," where the patients rush on and off the screen, viewers will get to know the patients on "Gideon's Crossing." As evidenced in the first episode, which is airing uninterrupted by commercials tonight at 9 on Ch. 4. ("Gideon's Crossing" moves to its regular timeslot on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 9 p.m.) The story revolves around a patient (Bruce McGill) suffering from what is believed to be an incurable type of cancer who nonetheless has a huge will to fight it. His relationship with Gideon is a huge part of the narrative — and the story winds up in a place you don't expect.
"What's interesting about Dr. Gideon and interesting about Dr. Groopman is that they are willing to take these risks, not only with science, but there's a real personal risk involved with getting involved in your patient's lives," Attanasio said. "In some ways, it's riskier. And a lot of the show is going to be about that — about a doctor who is unorthodox, who is willing to go out on that high wire in terms of science but more in terms of humanity. More in terms of getting involved and being in a relationship with a human being, which is always fraught with peril."
In the process, viewers will get to know the doctors as well — Gideon himself is a single father, and the stories will include his relationship with his best friend (Ruben Blades), a former psychiatrist who is now the hospital's administrator.
And, of course, Gideon's relationship with his students is a big part of the show.
"It's interesting," Attanasio said. "Even with all of the state-of-the-art technology, medicine is still taught the way it was taught in ancient times. It's taught by the senior doctor setting the example for a junior doctor. It's not really taught in medical school. It's really taught master to apprentice, like in the medieval guilds, and that's a very emotional process. We hope to capture that also."
"Gideon's Crossing" has a lot going for it. If only the seriousness of it doesn't scare viewers away.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com