The Forgotten Marcia Gay Harden Medical Drama You Can Binge On Amazon Prime
As marketable premises go, you'd have a hard time beating "hospital where everybody yells and runs." Get a dozen or so beautiful people in lab coats, toss jaunty, festive stethoscopes around their necks, and let them jog tensely through a thousand swinging doors while asking to get things "STAT." That's a recipe for a dozen seasons, three spin offs, and a couple of those ill-advised cash grab mobile games where you can buy 10 more gauze for $3.99.
But somehow, "Code Black" only lasted a scant three years, despite featuring all the drama and medical jargon and Luis Guzmán you could reasonably ask for. The series, which is currently available to binge on Amazon Prime via IMDb TV if you don't mind sitting through ad breaks like we did back in pioneer days, follows Marcia Gay Harden's Dr. Leanne Rorish as she and a group of bright-eyed young doctors try to staunch the flow of society's arterial spray at Angels Memorial Hospital. Numerous obstacles stand in the team's way — the hospital is understaffed, poorly equipped, and constantly being pummeled by emergencies in volumes that strain credibility.
"Code Black" knew how to swing for the medical drama fences
Alongside Academy Award and Tony winner Marcia Gay Harden, "Code Black" boasts a panoply of recognizable faces. Starting in season two, Rob Lowe joined the cast as Army Medical Corps vet Dr. Ethan Willis. Luis Guzmán plays nurse Jesse Salander, the caring Mama to Harden's tough-as-nails Daddy — that's what they call her on the show, we're not being weird. If you, like millions of Americans, have an itch that only Kevin Dunn can scratch, look no further than "Code Black," where he plays the suspicious Dr. Taylor for nine episodes.
The show's first season was as divisive as it's mathematically possible to be, with critics on Rotten Tomatoes hanging a 50% approval rating around its neck. Positive takes compared the series to "ER," while less forgiving reviewers described it as a rehash of well-worn territory that "Grey's Anatomy" had already planted a flag in a decade prior. Still, if you're looking for a medical drama with a cast of pedigreed performers, "Code Black" has 100 cc's of high drama waiting to drip into your arm over on Amazon Prime.