The Most Rewatchable Doctor Shows Of All Time

The television landscape may look different than it did in its 1950s heyday, but certain types of shows have never gone out of style, from the domestic sitcom to the tough-guy detective show. One particularly endearing subgenre of TV drama is the "medical drama," which follows the hardworking medical professionals who work tirelessly to save the lives of sick or injured people. It makes sense from a storytelling standpoint: there's no shortage of disease and illness in this world, and discovering how to fix what ails us has always made for compelling storytelling in any medium, and television is no different.

There have been countless doctor shows following hospital workers to specialists to general practitioners alike, and there will continue to be more and more until the end of time. Here are some of our favorite shows that follow the doctors, nurses, and surgeons who save countless lives every day.

By 2009, the USA Network was known for its lineup of TV shows that featured offbeat characters in whimsical situations. Rather than the gritty and violent worlds presented by networks like FX and HBO, shows like "Burn Notice," "White Collar," and "Psych" embraced more family-friendly content without compromising their storytelling integrity. One of the longest-running series from this period of USA's history is "Royal Pains."

"Royal Pains" aired for eight seasons, from 2009 to 2016. The series follows Dr. Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein), who becomes the Hamptons' most famous concierge doctor. His scheming brother turns his services into a business, "HankMed." The show revolves around Dr. Lawson's upper-crust clientele and employees, as he tries to keep his unexpected new career afloat. "Royal Pains" aired during the summer months, and its low-stakes drama mixed with jolly comedy made it a popular destination for fans looking for the television equivalent to a summer fling. Today, thanks to streaming, newcomers and old fans can enjoy "Royal Pains" at any time of the year.

Sometimes, a small change can have huge consequences on storytelling. On paper, "The Knick" can be succinctly summarized as "doctors in the early 1900s," but that doesn't encapsulate just how different this is from something like "ER" or "Grey's Anatomy." For one thing, "The Knick" is a Cinemax show, which means it has enough blood and guts in a single episode to fill out an entire season of any other show on this list. In addition, every episode of "The Knick" is directed by Steven Soderbergh, who uses his passion for cinema to imbue the series with a unified vision.

Clive Owen and André Holland star as doctors at Knickerbocker Hospital in upper Manhattan, also known as The Knick. Over the course of two seasons and twenty episodes, they try to take care of the city's sick and wounded while balancing their own demons and trying to cope with the rapidly growing landscape of New York City. That latter point only leads to more and more disease spreading among its hardworking people, to say nothing of the horrific racism of the time — dying patients were too often refused treatment just because they were Black. Watching "The Knick" can be a gory and grueling experience, but it's also a fascinating look into a forgotten era of NYC and archaic medical science of days long past.

Before television was a ubiquitous part of every American household, the "Dr. Kildare" movies starring Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore were big hits for MGM. Between 1938 and 1942, nine films were produced, with Ayres as the young and optimistic Dr. Kildare and Barrymore as the older and wiser Dr. Gillespie.

In the early 1950s, Ayres nearly reprised his iconic role for a television series, but objected to the idea of a medical series sponsored by cigarette companies, so the project fell apart. A decade later, the idea of a Dr. Kildare series was revived, with Raymond Massey as Dr. Gillespie and the outrageously handsome Richard Chamberlain as Dr. Kildare. The series lasted for five seasons and 191 episodes, making Chamberlain a star in the process. In addition to its week-to-week procedural elements, the series contained serialized elements that were ahead of its time, showing Kildare grow from an intern to a resident at the fictional Blair General Hospital.

Widely recognized as one of the most influential medical dramas of all time, the impact of "Dr. Kildare" can be seen in virtually every hospital show that came after. Even the basic premise, of a young, idealistic doctor starting out as an intern before becoming a proper figure of authority himself, can be seen echoed in "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scrubs."

For those looking for something with a lighter touch, "Scrubs" follows a cast of medical interns who, over the course of the series, grow to become full-fledged doctors and big bosses at the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital. The show is anchored by the adorable and charming Zach Braff as JD, whose wandering imagination gives the show a level of whimsy that elevates it beyond the core premise of "doctor sitcom." In particular, Season 4's "My Life in Four Cameras" sees JD imagine his life as a more traditional sitcom, with delightfully wacky results.

Notably, "Scrubs" featured the same core cast of characters (JD, Turk, Carla, Elliot, Dr. Cox, Kelso, and the Janitor) until the ninth and final season, colloquially called "Scrubs: Med School." This swan song season features a predominantly new cast of characters, with the old veterans stepping in to make frequent guest appearances. It was an attempt to reboot the series for a new generation with a (mostly) new cast, but it just didn't catch on.

Despite its status as a sitcom, "Scrubs" took great pride in being accurate to the real-life medical science and hospital politics that feature in the series, thus earning respect from the real-life medical community that inspired it. The series is essential viewing for real-life hospital workers, as well as anyone with even a passive interest in comedy. 

First things first, just to get it out of the way: No, a fourteen-year-old cannot be a certified as a medical doctor. Regardless, the premise of "Doogie Howser, M.D." is too charming too resist due to its simplicity: He's a teenager and a second-year resident surgeon. Neil Patrick Harris stars as the title character, who has to deal with all the conflicts of a typical medical drama, as well as all the coming of age shenanigans of a teen drama.

"Doogie Howser" has a unique energy, since it mixes drama and comedy in a half-hour format. It's not as grim as "Nurse Jackie," but it's not as overtly comedic as "Scrubs," either. It's somewhere in the middle, and for those willing to accept its admittedly ridiculous premise, there's a lot of heart and joy to be found in the series. The show was recently revived on Disney+ as "Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.," which adopts the same half-hour format and core premise of a teenager in the medical field trying to balance out both sides of her life.

"ER" started out as a feature film script written by author Michael Crichton, but wound up becoming one of the longest-running TV dramas of all time. By the end of its run, it reached 15 seasons and a staggering 331 episodes, always airing at 10:00 on Thursday nights. As the title suggests, the show follows the Emergency Room doctors at Chicago's County General Hospital. Their work isn't glamorous; they treat people who come in off the street and do their best to keep them alive, and they don't always succeed, but that's the job.

Many actors became stars due to their time on "ER," the most notable example being George Clooney, who starred in the first five seasons before becoming one of the biggest movie stars of all time. It came as a surprise, then, when he returned to make a special guest appearance in the final season, reprising his character one last time to bid farewell to the show that catapulted him into superstardom.

"ER" isn't always an easy watch, and it has its peaks and valleys in terms of believability (remember when a helicopter fell on Romano?), but it's a ride worth taking — especially since it serves as a timeline of the evolution of television between 1994 and 2009.