Yet, another Whedonverse actor getting a show this upcoming season. Not bad at all.

It will be great to see Eliza on my TV again.

maje | March 11, 19:36 CET

A lead role, good for her! Some interesting news about the progress of "Life on Mars" as well.

yourlibrarian | March 11, 19:39 CET

Well it is a pilot, I have no idea if it will get picked up. Unless anyone knows anything different?

Simon | March 11, 19:40 CET

Plus it's a pilot on Fox...so that doesn't bode well. Still, it sounds a lot more "conventional" than "Tru Calling" was, so Fox can't be all "now the f--k are we gonna market or schedule it?!" when it comes times to push the thing;)

[ edited by zeitgeist -we don't sign our posts- on 2007-03-12 14:35 ]

BlueEyedBrigadier | March 11, 20:23 CET

This sounds interesting, for sure. I prefer the show's other name, "Philadelphia General" more, though.

Emma Frost | March 11, 20:45 CET

I prefer the show's other name, "Philadelphia General" more, though.

Or its real name, "Grey's Anatomy, Jr."

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2007-03-12 02:11 ]

@theonetruebix | March 11, 21:11 CET

I'm all for more medical dramas so bring it on! (no pun intended)

kballgetlost | March 11, 21:21 CET

Or its real name, "Grey's Anatomy, Jr."

That's the real reason this show is even being made, but let's see they decide not to include a McDreamy wanna-be.

impalergeneral | March 11, 21:31 CET

Eliza Dushku's playing a nurse...

I'll be in my bunk. ;)

Craig Oxbrow | March 11, 21:46 CET

Hmm, I rather enjoyed the 1990's show 'Nurses', but this doesn't seem to be at all like that. Don't have enough info yet to tell if it will be decent. Probably give it a shot though, since hubby's in love with Eliza. I mean, I'm sure I've sat through worse for Whedon peeps. Here's hoping it's actually good!

Rogue Slayer | March 11, 22:30 CET

Any pilot has about a 1 in 100 chance of actually airing. I'm glad ED is getting work, but let's not jump the gun on any of these pilots and think they will actually air.

IrrationaliTV | March 11, 22:31 CET

There's already the best possible medical comedy/drama running on TV currently, Scrubs (and yeah, Scrubs brings the heartache and punch-in-the-gut real life pain every so often and does it just as well if not better than tired old ER--a show that, I have to admit, at least attracts some incredible actors). And there've always been more than enough on TV for the past 10 years or so to begin with...so why do we need another?

I'd like to see Eliza again, but I won't watch her in a medical drama. I'm not pre-judging, Nurses could turn out to be amazing (whether it gets picked up, or even only just in pilot form), it's just that I regard these things the same way I see lawyer shows, forensics, and most cop dramas that aren't The Shield.

[ edited by Kris on 2007-03-12 04:26 ]

Kris | March 11, 23:25 CET

Hmmm...Eliza in a nurse's uniform. Since when has Central Casting been getting ideas from my imagination? Not that I'm complaining. ;)

Shiai | March 11, 23:30 CET

Yeah, sexy uniform and all, but if I was in the hospital and looked up to see Faith standing over me with a medical device of any sort -- yikes! ;-)

billz | March 12, 00:26 CET

Nurse Dushku: "Now, we've only done one of the five basic torture groups. We've done blunt - but that still leaves sharp, cold, hot and loud. Have a preference?"

Welcome to the HMO experience.

Shiai | March 12, 01:51 CET

Much as I love ED (y'know, from a safe distance, as ya do), 'nurses' is not entirely an original title. Still, hope it works out for her better than Tru Calling.

giles (yes, it is my real name) | March 12, 02:23 CET

giles, Tru calling worked out pretty well for her. She was employed for two years. This will probably not even be picked up.

IrrationaliTV | March 12, 02:48 CET

I wish Eliza the best, but after reading about her new show, it sounds like a huge Grey's Anatomy rip-off. Can't Fox do something a bit more original? I have huge doubts that it will be picked up or last very long if it does. Fox has a lot of other pilots with bigger names attached and some high profile projects like the Sarah Connor Chronicles (with Summer Glau). But, Eliza as a nurse certainly does have a lot of appeal to Fox's target demographic.

If it doesn't get picked up, now Eliza's interested in doing a tv show again, and Joss has mentioned possibly getting back into tv. Hmmmm....

FaithFan | March 12, 02:49 CET

I love Elisha .... enought that I wish she could find something more original than another medical show. ER is so over but still on, Grey's Anatomy is the "new generation" ER, Scrubs is in a class all it's eccentric own. Leave it alone already & someone (other than Tim Minear) please come up with something different.

Shey | March 12, 03:07 CET

The Hollywood Reporter has got slightly more details about her role and the show so I've changed the link from the Variety article.

Simon | March 12, 03:17 CET

Any pilot has about a 1 in 100 chance of actually airing.

Is that right ? Only 1% of pilots even make it to air (and then whatever small proportion of that 1% get picked up) ? Not casting aspersions, just curious since that seems awfully low.

Still, i'll take a 1 in 100 chance of ED in a nurses uniform, longer shots have panned out ;).

(and hey, leave 'ER' alone ya wee scallywags. Sure it'd pretty much said all it had to say about 3-4 years ago but in its day, man, what a show. Totally redefined the hospital drama. Hell, it was one of the best dramas on TV full stop, hospital or otherwise IMO)

Saje | March 12, 05:33 CET

Scallywags, Saje? Whoa, never tussle with a British person, or you'll get a right scolding, you will! ;-)

billz | March 12, 08:43 CET

Oh, one can be positively stern when one wishes ;).

('tinkers' didn't quite capture it and 'toe-rags' just seemed a bit OTT, y'know ?)

Saje | March 12, 09:06 CET

Best wishes to Elisa and all her fans. I hope the show is a success.

Personally, I'm a bit snobbish when it comes to entertainment. If it's not a scifi-fantasy genre show, I'm so not gonna be there. Just the way I am. A lot of shows tailor themselves to the "gotta be real life" crowd, but if there's no magic, I'm kinda, you know, "Bored Now."

Of course, if Elisa wanted to play Faith again, that would be a different story.

quantumac | March 12, 11:19 CET

Just don't rip my skin off when you get bored, quantumac. That ep just played on FX this morning, my first time seeing it -- YIKES! :-(

billz | March 12, 12:18 CET

The article says that Eliza got cast after they took her character in a more comedic direction, which sounds promising.
I sincerely hope to see more of her on my screen, even if it is a blatant Fox "Grey's" ripoff. (Word, bix.)
However, for those of you with the "naughty nurse" outfit fantasies, most nurses today wear the less-than-revealing scrubs. Lucky for her, Eliza can wear a paper bag and look amazing.

greentara | March 12, 12:43 CET

Grey's Anatomy is not a comedy, and it is about surgeons, not nurses...so how is this new show a ripoff exactly? Maybe I need to read more about it, but the little plotbunny shown here does not seem anything like GA to me.

It seems that the networks are just trying to squeeze every drop of life of a genre du jour -- Situation Normal for televisionland.

Now, Heroes is another matter altogether. Are! Eye! Pee! Oh! Eff! Eff!

woo & hoo | March 12, 15:05 CET

However, for those of you with the "naughty nurse" outfit fantasies, most nurses today wear the less-than-revealing scrubs...

Maybe in the US but over here they still wear the traditional PVC mini-dresses and high-heels (actually, despite my comment above, IMO nurses uniforms have always been pretty utilitarian and not particularly sexy or revealing, never really saw the appeal of the actual uniform. And no, Dr. Freud, my Mum being a former nurse has nothing to do with it ;).

However, greentara, in the words of Adam 'Mythbusters' Savage, "I reject your reality and substitute my own" ;).

woo & hoo, presumably you mean 'Rising Stars' ? IIRC JMS has said himself that he sees the parallels but is totally unbothered by them. If it doesn't bother the supposedly ripped-off creator then it doesn't bother me either (if it's the similarity of some of the powers to X-men abilities then I see your point but I also think the abilities featured so far in 'Heroes' are the first ones that would occur for mainstream appeal, basically because they're among the coolest i.e. flight, super-healing, invisibility, teleportation, telepathy etc.).

Besides, the basic idea may be less than totally original but, as with anything, it's the implementation that really matters and that's where 'Heroes' excels IMO. YMMV ;).

Saje | March 12, 15:41 CET

I'll be in my bunk. ;)

Best whedonesque comment ever! :)

Mort | March 12, 17:09 CET

Saje, my number was probably a bit low (but not by much).

Each major network orders about 30 or so shows to pilot each year. Only one third of them (or less) are ordered to series. Last year ABC and NBC ordered 10 new series. CBS and Fox ordered 7 each and CW only ordered 3.

Out of the 10 ABC ordered only 5 have survived. Out of the 7 Fox ordered only 1 is still viable and that is only because it just started a week or so ago.

So maybe the chances of Nurses getting ordered to series is somewhere around 30% and then it may have a 25% chance of living to February sweeps.

However you look at it, it is definitely a long shot.

IrrationaliTV | March 12, 17:51 CET

I win!

Craig Oxbrow | March 12, 17:59 CET

Whether the creator minds or not doesn't make something less of a ripoff. It just makes it less of a legal liability.

I watch Heroes, because I am a fan of the scifi/fantasy/superhero genres, and I know that my interest and support of shows/movies/merch helps to keep it coming (I'll watch pretty much anything they toss at me if I have the time and patience...I even watched Waterworld, Batman & Robin and like 20 minutes of SciFi's recent Gryphon -- not that Heroes is any way on the level of those stinkers!).

I also watch because Tim Sale's art is frackin awesome and I think the show overall has been executed pretty well so far. Except...Sylar is boring me...extragrande boring me.

What I do not like is when things that happen to become popular are described as innovative and original when they aren't entirely so, and when there are none props given to things that were by those that came after.

woo & hoo | March 12, 21:12 CET

What I mean by pointing out JMS' position is that he clearly feels enough is different (or original in implementation) to make 'Heroes' more like a work resulting from the body of comics/movies etc. that went before than a direct rip-off of one particular comic (or movie).

Apart from that we're in total agreement woo & hoo (in fact i've said the same thing on this very board). I did find it a bit irritating when Tim Kring said he knew nothing about comics, thereby implying that 'Heroes' was something totally new instead of - like all creative endeavours - being built on the shoulder's of what went before, and the way the mainstream media have sometimes lauded it as being wholly original also irks a bit. As usual, comics just don't get no respect ;).

Saje | March 13, 07:36 CET

I know it's off the main page now, but I have to tip my hat to Saje, your reality with the PVC-clad nurses sounds much more interesting. You should run that idea past Terry Gilliam.
Also, I agree with you completely re: Heroes. Great show, irritating that the media is acting like it's never heard of the freaking X-Men.

[ edited by greentara on 2007-03-14 06:07 ]

greentara | March 14, 01:04 CET