Saturday, October 26, 2013

Update on The Man with the Golden Voice: Two Years on

I came back across an old post about Ted Williams, the Man with the Golden Voice as I was browsing some older posts. After watching the YouTube video which launched his story, I wondered what happened to him. I remembered that as time passed, more information about Ted came out. It was a sad story with so many sides. A real life story. Not the ones you see on news shows that try to sugar-coat or simplify a person's life. Problems with his estranged children. His distance with his mother, whom he later reunited with. 
Well here is the update. The best part of this story is that it is not a fairy tale. It's still real life fraught with real challenges. 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Is Emily Owens MD the new Greys Anatomy?

Starring: Mammie Gummer, Michael Rady, Justin Hartley, Aja Naomi King
Category: Drama, Comedy
Like a friend that is doing too much to make other people like them, Emily Owens M.D., tries to charms us with her vulnerability just a wee bit too much. Whether that succeeds or not is yet to be seen. (Unfortunately not, as it has been cancelled).
Covering the grounds well-tread by Greys Anatomy, Emily Owens, M.D. (EOMD) follows the life of several medical students as they begin their internship at Denver Memorial Hospital. EOMD centers around Emily Owens, a young doctor not quite outgrown her vulnerabilities and still finding her footing in life. She thinks she is ready to take the next step with Will Collins, a fellow medical student whom she has had a crush on for years. Now both of them are about to do their residence under the famed Dr. Bandari at Denver Memorial.
The series re-imagines the teaching hospital as high school for grown-ups. Which is bad for Emily as she didn't have an enjoyable high school experience. To make things worse, her high school nemesis, Cassandra Kopelson, is also joining the group of new medical students. Suddenly, all the things in high school she thought she had out-ran come back to haunt her again one by one. Things also doesn't go well with Will when he doesn't respond to her advances and instead starts dating Cassandra. Cassandra also makes no qualms about reasserting her role as Emily's tormentor, especially when they are both competing for the attention of Dr. Bandari. She even introduces her high school nickname/taunt to the hospital.
The cast of Emily Owens
Rounding up the people in Emily's life are Tyra, whose father is also the Chief Resident and Micah Barnes, the resident in charge of the interns who is also facing his own inner challenges. Their stories, usually involving  Emily in some way, make up the background stories of EOMD. While they are interesting in themselves, the story never strays far from Emily.
It's still too early to see whether the series tip closer to drama than comedy or vice versa. Both elements are there in equal and it never dips too far in either way. I can't say that the comedy breaks up the drama like some shows because the comedy would be both sweet and slightly sitcom-ish. It actually moves the show along. Because of that, the medicine sometimes takes a back seat. It's there in the drama but definitely not in the same way as E.R. nor House. Clearly, for now, the medical scenes are much more sterile and the blood is kept to a minimum.