Red Band Society

The show has a couple decent enough characters to keep me invested and it's different enough to keep me watching but it's got a lot of grating qualities too.

The show's set up, as a breakfast club of sorts, is problematic for the TV show format as hospitals are very temporary places. In fact, I'll go far enough on a limb to say, that this is the worst idea for a TV show when a movie would be so much better with this premise.

In the pilot, Leo gives a speech to the group about how they're all united by their illnesses (and obviously being in the hospital on the same date) and must wear red bands in solidarity. So as a result, we're actively rooting for people to stay sick and hospital bills to go through the roof. This is probably a health care reform opponent's nightmare scenario: That as soon as we start being generous with free health care, kids will start living in the hospital.

The band leader of the group is the soft, sensitive Leo, who is as close to the manic pixie dream guy I've ever seen. It seems like everyone from Emma (a broadly drawn stereotype of an arty kid with her trademark fedora), to Dash who man-crushes on him pretty heavily, to the nurses, is inexplicably drawn to him.

The show also heightens the romance angle a little too much and it's moderately disappointing that their choosing to make romances happen with the adults. The British quack doctor is naturally attracted to the only other black woman on the show as if it's simply not OK to have unattached characters. Likewise, the handsome doctor claims to be bad with women even though but has bedded every character he's set his eyes on.

For some reason, the show (because of the novelty factor and a few strong performances) is still watchable and there might be a range of opinions on how people respond to these characters.

Such a underrated show! it deserves more seasons and i'm mad that it only got one freakin season

This show caught me off guard. I recorded it just in case. i almost deleted it in the first couple minutes; but i let it go. And I'm very happy I did. I'm and old critical care and than ER RN; and I never liked working with kids. Mostly because of the parents. I was leery of it because I thought they were going to turn it into just a sob fest. But I was pleasantly surprised. It has an interesting way of telling the story; namely using the voice of a young boy in a coma who shares a room with another pt.. The medical story line not very well done; but hopefully they'll get better at that. For the most part it remains fun. It's just hard for me to watch them have a surgeon pushing a patients cart that's taking him to surgery. This never happens. I'm a big fan of Octavia Spencer but they have her giving orders for things that a doctors orders are necessary for. And she even runs a code that no doctor even showed up for. But these are relatively minor; the facts are this is a well written and acted show. I'll be watching more.

I was hooked after the first episode. Great story line, fantastic mix of comedy and drama. The characters are fun and well defined. Keep up the great work and don't listen to the person who gave you a poor rating. People like that fall asleep in anything with depth. Octavia kills it. The rich guy is a riot. The Doctor brings empathy and levity to the hospital. The kids are all doing very well and educate young people at the same time. The banter between the two girls is quite realistic to young girls in their position. Love how supportive they are with each other. If you've had the unfortunate experience of spending time in a children's hospital... you really root for them.

I really enjoy this new TV series and would love to see it continue! I do have one concern, however. As a 21 year old girl who has suffered from anorexia for 9 years and been in and out of hospitals for 3 years, I greatly hope that as the show continues, there is light shown on the seriousness of this disease. The show does not portray even slightly the extent of this disease. It is the number one cause of death in girls ages 18-24. It is deadly and it is serious. Just as much as cancer. So I ask that you please begin to better portray what it's really like to be in a hospital for an eating disorder, including the weight restoration, the constant monitoring, bed rest, feeding tubes, labs, dangerously low or high vitals, passing out, bathroom checks, the list goes on... Never in a hospital for an eating disorder would the patient be allowed to simply roam the hospital without monitoring and do as he or she pleases. The way it is portrayed in this show is far from reality. So please, do your research and help educate the public on the prevalence and mortality of this disease. Thank you.