Crossing Jordan

"Crossing Jordan" is the ONLY medical drama that doesn't bore me to death. I tried watching shows such as "CSI" and "CSI: Miami" but they don't seem to have entertaining qualities that a good television show should have. And "ER" has gone downhill in recent years.

What I love about "Crossing Jordan" is the interesting characters and the plausable scenarios. These characters form their own family of friends, which is hard to find in today's medical dramas.

Characters such as Nigel, Bug and Woody give the drama much needed comedy. Who says that drama has to be such a downer? Why not laugh a little? With Jordan being the strong female lead, gives the show much needed respect.

I happened upon "Crossing Jordan" one evening while channel surfing. I'm glad I did; this is a good show. This show works because it is well cast, for starters. The interaction between Jill Hennessey and Miguel Ferrer is excellent and never contrived. Steve Valentine and Ravi Kapoor are brilliant, and Katherine Hahn balances out this group as the sweet, empathic Lily. Jerry O'Connell is a welcome addition as young, gung-ho detective Woody Hoyt, who provides nice little comic moments here and there to keep the show on it's toes. Fortunately for me, A&E runs older episodes of CJ late in the evening, so I've had a chance to play catch-up and watch it from the beginning. This show started out interesting to me and seems to be getting better all the time. I'll definitely keep watching in the future.

Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessy) is a top Boston medical examiner despite her checkered past and aggressive nature. Dr. Garret Macy (Miguel Ferrer) is the chief medical examiner who helps her start over. Bug, Lily Lebowski, and Dr. Nigel Townsend are some of her other fellow workers. She often works with police detective Woody Hoyt (Jerry O'Connell). The earlier seasons have her bouncing off ideas with her ex-cop father Max.

Tim Kring brings us Jill Hennessy and a good cast. It is a solid standard police procedural. The group has good chemistry. It lasted 6 seasons, but it did get convoluted in the last few years. As the show went on, the characters' back story started to conflict with the flow of the show. Eventually it cracked under the weight of the back story.

It looks like the later Rizzoli & Illes show was inspired by this show. Better than a lot of things I've seen in a TV landscape dominated by The Police Procedural-this show stands out as being a bit different-but in a good way. It is to crime shows what Yes was to progressive rock music-always something fresh and always done well. I actually cannot remember seeing this show on TV at any time even though it ran for six years it seems. Not even in reruns. I have noticed that in different areas there are shows that don't seem to be available in other areas-I guess this is one of them. Would have watched it-maybe better to see it on DVD without the dreaded barrage of commercials that I think render most shows neutralized at best. Worth a look if you've never seen it. Probably better than watching the 57,000th episode of Law & Order.

I'm not sure what show thwolf was watching, but it doesn't appear that he was watching this one. Crossing Jordan has been one of the freshest and most interesting of the new crop of "crime dramas" that have surfaced recently. In the same vein as CSI, this show has taken the genre to new levels. It does what CSI does, but better, with more humour and a more interesting cast. Does CSI do well as a show? Yes, but if I had to pick between the two, my money would be on Crossing Jordan. Miguel Ferrer has done top notch work (Top Guns: Part Deux notwithstanding), Jill Hennessy is one of the hottest looking women out there, Jerry O'Connell, well, I've liked him since "My Secret Identity", and the supporting cast crack me up on a weekly basis. As for accuracy and versimilitude, I have a friend who works in the local Coroners office and while the office he works in isn't nearly as bright and breezy as the Boston office in Crossing Jordan, the general feel and the equipment that is mentioned in the show is spot on. Someone on staff does their homework.