The Mob Doctor

4.0 stars !

That's what this show was rated at IMDb a couple of days ago. Now it's 5.4 stars, and climbing. This also happened to "The L.A. Complex" (which is one of my favorite shows) and others. Seems like some group or person has hacked into the rating system here.

I don't usually like mob shows or movies, but the rating was so ridiculously low that I had to see for myself. And I was pleasantly surprised. I liked Jordana Spiro from "My Boys", and she's still gorgeous and did a good job here (s01e01) too.

As a fan of medical dramas (Grey's, Private Practice, Royal Pains, Saving Hope), I think this compares well. And I plan to watch at least a couple more episodes in the hopes that it continues to do as well or better that the first episode.

It truly is a shame that such a well put together show will most likely be dropped simply because it's a doctor show that steps out of the 'box' that people are used to.

I thought that the chemistry between the cast was dead on, the character development was brilliant, the plot was unpredictable and creative, and while it dealt with the mob it also maintained it's interesting medical backdrop. The main character alone, has so much going on that it's easy to stay interested. I mean she is a women from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make a name for herself in a big city hospital, while also trying to protect her family from the mob, and on top of it all she has to not only find, a way to NOT get so attached to her patients, but she also has to figure out a way to keep some semblance of a social life (i.e - boyfriends, friends, etc.)

I mean yeah, the show is based on a doctor who is indebted to the mob but that isn't that far fetched of an idea...nor do I find anything in the show to be unrealistic. I think that the way that they didn't handhold us viewers through the whole process of introductions and just plunged us right into the action of the show, while slowly feeding us details about the characters as the show progresses was a great idea (imo).

Anyways, I think that people should stop expecting this show to fill the big shoes that "House" left behind and just go into it with an open mind.

I really like this show, but - there is always a but isn't there, whoever is your "medical" expert needs to know what he / she is talking about. Episode 5. Yound girl is dying because she needs a new heart and is lying in bed with oxygen running. All is good and here comes the but. She does not have an oxygen mask on she has a CPAP mask on. CPAP masks look a lot worse than an O2 cannula and I think this is why they chose to use it. CPAP masks are used when someone is sleeping to keep them breathing, not when someone is awake and talking, also when someone is waiting for a new heart he/she is not pretty pink, but a horrible whitish grey color.

Thank you for your time, like I said I do like the show, you just have to get it more real when someone is sick, use the right masks, etc. I am sure if I saw this error a lot of people did.

I don't usually comment on TV series, but for this I had to.

There are a lot of doctor shows out there, but when you think of something that shows actual medical cases and real dilemmas, very few actually come up. ER and Grey's Anatomy type shows focus on the people and ignore the medical issues consistently and the likes of Dr.House focus on the brilliancy of the lead character and eventually come to avoid medical information altogether. Both types care more about the imaginary emotional problems of the main characters than for the actual characters. One could easily replace the doctors with high school hall monitors or street cleaners and not change a bit of the script.

Not so The Mob Doctor, where the lead character has to juggle her connection to gangsters and her usual high profile medical doctor job. She has both strange cases with limited resources outside of hospital and medical highlights inside, where all the equipment and tests are useless without a good doctor inspiration.

OK, the show is not perfect. The mob operations are ridiculously obvious and the way the doctor gets out of work without anyone raising eyebrows is also quite incredible, but overall the show brings a lot of the stuff that others ignore completely. This series is not bad and certainly did not deserve a cancellation after only one season, with no chance to improve.

The only cause I can find is that the female doctor in the show was not ravishingly beautiful and did not really have a romantic life. A professional that did her job well, discreetly and did not want to get into other's people business robbed the masses of their portion of gossip and monkey clan business and so they switched to the likes of Emily Owens. That's a shame, really.

Dr. Grace Devlin (Jordana Spiro) is forced into working for the mob to cancel a debt his useless brother Nate (Jesse Lee Soffer) incurred. Only her connection to the mob boss Constantine Alexander (William Forsythe) is actually much more personal than that.

It's impossible to zero in on one thing that was wrong with this show. It was a critical failure, a ratings failure, and filmed only 13 episodes. It was dead on arrival. Jordana Spiro is a nice comedic actress, but the character really had a limited range. Jesse Lee Soffer plays Nate who is probably the most annoying and frustrating character around. Then there is Paul Moretti (Michael Rapaport) who played the bad Mob guy. He's annoying. He disappeared for awhile and then returned. It was bad idea. They should either kill me off, or let him be a constant character. That kind of change really can screw up a serial show. The problems were just never fixed.