Mental

They copied every routine detail house series: - conflicts with female boss(Lisa Cuddy clone), - weird undiagnosed illnesses that others can't cure, - contradictory diagnoses, - giving orders to other doctors, - time shortage, - crazy-looking and unexpected behavior, - and even "braking and entering" but instead of coping movie's personality they should concentrate on more important factors such as: - quality acting, - quality camera-work, - quality sound... Oh yes and quality ideas... I surprised fox even showed it. Yes, I watched 1st episode to the last minute, I thought maybe they at least have an interesting idea, but no...

Think House meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But change cranky, gimp-legged diagnostician Dr Gregory House with an impish, boy toy shrink and Nurse Ratched for a comely cougar chief administrator and Voila! . . . a FOX prime time TV series targeted at soccer moms on meds. But why stop there with the similarities to House? Why mess with success when you can plagiarize the play book of "Maverick White Hero Triumphs Over 'Diversity' and Teaches Uppity Women and Nervous Nelly Minorities a Lesson in How to Terrorize Your Patients Using Rogue Medical Techniques". Start by hiring a British actor, place him in a cold, sterile institution that frowns upon "genius" and staff it with earnest, well meaning staff who prefer to "play it safe and by the book" while our unconventional hero uses his rakish charm to enlist the support of his former lover who just so happens to run the hospital. Former lover should be an aging albeit hot brunette on the wrong side of forty conflicted by her burgeoning sexual attraction to recently hired doctor/ex-boyfriend, and her desire to avoid the inevitable lawsuits resulting from his "inspired" treatments. Replace Dr House's acutely observed misanthropy with cutely observed musings on the "mysteries of the human mind" and you have 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo House . . . and Dropped a Great Steaming Load' aka 'Mental'.

Psychiatry and psychology is a hot topic these days. We had to wait for too long for a psych series to come out. We had a psych thread in Sopranos, it was great but it was not the core of it. We have In Treatment which I find fascinating. But this comment is not about it...

So lets have an old, inhuman psychiatric ward. Filled with doctors and patients with various kinds and sorts of problems. And lets put a messiah doctor inside who is kind with patients and will carry out a revolution. And we also need special and fascinating cases from the broad range of psychiatry.

Hm.. sounds good. Except... We have seen something like this. Ah yes it is House MD. One of the first and still best 'new line' series. Is it a good idea to copy a leading show? Hm... maybe but then you have to accentuate the differences and you have to make it a quality product. Unfortunately MENTAL failed in both of these aspects.

As a med student and aspiring psychiatrist I can say the medical cases are of varying degrees crap. But of course I am the only one who might be disturbed by this.

The characters are 2D. Simple and uninteresting. There is nothing interesting about acting or visuals. The overall plot about the evil doctor conspiring against our precious good doctor is childish and too simple. To tell the truth I lost interest before it could turn out what is up with Mr. psychiatrist and his not answering ex. sorry...

I was really enthusiastic about this show because it is about a psych ward. I tried really hard to enjoy it. But failed. I think you will also fail to do so....

It just wants to impress, amaze and woo us from the start. It fails, since this approach is so last century. I want character development, colors, emotions. I don't want to rush into stereotypes: "cool boss" + "powerful female colleague"; two sexy interns, fresh from actors school in LA; hospital director that looks like a captain from some hardboiled cop show, but not someone with a medical background. Mental cases are interesting stuff to explore, but it fails here also, since it emphasizes on human relations, rather than subject of psychiatry itself.

Camera work is so bad it pains me to look at those Mexican soap opera style close-ups. Sound falls even shorter.

And yes, where are the writers of this show? My bet is, that it will end with this one pilot.

Really Sorry Show. Not Original at all. Casting is subpar. Characters are aren't even interesting. Looks like most of the supporting Actors/Actress don't even give a damn about the show. Watch the show to the end and hoping it would get better. It was downhill from the after the first scene. They didn't even try to make it better. The Idea is interesting but execution is way off. Hopefully, Episode #2 will be a 180 turn of the Pilot. Could put Flashy Technical stuff(ie Numb3rs). I want to see how Pyschobabble looks on TV. Camera work is too bland. FOX please stop wasting your Adverstiser's Money. We know you have dough, but do spend it wisely.