After all these years, nothing much I can say will sway you one way or another -- you either enjoy Dick Wolf-produced ensemble dramas or you don't.
You either find Wolf's brand of Law & Order-style entertainment the comfort food of TV, or you prefer something with more substance.
Not that there's anything wrong with large ensemble dramas without much depth. Sometimes we prefer a simple, uncomplicated hour with characters we enjoy. No deep thinking. No heavy emotional involvement. No ponderous philosophical entanglements or angst with which to wrestle.
Serving up satisfying, familiar fare week after week is one of the reasons many of Wolf's shows last so long.
I've met Wolf a few times on press tours. The last time I saw him, he was brazenly chastising 190 TV critics, whining that his shows weren't getting the proper respect that the shiny new darling du jour was being afforded (I believe it was Breaking Bad that year).
Don't get me wrong. Wolf is a wonder. My hat is off to one of the most prolific guys to ever waltz into Hollywood, but I'm not going to feel sorry for him if he feels he doesn't have enough Emmys.
In addition to Law & Order, Wolf has padded the franchise (he insists on calling it a "brand") with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Law & Order: Trial by Jury; Law & Order: LA; and (on the horizon) the reality show Law & Order: You the Jury.
Wolf wasn't content to leave franchising alone once the law and order business began to play out (only SVU remains on the air). There was Chicago left to conquer.
Wolf's Chicago Fire premiered in 2012. Chicago P.D. came along in 2013, and now we have Chicago Med premiering at 8 p.m. today on NBC.
NBC hyperbolically labels the series "an emotional thrill ride through the day-to-day chaos of the city's newest state-of-the-art trauma center and into the lives of the courageous doctors, nurses and staff who hold it all together."
That's right. It's another ensemble hospital series headed by a couple of veteran actors with whom you should feel right at home.
Viewers will recognize Oliver Platt from such series as The Big C, Huff and Deadline. In Chicago Med, Platt plays chief of psychiatry Dr. Daniel Charles, who is wise in all things except his personal life.
Wolf recycles Law & Order stalwart S. Epatha Merkerson as chief administrator of clinical operations Sharon Goodwin. It's her daunting task to deal with the pressure of running the city's largest hospital while keeping a sense of humanity in order to allow her doctors to provide the best care possible.
Merkerson, by the way, played Lt. Anita Van Buren on Law & Order in 391 episodes -- more than any other cast member.
To help you sort them out, here's the rest of the Chicago Med staff.
Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell, Arrow) is the newest trauma doctor in the ER.
Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss, Shameless), chief ER resident, practiced in New York before returning home to Chicago.
Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto, The Vampire Diaries) specializes in emergency pediatric medicine. She's also in the third trimester of her pregnancy.
Dr. Ethan Choi (Brian Tee, Jurassic World) is a former Navy combat doctor. He specializes in infectious diseases.
Dr. Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo, Jane the Virgin) is an overachieving fourth-year medical student.
April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta, Whitney) is the requisite nurse who is the heart and soul of the ER. Nurses are always that way.
How will Chicago Med differ from, say, the new Code Black, which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS? Why, that's easy.
Unlike "an emotional thrill ride," Code Black is a "heart-pounding medical drama that takes place in the busiest, most notorious ER in the nation."
See the difference? Also, one is in Chicago, the other is in Los Angeles.
And instead of the veteran Merkerson, Code Black has the veteran Marcia Gay Harden leading a diverse ensemble of "heroic doctors and nurses" in the ER.
In tonight's first episode of Chicago Med, "The Green Branch," an elevated train crash interrupts the grand opening of the emergency department when a flood of crash victims arrives at the hospital.
Wait. Wasn't that the Oct. 15 episode of Grey's Anatomy? Nah. That was a bus crash that flooded the ER with senior citizens.
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Style on 11/17/2015