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Trauma Finally “Coded,” Paramedics Speak for Dead “Trauma,” the biggest SF series since “Nash Bridges,” was finally terminated with extreme prejudice the afternoon of Friday, March 12. It had already been cancelled by the network, of course, on October 28, but then it was given a reprieve, with three shows added to the nine NBC was going to allow to go to completion. Indeed, it involved a bit of drama of its own when producer’s emissary showed on set on Friday and stopped actual production.
Pioneered by rookie Dario Scardapane and veteran Peter Berg, who has done interesting work as an actor and director, as well as a producer, “Trauma” was nothing if not ambitious. The popular medical drama genre would now go outside, into the beautiful architecture and nature of San Francisco, and follow a colorful cast of anti-heroes – the freaks for which San Francisco is known.
What went wrong?
EMT provides an opportunity for racing ambulances, helicopters and even boats, and “Trauma” took it to the mat, repelling off of skyscrapers or shutting down a Bay Bridge on-ramp for a few days to film some serious fireworks. Indeed, there were lots of explosions, perhaps to offset the touchy-feely-ness suggested by San Francisco as well as the healing professions, and engage a broader demographic.
I only saw a few episodes but, the thing is, setting “Trauma” in San Francisco signals you can now tear loose with edgy feelings and social ideas, as indicated in the quirky cop series, “Monk.” I liked some of “Trauma’s” characters and set-ups and allowed myself a few “tears coming feelings” but the inner drama couldn’t support the external artifice and running around.
An annoying white ambulance jockey, Kevin Rankin, a crazy-but-cute, guy-of-color ’copter pilot, Cliff Curtis, and host of traditional hospital characters, like the dedicated woman doctor (Cynthia Lee Clark), mixed to a frenzy of crosscutting made for a drama that skimmed rather than skewered.
“Avatar,” an arguably related mix of action, explosions, feelings and nature, captured the zeitgeist but “Trauma” did not. Fully promoted, although mostly as a testosterone show, “Trauma” opened in late September to almost seven million viewers but soon slipped to five. That’s OK for a small show but hardly for one with so much eye-candy, effects and cast, which are all very expensive, especially at the end of the Great Recession.
Cowboys, cop shows, and war shows, are about the power of death, Darwin’s Law of Natural Selection. But medicine symbolizes life and nurture, Darwinian Sexual Selection. To have two or three people die on each show, and to process that dramatically, is not easy. “Trauma” riffed through the variations – Curtis arguing with Aimee Garcia, his fellow Hispanic, as well as copter cowboy, about how coolly to accept death but they didn’t provide the next dramatic step beyond the cantankerous characters of “ER.”
"Trauma" coding – dieing in paramedic talk – is a loss to the Bay Area film business, just starting to emerge from tough economic times. But there is still “Parenthood,” which debuted March 2nd. Although mostly shot in LA, it also attempts to portray the Bay Area's eccentric and edgy side but in a female driven, grand family story, set in the sometimes suburban Berkeley. Perhaps the dramtatic opportunities of this setup has a better crack at addressing the issues of the new, more multicultural and mixed Obama-era.