3. Childrens Hospital (Adult Swim; finished season September 1)Childrens Hospital is in sort of a weird position. It’s a show that has been surging in popularity ever since it has been brought to television (it’s tripled its ratings in a little over two years), is ridiculously funny and smart (in a stupid sort of way), but is almost completely ignored by critics (on print and on the internet). I mentioned in a previous post that no one’s ever mentioned it previously on DTF (or 5/8), which is strange because it pulls in nearly double the audience
Archer does. Furthermore, the show is as accessible as it can be, with almost all the episodes are available online, and the episodes are bite-sized with a running time of 11 minutes. I guess one can chalk this up to it airing on Adult Swim.
Childrens Hospital was created by Rob Corddry during the writer’s strike of 2008, with its entire 50-minute first season “airing” online on December 8th of that year. Intended as a one-off project, Adult Swim picked it up in 2009, and an expanded second season began airing in 2010, followed by a third this year. Already, it’s had one spin-off (
NTSF:SD:SUV), and another is in the works. So what’s the appeal behind one of the most bizarre success stories of recent television history?
Basically, it’s hilarious. A satire of medical dramas, it combines all the stupid elements of previous shows (most notably
Grey’s Anatomy, but there’s bits of
ER,
House,
Scrubs, and others in there) of the genre and mashes them into a long series of jokes. The show speeds along at an incomparable pace; in a typical 11 minute episodes, there’s typically three story arcs, incorporating most of the eight or nine series regulars and two or three guest stars. The writing is phenomenal; not only is it hilarious, but it’s also one of the smartest satires in recent memory. All the most stupid, illogical, and ridiculous conventions of medical shows are included: characters die and come back to life, doctors are fired and then promptly rehired, sexual relationships are constantly being established and broken with no rhyme or reason, plot and continuity are ignored. To my delight, one of my biggest pet peeves is constantly made fun of: shows pretending they aren’t set in southern California. Ostensibly, the show is set in Brazil, but outside of one episode where constant and hilariously on the nose establishing shots of Rio de Janeiro are used, the show makes no attempt to hide the fact of where it’s filmed (which, as the characters occasionally point out, is the same place where Scrubs was shot).
Oh, and the characters. I mentioned in the write-ups for the previous two shows that they are atypical in the way they make sure their characters remain rounded and don’t become Flanderized; Childrens Hospital does exactly the opposite. The characters are literally one-note; Owen (Rob Huebel) is retarded, Glen (Ken Marino) is Jewish, the Chief (Megan Mullally) is a crippled sex-addict, Valerie (Malin Åkerman) is beautiful, Blake (Rob Corddry) is a clown who only believes in the healing power of magic, etc. The plot (what there is) is just an excuse to throw them off each other in amusing ways, and it is wonderful. Not only is the main cast a comedy dream-team, the show has also been able to reel in what might be the best guest stars of any comedy, ever (Nick Offerman! Kurtwood Smith! Nick Kroll! Jon Hamm! Michael Cera! Ed Helms! Lizzie Caplan! Adam Scott! Sarah Silverman! etc.).
The point is, you should watch
Childrens Hospital. In my opinion, it’s the funniest show on TV, and it certainly brings the most laughs per minute. The show’s gotten better and better over its three seasons, and you can watch all of the episodes in a little over five hours! What are you waiting for?
Essential episodes: “‘70s Episode,” “Childrens Hospital: A Play in Three Acts,” “Party Down”