Arrrgh, my current Mentalist obsession led to me looking something up and stumbling on other crime shows of the era, including Body of Proof, which I watched at the time. It made me annoyed all over again at how the people behind that show took a fantastic cast and a pretty interesting set of characters and wasted--nay, outright squandered--them on relentless drivel.
They had a cast that was half female. Two of the female characters comprised most of the power and intelligence of the cast. And they were both over 40! This never happens on TV! And then they made these two characters fight with each other over one of them dating the other's ex-husband. For many, many episodes. Why would you do that when you have such an amazing setup for original, interesting stories?!
(Also, now that I have seen Dana Delany in China Beach, I'm even more annoyed at how utterly wasted she was here.)
I almost never hate-watch, but I hate-watched that for a season and a half before I had to give up. I have a soft spot for blunt, direct female characters who do an end-run around normal human interaction. And it had so much potential.
Since it's up for free online, I rewatched an episode just to see if it was as bad as I remember, and it was. But their medical consultant was very good. The science was the most believable part.
...uh, why do I have fic ideas swirling in my brain now?
(If I were to write something, which I absolutely will not, I think it would involve more of Megan teaching Peter medical stuff in that off-handed way she had. I mean, of course I shipped them, what do you take me for, but those were some of the loveliest little moments of the show.)
