I watched one teaser months ago for Sophia Bush’s new show Good Sam but didn’t watch the official promo when it launched, and that’s because I was always going to tune in to Good Sam. I go where Sophia goes.
Does anyone remember the show Partners? I watched all 13 episodes of the short-lived comedy that Sophia was in and was very disappointed when it was canceled. I started watching Chicago PD because of Sophia, too.
Finally, Sophia is leading her very own show and opposite of Jason Isaacs. This is a career-high, with what’s already been a pretty successful career. And she’s playing a heart surgeon, which was once her dream job. It doesn’t get better than this.
The pilot episode introduces you to the world and characters, but you’re going to want to wait until episode two before you start forming any opinions. Of course, you’ll love Sophia from day one, but the rest of the show doesn’t really kick off until the second episode.
Sophia plays Dr. Sam Griffith, a fellow heart surgeon trying to mold the residents’ minds, but the chief of surgery cuts them down at every chance he gets. And this environment is causing Sam to want to take an offer at another hospital. Until the chief of surgery gets shot, and Sam screams, “dad.” Then, everything gets spun on its head.
Her dad ends up in a coma. She becomes interim chief of surgery, and right as she’s about to be named the permanent chief, her dad wakes up. Unfortunately, Dr. Rob ‘Griff’ Griffith (Jason Isaacs) is not a warm father. His ego outways everything. Instead of being happy for his daughter, he’s scheming to get his job back.
It could all be because of my love of Sophia, but this show is getting me so mad. Sam deserves this and shouldn’t have to be proving her worth after the board already named her the permanent chief. My level of anger is matched by Sophia’s on screen. It’s hard not to get all wound up by Griff. He undermines Sam at every chance he gets. All he wants is everything to go back to the natural order.
A head-to-head battle between father and daughter definitely separates this from other medical dramas out there. My favorites, in particular, are Grey’s Anatomy and The Resident. Grey’s just got renewed for its 19th season and has changed along the way from being a sexy show about doctors to highlighting important issues. The Resident is all about fighting the system for a better healthcare system for patients.
Good Sam portrays two ways of doing things, the old school way of Dr. Griff, where the residents are torn down, and old scientific methods are the best. Sam wants to bring medicine into the present with better patient care, cross-collaboration between specialties and new treatments. They are battling it out to see which way of doing things is better. Of course, I’m biased. I’ll always be on Sophia’s side. But that doesn’t mean her character’s ways are wrong.
I may be a little too close to Sophia to give a fair review of the show, but I’m just so happy to have Sophia back on my screen. And not just on my laptop and phone backgrounds.
But there is more to the show than just Sophia. You’ve got Jason, who is a great actor in his own right, even if the script is making me hate him. Sophia’s dad is not the only one in the business. Her mom, Vivian Katz (Wendy Crewson), is the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer and Griff’s ex-wife. She’s stuck right in the middle of their feud.
Sam’s team gets more fleshed out in the second episode, particularly Dr. Lex Trulie (Skye P. Marshall), Sam’s best friend, and Dr. Caleb Tucker (Michael Stahl-David), Sam’s ex.
And to top off the medical drama, there’s even a little romance brewing between Sam and the Director of Finance Malcolm A. Kingsley (Edwin Hodge), who is also the son of one of the prominent donors of the hospital. So this won’t get complicated at all, right?
This could be Sophia’s perfect role not only because she’s playing a heart surgeon, but the character has some similarities to her, like loving data. Plus, so far, it doesn’t seem like she has to do anything that makes her squeamish, like on One Tree Hill. But, of course, that is where we fell in love with her. So, I’m happy she stuck it out and grew Brooke Davis into a strong, confident woman. That’s why we love that character.
Have you checked out Good Sam yet? What did you think? Tweet me @PrimetimeDrama or @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
