Photograph: Red Band Society
What's the name of the show? Red Band Society
When does it premiere? Wednesday, September 17, at 9pm ET on Fox. The pilot episode is available for streaming on Fox.com.
What is this show? There's a group of kids so sick that they need to live and go to school in the hospital. It's basically every teenage high-school drama, but with the added pathos of ailments.
What's the show's pedigree? This is the American version of the Catalan drama with a similar format. It was written by Boardwalk Empire vet Margaret Nagel and produced by Steven Speilberg's Amblin Entertainment. The pilot was directed by Ryan Murphy cohort Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who was nominated for an Emmy for his work on American Horror Story.
What happens in the premiere? Jordi (Nolan Sotillo), a Mexican kid with no family, shows up at the hospital to get a doctor to give him a surgery he needs to beat cancer. The kids feel bad that he has to lose his leg and they throw him a party on the roof on the hospital's helipad. Kara (Zoe Levin), a spoiled cheerleader, shows up and everyone hates her, except for the one boy who is in a coma.
The kid in a coma is a character? Yes, in fact, he's your omniscient narrator. He also can talk to the other kids when they're unconscious.
Is he like the little kid on St Elsewhere? There are no snow globes just yet, thank god.
Which characters will you love? Octavia Spencer can play a 'bitch' character with such a fine calibration that it's a wonder to behold, even when she's given less than compelling material. She does it here as Nurse Jackson, who's in charge of the kids. She's gruff, but has a heart.
Photograph: Fox
Which characters will you hate? Sadly Zoe Levin's 'bitch' character Kara isn't as finely calibrated. Kara is supposed to be the most popular girl in school, but she doesn't have any of the charisma it takes to get there. She's just mean for mean's sake, and, as much as I love a bitch, that is just no fun to watch.
Is this show any good? The best thing I can say about Red Band Society is that it is like a less-edgy Glee. It's about a bunch of different teenagers - faulty hearted cheerleader Kara, newcomer Jordi, comatose Charlie, anorexic egghead Emma (Ciara Bravo), cystic fibrosis stoner Dash (Brian Bradley), and world-weary cancer patient Leo (Charlie Rowe) - who have to come together to form a group despite the world being against them.
In the early seasons of Glee, the underlying emotion was a certain darkness, that these kids had the world to overcome and they were never going to be winners. Because the stakes were about singing and dancing rather than, you know, overcoming cancer.
Red Band Society doesn't have that advantage. Because of the illnesses, these kids can't fail and be nuanced like Rachel Berry and company. Instead you're rooting for all of them beat their diseases and get well. That is what any human with a heart would feel when seeing a sick kid. This then falls into saccharine, well-trod territory, even when it finds a small amount of gallows humor. This show seems set to cash in on a sort of doomed romance that teenage girls just absolutely adore. It's like the Fault in Our Stars every week delivered to your doorstep. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, but when you get boring 'types' instead of real characters and the feeling that nothing really bad is going to happen to these kids (this isn't HBO after all) a certain boredom sets in and hour drags and drags.
But, strangely enough, as Jordi is being wheeled into his surgery, I start to feel a bit of tightness in my throat. When Nurse Jackson orders everyone pizza, I get all misty eyed. If you like a good cry, this will have you reaching for the tissues. Why? Because it is a show about sick kids.
What's the best thing about it? Like Glee, it has a very sharp, modern look to it. The picture quality belies the hackneyed writing that lies beneath.
What's the worst thing about it? There are two awful things about it. First of all, the kids talk like adults who are writing for kids. Kara says: 'TMI. I just threw up in my mouth.' One character also utters the word 'awesomesauce'. Secondly the voiceovers by Charlie are so sickly sweet they will give your ears cavities. He says things like, 'When you're in a hospital, the most important thing that needs to survive is you,' or, 'Life is full of black holes and the only person who can pull you out is you,' or, 'People think when you go to a hospital, life stops. But it's just the opposite, life starts.' Each one is its own little groan.
Should I watch this show? Are you a female around the ages of 11 to 17 who likes looking at cute boys, screaming at pop music, and dreaming about the sick guy who will one day sweep you off your feet? Then yes, you should, but only because all the other girls will be watching it. Like Glee it will become compulsory viewing. For everyone else, there are better shows out there that will make you cry.
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