Re: Run the NUMB3RS

throopw@xxxxxxxxx (Wayne Throop) wrote in
news:1195582889@xxxxxxxxx:

: Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@xxxxxxxxxx>
: For all that, my impression is, _Numb3rs_ looks like a silly
: show that I haven't watched. But I do watch _House, M.D._

Which is a silly show that I do watch. Or also watch.

Most of the medical jargon passes over and through me, and when
I turn the inner eye to see its path, there is nothing.

If you are interested in the technical accuracy of House, there is
a doctor who reviews every episode at:

http://www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html

In general, it varies from "about like most shows, which isn't very
good" to "pretty good." The most common complaints, which are
necessary for a weekly TV show, are "his assistants would do that
test themselves/wouldn't be qualified to do that test" (need to
keep the number of cast members down for obvious reasons)and "that
test/procedure takes a lot longer than that" (cuz they've only got
an hour to finish the story).

But I'm
not sure it's very plausible either.

The most implausible part of House is that he gets away with things
that would get more doctors fired in pretty much every episode, and
regularly commits serious crimes and forces his subordinates to do
so as well. But it's emotionally satisfying, because he's always
right in the end.

And of course, it's
sociologically implausible, near as I can tell. Somebody who's
handed all the really hard cases will have some failures,

They do lose patients on occasion.

and
his ... urm ... bedside manner would attract so many lawsuits,
he'd be out on the street before he had a chance to make an
endearing curmudgeonly wisecrack.

Prison time for conspiracy to commit burglary, etc., and various
forms of assault.

Or whatever it is his
wisecracks are supposed to be if not endearing. Doubly so with
some of the stunts he's pulled, and I'm not even counting his
own forging of prescriptions to get narcotics.

But of course, the "doctor so good that everybody puts up with
him even though he's orders of magnitude more annoying than even
the most ego-inflated normal doctors" trope is fairly
widespread.

For values of "doctor" that include "any technically demanding
profession most of us aren't capable of doing."

Just like a car that leaps up into the air and
turns a couple of rotations before landing and bursting into
flames, because it hit a stray hot dog vendor's cart or
somesuch. Only different.

Not really so much different.

--
Terry Austin

"There's no law west of the internet."
- Nick Stump
.