Childrens Hospital
Childrens Hospital is a satirical comedy television series and web series that lampoons the medical drama genre, created by and starring actor/comedian Rob Corddry. The series began on the web on TheWB.com with ten episodes, roughly five minutes in length, all of which premiered on December 8, 2008.[1] Adult Swim picked up the rights to the show in 2009 and began airing episodes in 2010.[2]
The storyline centers on the staff of Childrens Hospital, named after a doctor named Arthur Childrens. The hospital sporadically (and usually without reason) is mentioned as being located within Brazil, despite making virtually no effort to conceal that the series is shot in Los Angeles, California. Corddry is part of an ensemble cast portraying the hospital's doctors, which also includes Lake Bell, Erinn Hayes, Rob Huebel, Ken Marino and Megan Mullally. Malin Åkerman and Henry Winkler joined the cast for season two.
Synopsis
Childrens Hospital is a product of TheWB.com. Its webisodes are about 4–5 minutes long, each narrated by mainly Dr. Cat Black in Season 1, and by Dr Valerie Flame in Season 2. The show mocks such hospital dramas as St. Elsewhere, House, Grey's Anatomy, General Hospital, Private Practice, Chicago Hope, ER, and Scrubs.[3]
Broadcasting
Though Comedy Central made a competing offer, the show was picked up by Adult Swim after Corddry decided the comedy style was not suited for the half-hour format Comedy Central wanted. Adult Swim offered half-hour or fifteen minute time slots, and Corddry chose the latter. The original season one webisodes began airing on Adult Swim on July 11, 2010, in groups of two with a new faux-commercial in between the groupings of two webisodes. The channel then debuted the newly produced season two episodes which began airing on August 22, 2010.[2]
On September 1, 2010 Childrens Hospital began airing on the Canadian television channel G4. Childrens Hospital premiered on Australia's Comedy Channel on January 26, 2011. [4]
Characters
The series revolves around the medical staff of Childrens Hospital, featuring an ensemble cast. These actors receive top billing in the credits:
- Dr. Blake Downs (Rob Corddry) – he does his job while wearing clown makeup and surgical scrubs painted red in order to appear bloody. He believes in "the healing power of laughter," instead of medicine. The character's outlook on medicine seems to parody Robin Williams' character in the film Patch Adams. His frightening clown makeup often scares the child patients, very similar to the style of "Pogo the Clown," serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
- Dr. Cat Black (Lake Bell) – ex-girlfriend of Glenn Richie who has a thing for her roommate Lola Spratt. Things became awkward between her and Lola after Cat accidentally sneezed on Lola when making a sexual advance on her. She narrates the show, wandering through the hospital, thinking faux-deep thoughts like the characters on Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. Cat begins dating Little Nicky (Nick Kroll), a six year old boy with advanced aging disease, and she dies giving birth to his child. In "The Sultan's Finger," however, it is revealed she didn't die, but somehow lost all her previous medical knowledge. She then regains it, and rejoins the main cast. She briefly takes up nudism at home in "The Black Doctor".
- Dr. Glenn Richie (Ken Marino) – a Jewish doctor and ex-boyfriend of Cat Black. Frequently wears a yarmulke. Dr. Richie first appeared in The Ten, which also starred Corddry and was directed by producer David Wain.
- Dr. Owen Maestro (Rob Huebel) – a dim-witted doctor and Lola Spratt's ex-boyfriend. He's a former New York cop who left the force after 9/11. His former police partner Briggs is constantly trying to convince him to come back to the force.
- The Chief (Megan Mullally) – the crippled head of the hospital's staff who uses a walker. The male staff members at the hospital often make remarks about their sexual attraction to her. She is a parody of Dr. Kerry Weaver of ER and Dr. Gregory House from House. She has a crush on Sy Mittleman but she publicly acts like she hates him so that the staff thinks she's on their side in the struggle against him. In a Season 2 episode, Lizzy Caplan plays The Chief's daughter, who owns her own real estate business.
- Dr. Lola Spratt (Erinn Hayes) – Cat's roommate and Owen Maestro's ex-girlfriend. Cat is obsessed with her. Lola broke up with Owen by pretending she had a tumor, but he began to believe she was serious. Lola faked her death at the end of season 1 because she broke down after getting too many e-mails. She reappears at the hospital in season 2, but no one understands when she explains she faked her death and they all think she is a ghost. When she finally proves she's not a ghost, she reveals she's a gifted ventriloquist, having pretended to die on the operating table by using a long hum simulating a flat-line sound.
- Dr. Valerie Flame (Malin Åkerman) – (Seasons 2–3), replaces Cat after her death in the second episode of season 2, taking over the duties of narrating the show.
- Sy Mittleman (Henry Winkler) – (Seasons 2–3), is the administrator. He runs the insurance company that owns the hospital. He collects butterflies and seems to have a sexual obsession with them. He is the object of much scorn from the staff who dismiss him as "a suit" despite the fact he geniuely cares for the patients and the hospital. Mittleman frequently has to resist The Chief's come-ons. He is happily married with children and has no desire to begin a sexual relationship with her, but he eventually gives in to her advances in the episode "Hot Enough for You?"
Recurring
- Sal Viscuso (Michael Cera) – (voice only), the never-shown hospital staffer who speaks over the intercom. He typically speaks one line per episode, usually a non sequitur. The character name is an homage to the actor Sal Viscuso, who voiced the unseen P.A. announcer in the TV series M*A*S*H.
- Nurse Dori (Zandy Hartig) – Little Nicky's mother who does not approve of Cat's relationship with her son. When Nicky dies in season two, Dori begins working at the hospital. She also works serving food in the hospital cafeteria.
- Chet (Brian Huskey) – (Seasons 2–3), the creepy EMT guy who has a crush on The Chief.
- Officer Chance Briggs (Nick Offerman) – Owen Maestro's former partner, a mustachioed New York city cop.
- Little Nicky (Nick Kroll) – (Seasons 1–2), a little boy with a rare aging disease, and later the father of Dr. Black's unborn child. Little Nicky takes on the tendencies of an old man once his disease reaches advanced stages. The disease takes his life in season two. Kroll also portrays Dr. Black's son, who is also suffering from the aging disease.
- Dr. Jason Mantzoukas (Nathan Corddry) and Dr. Ed Helms (Ed Helms) – (Season 1), two doctors who usually appear together and make sexual remarks about The Chief.
- Dr. Max Von Sydow (John Ross Bowie) – (Seasons 1–3) a doctor who tries to cure The Chief's condition.
- Dr. Nate Schacter (Seth Morris) – (Season 1), another clown doctor with whom Dr. Blake Downs develops a rivalry.
- Ben Hayflick (Kurtwood Smith) – (Season 2), head of the National Division of Health who is trying to suppress Dr. Richie's cancer cure so that his organization doesn't lose all the money it gets for cancer research.
- Derrick Childrens (Jon Hamm) – (Seasons 2–3), the son of the founder of Childrens Hospital and secret identity of Valerie Flame.
- Dr. Brian (Jordan Peele) – (Seasons 2–3), a black bisexual doctor who left several years ago to consult on Marlon Wayans' show, Black Hospital, he has recently returned to Childrens Hospital. His catchphrase is "Righteous!"
- Arthur Childrens – (Season 3), Founder of Childrens Hospital. He only appeared in the 1970s and then stopped making appearances. He originated the quote, "I believe the Childrens are our future."
- Rabbi Jewy McJewJew (David Wain) – (Seasons 2–3), Dr. Richie's rival from Hebrew school, and the Childrens Hospital chaplain.
- Louis LaFonda (Mather Zickel) – (Seasons 2–3), host of Newsmakers, a TV newsmagazine, he covers the "real-life" developments on the set of Childrens Hospital, and the status of the "real" actors on the show, the episodes of which essentially treat Childrens Hospital as a show within a show. He, like Dr. Ritchie, first appeared in The Ten.
Production
Portions of the show are filmed in North Hollywood Medical Center, the same former hospital used for filming Scrubs and several other movies and television programs.[5] As a parody of the live episode of ER, the season two finale (aired November 7, 2010) was promoted as a live broadcast.
A fourth season of 14 episodes has been announced, and set to air June 7, 2012. [6]
Related projects
The mock television advertisements presented with the Adult Swim broadcasts of Childrens Hospital season one would tie into future Adult Swim programs, with a series pickup of crime procedural parody NTSF:SD:SUV:: (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle) reported in November 2010,[7] and Chris Elliott starring in Eagleheart, which premiered in February 2011. The fictional health drink Nutricai was prominently featured in the Eagleheart episode "Double Your Displeasure."
In June 2011, Rob Corddry stated that Newsreaders, the fictional news magazine featured in the world of Childrens Hospital, was picked up to spin off into its own series. In addition, the cast and creative team of Childrens Hospital are working on doing a movie together, separate from Childrens Hospital, with a different story and characters.[8]
Ratings
According to a commercial bump shown on Adult Swim during the week of September 12–18, 2010, Childrens Hospital has received its highest ratings to date on its new Midnight (Eastern Time) slot. On Friday, it has pulled in 525,000 viewers while Sunday pulled 551,000 (in the 18–34 demographic).[9] Since then, it has once hit the 900k mark. Now, since the start of season 3 the show has been pulling in over 1 million viewers per episode.
References
- ^ "Childrens Hospital release info". IMDB.com. 2010-07-18. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325113/releaseinfo. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
- ^ a b Alex Weprin (2009-10-21). "Web Series 'Children's Hospital' Jumping to Adult Swim". Broadcasting and Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/365915-Web_Series_Children_s_Hospital_Jumping_To_Adult_Swim.php. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
- ^ Aaron Barnhart (2008-12-06). "In Childrens Hospital, Rob Corddry has the RX". Kansas City Blog. http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2008/12/in-childrens-ho.html. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
- ^ http://www.thecomedychannel.com.au/WhatsOn/Detail.aspx?id=449
- ^ Sandra Kofler (2010-07-12). "Rob Corddry Spoofs Hospital Dramas With ‘Childrens Hospital’". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "2011–2012 Premiere Schedule" on BumpWorthy.com
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2010-11-23). "Adult Swim Picks Up Crime Drama Parody Series With 12-Episode Order". Deadline. PMC. http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/adult-swim-picks-up-crime-drama-parody-series-with-12-episode-order/. Retrieved 2011-07-19. "The network has handed a 12-episode order to Paul Scheer's NTSF:SD:SUV which, as the title suggests, is a parody of the ubiquitous genre of crime procedurals. […] The project leapfrogged the pilot stage, going from the clip, directed by Eric Appel, straight to series."
- ^ Morgan, Sam (2011-06-23). "Checking In With 'Childrens Hospital': Interview With Rob Corddry". Hollywood.com. http://www.hollywood.com/news/Checking_In_With_Childrens_Hospital_Interview_With_Rob_Corddry/7810933. Retrieved 2011-07-19. "We’re writing a Childrens Hospital movie. It will have nothing to do with the show. It’s really just the same cast and creative team."
- ^ CH Midnight New Ratings - BumpWorthy.com (accessed September 16, 2010)
External links