The Best Television Series Set In Hospitals

Best TV Medical Dramas

If you are looking for drama in your television viewing, there is no better place to find it than one set in a hospital. Medical dramas offer everything you can think of. Each and every day can be a matter of life and death as doctors and nurses consistently deal with the ails of patients.

Not only is the drama tense, but the great medical dramas also offer a nice helping of comedy and, of course, as much hospital romance as you can handle.

Here are nine of the best TV series set in hospitals. Besides the one thing all have in common (hospital setting), they do have something else – fantastic writing. It is the writing on these shows that keep audiences engaged and coming back for more. Tell us what you think of our list.

Private Practice

Private Practice might be the best medical drama you have not heard of. The series comes from creator Shonda Rhimes and is a spin-off from her long-running hit series, Grey’s Anatomy. This series, which enjoyed a six-season run, followed the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as she transferred from Seattle Grace Hospital to Seaside Health & Wellness Center, a private practice in Los Angeles.

The cast includes Tim Daly, Paul Adelstein, KaDee Strickland, Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald, and Chris Lowell.

St. Elsewhere

St. Elsewhere was pretty much the medical drama template that the later hospital series followed. St. Eligius Hospital is a teaching hospital in Boston, a run-down place that takes on patients that the prestigious hospitals won’t admit.

The drama was high with this ensemble cast that includes Ed Flanders, William Daniels, Ed Begley Jr., Howie Mandel, David Morse, Christina Pickles, and yes, Denzel Washington. The series ran from 1982-88 and tackled important issues at the time such as AIDS. It also used a nice amount of levity to lighten some of its darker topics.

Chicago Med

Chicago Med is a long-running medical drama created by Dick Wolf and is the third series in the Wolf Entertainment Chicago franchise that includes Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Justice. The excellent series focuses on the professional and personal lives of the doctors and nurses at the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.

It is also known for its crossover events with Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. The series stars Oliver Platt, Brian Tee, Nick Gehlfuss, Torrey DeVitto, and S. Epatha Merkerson.

The Good Doctor

In The Good Doctor, Freddie Highmore stars as Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young doctor dealing with autism and savant syndrome. Murphy comes from Casper, Wyoming, where his troubled past leads him to San Jose, CA, and the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital.

It is here that Murphy becomes a surgeon, putting all of his autistic abilities to use. These include near-photographic memory and a keen eye for identifying minute changes and details.

Scrubs

Scrubs is what you get when you expertly mix medical drama with an extremely high dose of comedy. Bill Lawrence created this gem of a TV show, combining great humor with the pathos of medical care. The series follows a group of medical students, led by Zach Braff, as they navigate their way as medical interns. The hilarious cast includes Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, Ken Jenkins, Neil Flynn, and John C. McGinley.

House

His full name is Dr. Gregory House and man, did you love to hate him? Played perfectly by Hugh Laurie, House was so full of himself. Still, most times it was well earned as his medical brilliance is unquestioned, if not completely unorthodox. House ran for seven seasons highlighting House’s abrasive personality and narcissism to a degree that was almost off-putting, but not quite. It was always fun to watch.

M*A*S*H

The hospital, in this case, was a MASH unit set up during the Korean War. The series, which enjoyed an 11-season run, is based on the 1970 feature film of the same name. This medical drama featured an amazing cast that included Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr, William Christopher, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, Gary Burghoff, Mike Farrell, Henry Morgan, and David Ogden Stiers.

War is hell and M*A*S*H showed it with flair. The series is known for being the most-watched series finale in television history along with being the most-watched episode of a scripted series. As far as medical dramas go, this was one of the most influential.

Grey's Anatomy

It just keeps going and going and going…even without its main star. For 19 seasons, the Shonda Rhimes-created medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy, has kept audiences tuning in on Thursday nights. It began by following a group of interns but mainly focused on Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who was vying to become a surgeon.

The initial group consisted of Pompeo, Sandra Oh, T. R. Knight, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Isaiah Washington, and Patrick Dempsey.

Throughout Grey’s Anatomy’s 19 seasons, the cast has gone through numerous, and oftentimes heartbreaking, changes. Fans have seen their favorite doctors die, while others have left the series willingly. The series may be long in the tooth, but it still has enough bite in it to be considered one of the top medical dramas on television.

ER

There has been a litany of medical dramas that have come and gone (and are still sticking around), but ER is the one that set the bar. The series was created by the late novelist and physician Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and enjoyed a 15-season run. Crichton based the series on his experiences as a medical student.

The series was famous for kickstarting the careers of a few actors including George Clooney, Noah Wylie, Julianna Margulies, and Sherry Stringfield. It also starred the excellent Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle, Laura Innes, and Gloria Ruben.