Have Mercy NBC, spare us the Trauma we’ll build Community with Leno

NBC wants you to watch all its new shows so much, it’s dedicated a new show to its new shows, “The NBC Primetime Preview Show” hosted by Joel McHale (“Community), but you can get the down low here before you tune in. The fall season debuts four new offerings with more to come in the winter mid-season.  The network presents two dramas: “Mercy” (yet) another medical drama, this one from the perspective of the nurses (Wednesdays at 8 pm) and yes, (yet) another medical drama, “Trauma,” from the perspective of the paramedics (Mondays at 9 pm). But NBC also offers what audiences have asked for – comedies. First,  there’s “The Jay Leno Show,” in which Jay Leno moves into primetime and “Community,” a laughable look at college life set at the fictional Greendale Community College. Come the Winter season, you’ll also see the extended family drama “Parenthood” and “Day One,” where “it’s the end of the world as we know it” as REM would sing and a band of eclectic neighbors in a Van Nuys apartment building fight for survival.

New pick: (tie) “Community” with it’s sister Web TV show “Greendale Community College” and “The Jay Leno Show” with its sister Web TV show “Jay Leno’s Garage”

Target audience: 18 to 35 years old (“Community”) and 30 to 65 years old (“The Jay Leno Show”)

Skip “Mercy” the sappy, cheesy version of a medical drama where all of the nurses are hot, the doctors are incompetent, and the patients are friendly, chatty, and don’t seem sick at all. Skip “Trauma”, too.
The only good thing about overdone “Trauma” is how sexy Jamey Sheridan (“Law & Order: CI”) looks in scrubs. Its full of ridiculous situations, chatty paramedics who feel the need to explain to one another things they all already know over the body of a dying guy they’re trying to save, and unnecessary accidents that would never happen in real life. (Spoiler alert: There’s a huge double helicopter crash that really would never happen in real life since the city the show’s set in doesn’t even have medical helicopters and, in fact, no helipads due to a NIMBY amongst the city’s rich residents.)

But set your DVR for Thursdays at 9:30 pm so you don’t miss “Community”. You can always catch its sister Web show “Greendale Community College” online, anytime. In “Community” the diverse students of Greendale Community College work to make the grade. Leading the student body (well, at least the Spanish study group) is Jeff Winger (Joel McHale, “The Soup”), a fast-talking lawyer who was disbarred after his e-mail degree was revoked. He’s joined by a stellar group including the older, wiser Pierce (Chevy Chase, “National Lampoon’s Family Vacation”) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs, “The Book of Daniel”) the co-ed he’d most like to make it with.

You can also experience a laugh riot every weeknight watching “The Jay Leno Show” and catch its sister Web TV show Jay Leno’s Garage online, anytime. You don’t even have to stay up late to watch him because the powers that be have finally seen fit to move Leno from late night to prime time. Tune in at 10 pm to see America’s Favorite TV Personality joke around and interview the biggest celebrities.

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The references for this article include: NBC, 2009; GreendaleCommunityCollege.com, 2009; TheJayLenoShow.com, 2009; and JayLenosGarage.com, 2009.
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This post blogged by Carlie Lawson. She is a hazards consultant, freelance writer, model, musician, and weather nerd living in Norman, OK, also known as the weather capital of the United States.