Body of Proof

As a general rule I do not like medical dramas.  I never cared for ER, I despise Grey’s Anatomy and I can’t stand House.  Most of my dislike for medical dramas comes from the fact that I hate hospitals and I ironically get sick just walking into one.  Note to friends and family: please do not get sick to the point where you have to be hospitalized as I will be in no hurry to come and visit you.  And while Body of Proof is listed technically as a medical drama/police procedural it does not feel like a medical show per se because it does not take place in a hospital and, much like Bones, deals specifically with the dead, not the sick and dying.  I’m better with that in a drama.

The forever young looking Dana Delaney stars at Dr Megan Hunt, a one time brilliant neurosurgeon now working as a medical examiner.  She had to give up the neurosurgery after an auto accident left her unable to perform surgery.  As the story goes she now has some sort of numbness in her hands and accidentally killed a patient on the operating table.  Ouch!   Megan is divorced and has an estranged 12 year old daughter that she tries way to hard to connect with.  Frankly I could do without the whole side story of her daughter and ex-husband, but I suppose the writers will ultimately go somewhere with it, although here at the beginning of  the show it feels a bit forced and out of place.

I have to say that the main draw of the show has to be Delaney and her incredible legs.  Remember how good she looked all those years ago on China Beach?  Well, she still looks good, just not as good as she does in the print ads for this show.  I realize this woman is 55 years old, but she has aged very well.  She has noticeable and age appropriate wrinkles on her face (thanks HD TV), but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  She has had no work done and frankly looks all that much better for it.  (Side note: according to her biography on Wikipedia she did attempt a Botox injection in 2003, but the needle hit a nerve and created a hematoma.  She has vowed never to have plastic surgery.  Good for her!) 

Dr Hunt works closely with medico legal investigator Peter Dunlap (Nicholas Bishop) at the medical examiner’s office in Philadelphia.  Peter is a close confidant and is always available to dispense advice to Dr Hunt, but she is not always willing to listen.  Together they form a solid duo for solving crimes.

Of course, they do not work alone.  Each case they handle is also handled by two detectives, Bud Morris (John Carroll Lynch) and Samantha Baker (Sonja Sohn).  Morris is pretty much a dope and thinks every case is cut and dry until he is corrected by Dr Hunt.  Baker has not had a lot to do yet, but I can certainly see her potential as a character.  In true TV fashion, the doctor is a much better detective than the actual detectives.  Does this sound at all reminiscent of Quincy, M.E. from the 70’s to anyone else but me?  Okay Delaney is substantially better looking than Jack Klugman; I’ll give you that one.

But Hunt & Dunlap do not work alone at the medical examines office either.  Nope.  As required by law there is an administrator that must conflict with them throughout each episode and question their unorthodox methods.  Dr Kate Murphy is that administrator and she is played by Jeri Ryan.  Now over the years I have heard many a friend rave about the beauty of Jeri Ryan, but she has never done it for me.  Oh sure she has a great rack, but there is something about her that does not appeal to me.  I digress.  Sorry.  Murphy is required by TV laws to be a bee in the backside of our heroine during each episode only to be proven wrong by the end of each hour.  Why does anyone think this is original writing these days?  We’ve seen this before and it is tiresome.  Please just let her be supportive of Hunt and let it go. 

Assisting Hunt & Dunlap are Dr Curtis Brumfield (Windell Middlebrooks) the deputy chief medical examiner and Hunt’s immediate supervisor and Dr Ethan Gross (Geoffrey Arend), forensic pathologist.  Hunt often shows the best disrespect for Dr Brumfield by just calling him Curtis despite his insistence that she call him doctor.  Dr Gross is an eager young pathologist willing to do whatever Dr Hunt tells him despite Curtis’ complaints about costs.  As always, whatever Dr Hunt asks for will inevitably end up being necessary to solve the murder.  This woman has amazing medical and crime solving skills. 

Ethan & Curtis seem to be the ones that provide the comic relief on the show.  They are funny and they still are able to handle their jobs at the office. 

The show’s premise is very basic and at times a little too simplistic and predictable, yet I like it.  Go figure.  However, I will also say that of the two episodes I have seen thus far I was easily able to deduce the murderer myself and that is saying a lot.  I have seen a lot of mysteries and police procedurals and I am known worldwide as one of the worst at figuring out who done it.

I’d like to see the show focus more on the cases to be solved and less on Megan’s dismal relationship with her daughter, Lacey.  I just do not see where this is going, though I have a fear of someplace it may go.  Since her ex-husband has full custody I fear that the writers are setting us up for him getting killed and then Lacey coming to live full time with her mother and then all the calamity that ensues afterwards.  Please do not do that.

Overall I’d say this is a pretty good show with a lot of potential.  Yes, there are a lot of police procedurals on TV now and many of them are quite good, but if Body of Proof wants to be more than just a flash in the frying pan it needs to do something to stand out.  I will now offer my suggestions…

• Keep Miss Delaney in skirts and continue to show off her greatest assets, her legs.
• Lower cut tops for Jeri Ryan.
• No romance.  I do not want to see any sexual tension between Hunt and Dunlap.  It gets old very quickly and we’ve seen it 100 times before.
• Get rid of the ex-husband and the daughter.  We do not care about her personal life.  It slows the show down.
• More interaction with Curtis & Ethan.
• How about Dr Murphy caring more about her employees and being supportive instead of thinking about the bottom line all the time.  I know she has financial responsibilities in her position, but no one cares.  No one would ever watch a show called Dr Murphy, Medical Accountant.  That’s why the show is not about her.
• Perhaps the detectives could be a little more cooperative with the medical examiner as well.  The show is an hour long and we know the killer is not going to be caught at the beginning so how about respecting the audience a little more and have the detectives (particularly Morris) be a little more open minded.
• Give Detective Baker more to do than follow Detective Morris around.  She needs to be more vital to the show.  She seems to be a good actress so let her shine.
• More complicated storylines and plot twists.  If I can figure out the killer than so can my Aunt Tillie’s cat. 
• If the show lasts long enough that it becomes winter again please allow it to be winter on the show.  Nothing bugs me more than seeing a perpetual spring on shows that take place up north.  (I’m talking to you Glee)

So if police procedurals, medical shows or 55 year old women with hot legs are you thing feel free to give Body of Proof a try.