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[EleventhDoctor]

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/08/08/cbs-wizard-of-oz-medical-drama/

CBS is taking a big swing with a new project with a higher-than-high concept: Wizard of Oz medical drama.

The broadcaster has inked a deal to develop a series titled Dorothy, described by the network as “a medical soap based in New York City, inspired by the characters and themes immortalized in The Wizard of Oz.”

The show is from writer Emily Fox (Ghost Whisperer) and executive producers Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman (FX’s Justified, CBS’ Elementary) from CBS Television Studios.

When you think about it, there is a certain medical drama aspect to the classic film. Stay with me here — Dorothy’s friends are all missing some vital component that they’re on a quest to recover. She helps put the life-saving straw back in the Scarecrow and gives joint-loosening oil to the Tin Man (who then gets a “heart” from the Wizard).
CBS has experimented with crossing procedural drama with fantasy or supernatural concepts before, both successfully (the aforementioned Ghost Whisperer) and less so (ill-fated zombie cop drama pilot Babylon Fields). Despite this spring’s Oz The Great and Powerful film, the original Wizard of Oz book has been in the public domain for decades, so CBS presumably has free reign (though there have been disputes over the property).

.......Now I've heard it all.

 

[GregLombardi]

Ewww.

 

[AzureSkies]

 

[Deadbeat]

what

 

[Buddha Beam]

Does it still count as being creative when you mash up an overdone TV genre with a classic film everybody has seen dozens of time?

 

[Count Dookkake]

Ahhhhs.

 

[MisterHero]

Instead of the scarecrow and straw there will be a disemboweled mobster.

 

[BertramCooper]

It's on CBS, so it will almost certainly suck, but I love the crazy shit that gets made when a property enters the public domain.

 

[Mutanthands]

It will either be the best thing since sliced bread ( and get cancelled ), or if will leave a Viva Laughlin sized crater in the earth from crashing so hard ( and get cancelled ).

 

[EleventhDoctor]

The creators of Sharknado are laughing at this.

 

[squidyj]

Does it still count as being creative when you mash up an overdone TV genre with a classic film everybody has seen dozens of time?

no, but it does count as something you can sell to the networks.

 

[EnderWiggles]

CBS has no brains or heart, but they sure have courage

 

[Zod the Bear]

Wat.

 

[ZedIndyLil]

They could do it like House. One patient inexplicably melts when she gets wet.

 

[EliteArtist]

Didn't scrubs do this?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Ugh, so fucking dumb.

 

[UraMallas]

I actually like shows that play on Wizard of Oz themes. Or, at least, I like the Wizard of Oz theme in different forms of entertainment. Some of my favorite parts of LOST and The Dark Tower series were portions inspired and alluding to Oz. It just feels uncanny and I like that. I hope this show can capture some of that feeling.

 

[789shadow]

 

[R2D4]

 

[maquiladora]

Fucking finally.

 

[android]

I want the opposite.....set in Oz... "Doctor this flying monkey suffered a nasty fall" ."Quickly get my poition bag!"

 

[davepoobond]

Ok that sounds weird

Fantasy doctor medical show

 

[CrAzYLeGzLU]

Didn't scrubs do this?

Yup, they did. It was a good episode but I can't see a whole show based around the idea.

 

[Retro]

So can we all agree that <Classic Novel> + <Generic Television Genre> = Greenlight at this point?

How about a medical drama based loosely on Slaughterhouse-Five where the lead character (now an Emergency doctor instead of an optometrist) solves medical mysteries before they happen because he is sliding through time. It's like House-meets-Back to the Future!

How about a modern day Grapes of Wrath sitcom called "Thanks, Obama!" where the lovable Joad family gets into all sorts of comedic mishaps on the road to California.

Aww man, a gritty Lawyer Drama that takes To Kill a Mocking Bird and updates it to reflect racial tension in a fictionalized 1990s Los Angeles, called "Mockingbird."

Shit, I can do this all day... and all of those are a hell of a lot better than a "Wizard of OZ Medical Drama".

 

[MattKeil]

"This man doesn't need a transplant, he's had a heart all along!"

 

[onlyindreams]

didnt scrubs do this already

 

[liquidtmd]

Fuck me the board meetings and execs that create and approve these shows must have the best drugs

The creators of Sharknado are creating a Magician of Boz Legal Drama as we speak

Fxed

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

didnt scrubs do this already

 

[LowerLevel]

1st, 2nd and 3rd posts got it... WITAF?

 

[Savitar]

All I can think of is the Oz prison TV show has the inmates as doctors who work in the land of Oz(Dorothy etc) and have to save them.

 

[squidyj]

So can we all agree that <Classic Novel> + <Generic Television Genre> = Greenlight at this point?

How about a medical drama based loosely on Slaughterhouse-Five where the lead character (now an Emergency doctor instead of an optometrist) solves medical mysteries before they happen because he is sliding through time. It's like House-meets-Back to the Future!

How about a modern day Grapes of Wrath sitcom called "Thanks, Obama!" where the lovable Joad family gets into all sorts of comedic mishaps on the road to California.

Aww man, a gritty Lawyer Drama that takes To Kill a Mocking Bird and updates it to reflect racial tension in a fictionalized 1990s Los Angeles, called "Mockingbird."

Shit, I can do this all day... and all of those are a hell of a lot better than a "Wizard of OZ Medical Drama".

On the Road as a gritty police procedural.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

What's next? A Breaking Bad rip-off inspired by Alice in Wonderland?

 

[ivysaur12]

I guess anything can sell.

 

[EleventhDoctor]

What's next? A Breaking Bad rip-off inspired by Alice in Wonderland?

"Nothing stops this train."

 

[FStop7]

St. Elsewhere got very surreal toward the end of the series. Maybe that's what they're going for? Might be good.

Or it may be an utter disaster. Remember Cop Rock? A musical police procedural. Awful.

"Nothing stops this tea party."

Fixed!

 

[ivysaur12]

WHAT IF IT'S SLEEPING BEAUTY IS A COP AND SOMETIMES SHE FALLS ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL OR WHEN SHE'S TRYING TO SOLVE A CASE BECAUSE SHE'S A NARCOLEPTIC

 

[Retro]

On the Road as a gritty police procedural.

Oooh, not bad. Getting a sort of Incredible Hulk "wander the world helping people" thing there, but instead of turning into a monster there's just a shitload of jazz. Not sure how it would work, but then, I don't know how a Wizard of Oz Medical Drama would either.

How about a Paranormal Drama (think X-Files or Ghost Whisperer) based on Don Quixote; a wealthy heir, slowly driven mad by his lavish, inherited lifestyle, loses himself in a fiction he creates from an absurd blend of late night sci-fi/fantasy television he unknowingly absorbs while battling insomnia. He sets out into a world of his own creation, confusing the hell out of everyone he meets, but somehow he manages solve the real problems of people in need via his fantasy.

The twist is that he's not actually mad, but has somehow 'absorbed' the details of a real conspiracy or supernatural occurrences; as he goes about on his insane errand, government agents or whatever are actually trying to stop him.

Fuck, I'd watch that, especially if they got a great actor to pull off the lead role. Think of it like... the X-files, but Mulder is comically insane. Or Quantum Leap, but he just thinks he's traveling through time or leaping into different people.

 

[Jarmel]

This is the craziest thing I've heard this month.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Wasn't Star Wars kind of like a Wizard of Oz in space?

They had a tin man, a furry beast, a scarecrow kind of dude and a wizards and Wicked Witch Emperor and stuff.

 

[ivysaur12]

Oooh, not bad. Getting a sort of Incredible Hulk "wander the world helping people" thing there, but instead of turning into a monster there's just a shitload of jazz. Not sure how it would work, but then, I don't know how a Wizard of Oz Medical Drama would either.

How about a Paranormal Drama (think X-Files or Ghost Whisperer) based on Don Quixote; a wealthy heir, slowly driven mad by his lavish, inherited lifestyle, loses himself in a fiction he creates from an absurd blend of late night sci-fi/fantasy television he unknowingly absorbs while battling insomnia. He sets out into a world of his own creation, confusing the hell out of everyone he meets, but somehow he manages solve the real problems of people in need via his fantasy.

The twist is that he's not actually mad, but has somehow 'absorbed' the details of a real conspiracy or supernatural occurrences; as he goes about on his insane errand, government agents or whatever are actually trying to stop him.

Fuck, I'd watch that, especially if they got a great actor to pull off the lead role. Think of it like... the X-files, but Mulder is comically insane. Or Quantum Leap, but he just thinks he's traveling through time or leaping into different people.

Sort of like Eli Stone, yeah? That could be fun.

Listen, this isn't a stupid idea inherently: Revenge does it with The Count of Monte and Elementary does a great job with Sherlock Holmes. Sleepy Hollow (mostly) succeeds as a pilot. And Once in Wonderland is a really well-made presentation.

But this is pure ridiculousness.

 

[Retro]

Listen, this isn't a stupid idea inherently: Revenge does it with The Count of Monte and Elementary does a great job with Sherlock Holmes. Sleepy Hollow (mostly) succeeds as a pilot. And Once in Wonderland is a really well-made presentation.

That's why we're poking fun at it; they literally think "Classic Book + Television Genre = Hit TV Show", when those examples more or less have a premise that carries over into the modern world very well (Elementary is basically "CSI with a singular, even more eccentric investigator", Monte Cristo is a classic revenge tale no matter what the setting, etc.).

But just throwing darts at a list of classic literature, as this seems to do, isn't going to work.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I like it. The archetypes apply to real people so easily.

Tin Man - Heartless, terrible bedside manner. Doesn't take the feelings of the patient and their family into consideration.

Scarecrow - Cheated his way through med school. Complete slacker, got his position thanks to his parent's status in the city.His incompetence is a running joke among the nurses in the hospital. They all know to double and triple check his "work."

Lion - Earnest and hard working seasoned doctor. But he lacks the courage to make difficult decisions. Has been known to crumble under pressure in the ER. Hospital administration has put him in a teaching role to reduce the amount of stress on him

 

[BeerSnob]

I would only watch this if were an overly serious, ultra violent HBO drama. Then it could be golden. They could even call it OZ 2, and the tag line could be, "35% less anal".

 

[Platy]

I like it. The archetypes apply to real people so easily.

Tin Man - Heartless, terrible bedside manner. Doesn't take the feelings of the patient and their family into consideration.

Scarecrow - Cheated his way through med school. Complete slacker, got his position thanks to his parent's status in the city.His incompetence is a running joke among the nurses in the hospital. They all know to double and triple check his "work."

Lion - Earnest and hard working seasoned doctor. But he lacks the courage to make difficult decisions. Has been known to crumble under pressure in the ER. Hospital administration has put him in a teaching role to reduce the amount of stress on him

Dorothy was transfered from another city without her consensent because of a paperwork problem. Now she is stuck this those crazy dudes.
She was trown in the job of the Witch, who nows blames her for being homeless

Toto is a Doctor without Borders member and just loves pets and the rains down in Africa

 

[Retro]

I would only watch this if were an overly serious, ultra violent HBO drama. Then it could be golden. They could even call it OZ 2, and the tag line could be, "35% less anal".

If the "Tin Man" persona fantasizes about performing surgery with an axe in some kind of American Psycho-esque blood-soaked scene, I would be on board.

 

[Anticitizen One]

The Cowardly Lion in this show will be a Gaffer who can't get girls and whines about it in the girl age threads

 

[ivysaur12]

That's why we're poking fun at it; they literally think "Classic Book + Television Genre = Hit TV Show", when those examples more or less have a premise that carries over into the modern world very well (Elementary is basically "CSI with a singular, even more eccentric investigator", Monte Cristo is a classic revenge tale no matter what the setting, etc.).

But just throwing darts at a list of classic literature, as this seems to do, isn't going to work.

Which was my point in the part of the text you didn't quote

 

[LiK]

wut

 

[Retro]

Which was my point in the part of the text you didn't quote

On no, I got the point, I was just elaborating why those aren't considered 'ridiculous.'

 

[Branduil]