Actors Benjamin Hollingsworth, Melanie Chandra, Bonnie Somerville and Raza Jaffrey (Front row L-R) Actress Marcia Gay Harden and executive producers Michael Seitzman and Ryan McGarry speak onstage during the ‘Code Black’ panel discussion at the CBS portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 10, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
Then he noticed the message on the screen. The ER doctor, now Executive Producer of Code Blackon CBS, looked down at three words intended for the heart attack victim.
“Hey, you there?”
“I knew right there, I’m the only one in the world that knows this guy is dying,” McGarry recalled. “It’s so intimate. It’s not the medicine. It’s the amazing intimacy and human drama that’s involved.”
Audiences can expect a similar level of raw emotion—and eye for detail—this fall when CBS premieres Code Black, a new medical drama inspired by McGarry’s documentary and produced by Michael Seitzman. At a panel hosted by the Television Critics Association in Beverly Hills on Monday, the pair joined seven of the show’s cast members to offer insights about what will make the show unlike any other on television.
Marcia Gay Harden, the Academy Award-winning actress who stars as an attending physician on the show, said that the bar for authenticity was set high when dozens of actors went through a medical boot camp.
“Ryan said they wanted to make sure you can do four actual procedures,” she told the crowd. Those included chest tube insertion, central line insertion, intubation, and basic sutures. “Eyes closed.”
Virtually everything about filming mirrors the experience of real-life ER doctors, nurses and medical technicians. “You’re showing up to do a real shift,” explained Luis Guzman, who plays a trauma nurse. “You’re not showing up to do 10 hours as an actor. You’re showing up to do 12 hours as a doctor, as a nurse.”
As for the what else audiences can expect from the show, Seitzman says, “You can’t beat the story engine. People show up at the door and they’re having the worst day of their lives. … You think about these 15 hour shifts, and these people coming in at their worst have to be treated by people at their best.”
He added that they’ll keep the focus on the people and their heroism. “We took great pains to get technology out of the show. You don’t see any touchscreen.” In contrast, “A lot of medical shows want to be about the future of medicine” but he felt that “keeps you at arms length.”
Instead, the focus will be on more human elements. “At the end of the day, Michael’s given us a show that’s not snarky. It’s real… hard core, ugly sometimes—but with values I can get behind: family, love, health, teamwork, and making each day a little better,” Harden observed. “That is what I was brought up to believe. I get the cutting-edge dramas. I love it. But to spend these kind of hours and devote this kind of energy, I do want to be behind those other values.”
