Anyone else watching this?

It's an interesting one - directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Clive Owen, it's based around a New York hospital at the turn of the century; a kind of ER, but with more syphilis and frock coats. Not always easy to watch - it's unflinching in its portrayal of the squalor and inequities of the class structure, and the scenes of surgery are pretty graphic; it also addresses the racism of the time by placing a black Dr at the centre of the story and showing characters who you should be warming to, treating him with total contempt. Disturbing stuff - it's still quite difficult to hear the N word being tossed around so freely, even if it is a drama.

All that said - Owen is excellent as the manic, drug-addled, but brilliant surgeon; and it's great to look at - much like Boardwalk Empire before it, the period detail is flawless and the performances are outstanding. I have a suspicion that it will also have the same relatively low viewing figures that Boardwalk Empire started out with, but I'm doing my small bit to address that - I recommend it!

I kind of fell out with it, although it was very well done, on the basis that it seemed to develop solely into how screwed up on drugs could Clive Owen get. The medical side seemed to take a back seat and I did lose interest towards the end. that said I'll give the second series a go, if there is one.

In the last episode, you missed Owen being checked into a pioneering cocaine rehab program, where he started treatment on a revolutionary new drug called... heroin; so I guess it will get worse before it gets better.