Monday night, NBC premiered its second new medical drama of the season. So how did Trauma do? Will it survive the ratings war or, like so many other shows, is it dead on arrival?
Trauma follows the complicated lives of a group of brave paramedics from San Francisco. The action drama stars Derek Luke, Cliff Curtis, Anastasia Griffith, Kevin Rankin, Aimee Garcia, Billy Lush, Jamey Sheridan, and Taylor Kinney.
The show debuted on Monday night in Heroes’ 9pm timeslot. At one point, Heroes could hold its own at 9pm on Mondays but those days are long gone. The peacock network is hoping that Trauma can take over. The numbers don’t seem to be panning out that way unfortunately.
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Trauma had a poor start and ended up in a poor fourth place for the timeslot, in both total viewers and the coveted demographic. An average of 6.92 million people watched with only a 2.3/5 rating/share. There wasn’t a huge drop-off between the first and second half hour but, considering the typical second episode decline, next week isn’t likely to be pretty.
NBC tried to put a positive spin on the numbers, saying that the Trauma premiere generated the network’s biggest audience in the timeslot since April 13th. While they’re trying to make the debut numbers sound positive, it actually shows how troubled the network is.
Considering all of the tough competition on television these days, Trauma’s story isn’t likely to continue for very long. Based on economics, NBC will probably air all 13 episodes. But, unless Trauma gets an infusion of new blood (read: viewers) very soon, that’ll be the end of it.
What do you think? Is Trauma worth watching or should NBC pull the plug and cancel it now?
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
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The Pilot episode was awful.
The 2nd episode was far more interesting and actually was half decent.
The 3rd episode was even better still.
The problem with the show is that without the action, the story dies. Simple fix is to beef up the story and let us know the characters better. Hopefully Trauma will at least get a full season.
I like it, git it a chance. The Sf backdrop makes the show.
this show is terrible. I dont know any paramedic that acts like these bobo’s. cancel the show and hope that these actors can salvage a career. seriously, crying when a complete stranger dies is plausible, but not the way the blonde girl did it. completely rediculous.
For a network on it’s last legs, they will kill the show instead of fixing the bad elements and put on another POS reality show. Chuck as a half season, Life is gone, this network is catering to the wrong demographic.
After watching the pilot and second episode, I am willing to give this show a chance. I can overlook the glaring inacuracies and chalk it up to dramatic license.
The pilot was underwhelming, but most pilots are. Lots of time needs to be spent developing characters and the writers are trying to do so without chewing up too much story time. The result is that the characters start out as cliches and caricatures of themselves. This is a sin that can be forgiven, but only if the writers move on quickly.
The second episode was better. I thought it was going to be formula driven, set up obvious injury, deliver obvious injury, but the writers actually did an OK job of throwing curve balls out there.
Like the above poster, I’ll give it one more week until I decide for sure if it’s a pass or a fail.
Granted: A) Opinions are as historically said…and they usually stink; B) whatever happened to giving a show a chance?
I am so tired of these Babies whining because they didn’t like the first five minutes…that is what the other buttons on that remote are for!
I beleive in at least trying three eps of a given show before deciding — and many new shows have improved dramatically (pun intended!) in that period. Others have continued to fail miserably. On the other hand, I personally have found NO interest in ‘Law and Order’, yet it has become a major franchise without me…so get over yourselves since you may be in the minority!
It’s an interesting take on the genre and well made. I hope more people give it a chance.
Give it a chance. This network has so few decent shows left and this one may pan out yet
IT’S TOTAL JUNK!! Worst writeing,acting, directing. PLEASE KILL IT NOW!!!!!!!
I think it’s a great show. I’m a fan of a lot of the cast from other things (Billy Lush, Kevin Rankin and Derek Luke). I really hope the ratings improve so that NBC will keep the show. I’m really enjoying it.
I actually liked it. This was on my dvr for a couple of days as I was beleiving all the negative reviews without watching it. Big mistake!! This show is great has the potential to really be something big! I suggest people give it a shot. Forget the negative reviews and try it yourself.
Wow…the show is unwatchable or at best “appropriately named”. Like its storyline it was one long traumatic wreck of a story. It’s amazing what bad scripts and bad directing can do to good actors. I consider Cliff Curtis (Rabbit) one of the best actors of his generation but man, does he blow chunks in this show. I found myself hoping he would get killed. If this show is to survive his character must get a much needed brain transplant or be killed off. The fact is the writers must be replaced. Where did they find them? Old episodes of “CHiPs”. The EMTs having sex in their amubance? The idiot texting speedracer? The exploding truck? Please I can’t go on. This show is one cliche after another….Don’t kill the show I want my girl Aimee Garcia to get a chance for a career but Trauma needs some triage STAT!
Show is weak. Acting is weak. Story lines weak. Rabbit character is annoying to say the least. Could they tryany harder to convice us this guy is supposed to be cool and dangerous? Give me a break. The whole car scene was a joke when he was driving like an idiot through the streets of SF. “Did you ever see the movie Bullet?” Give me a break. That guy is the furthest thing from Bullet and that scence can’t hold a candle to the Bullet car chase. The guy who was texting while driving…Really, you couldn’t find a real actor to play that part? His poor acting was only surpassed by the guy who kept screaming that “It was that guy’s fault, he was texting while driving”, and then to actually attempt to punch the guy…wow, he was horrible.
Jamie Sheridan was probably the only believable character and I think he even cringed with some of the lines he had to speak. If they got rid of the Rabbit character or replaced him with someone who could actually pull off the cool guy routine, it might be a bit better, but the writting has to improve.
This show is destined to fail and by all means, let it die now.
flatlined……show’s not going to make it. don’t like any of the story lines. nbc don’t even bother showing the 13 episodes. i don’t care about rabbit’s brush with death and he has to prove he can’t die. derek luke’s character? that chick from the 1st season of damages?? sorry, both no.
I think it is a great show. I hope that they keep it. But of course we are talking about NBC they do so of the most stupid decisions that any cable network can make.
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