Medical Investigation is basically a CSI where it can start with the sick rather than the dead. It features a team from the National Institutes of Health who rush to the scene of odd medical outbreaks and try to figure out the cause and how to solve them. They must be doing this in their spare time, I reckon, because that’s really not the job of the NIH. It’s actually a better description of what the Centers For Disease Control works on. Suggestion: if you want to do a show about the NIH, look up what it is they do.
Two episodes down, and its clear what the pattern is: a bunch of folks come down with something interesting, the NIH rushes to the scene, tries to figure what these people have in common that might have caused the interesting symptoms, find some interesting source, and thus the cure automatically exists. "What weird thing could it be?" "This weird thing!" Of course, there are false paths to be chased down. All of this leaves little time for real drama, and since it’s not a fair-play whodunnit where the audience has the clues to reach the solution, there’s really not much for the viewer to invest in.
A shame, because this stars Neal McDonough, who proved himself one hell of an actor on the much-missed Boomtown. Alas, here he mainly has the room to Be A Presence, and not enough meat to hang a real piece of acting on.
If you’re into the CSI shows, this one is at least worth sampling. If those shows do little for you, however, you’re not likely to get ‘much more out of this one. For me, the two episodes were enough.
