By Robert Scucci | Published
One of my wife’s favorite shows is Grey’s Anatomyand one of my favorite forms of entertainment is roasting Grey’s Anatomy while she looks at him. The melodramatic monologues, medical malfeasance, and blatantly unsympathetic characters across the board give me endless opportunities to throw out comments that will eventually banish me to sleep on the lawn. After being told multiple times that I was “ruining the show” and that I’m “not funny”, I decided to take a different approach and pitch a little adult swim series called Children’s Hospitalwhich is basically right Grey’s Anatomy when you consider how horrible everyone is.
The difference is that Children’s Hospital is a surreal comedy disguised as a medical procedure, and Grey’s Anatomy is a medical procedural disguised as a legitimate drama with relatable characters. The main reason why I like Children’s Hospital This is all because I don’t like Grey’s. It’s the perfect spite watch, and now that I’ve finally given the series a proper overview (I completely missed it when it originally aired), I can’t believe how much it skewers the genre as a whole.
Everyone is horrible, and that’s the point
Children’s Hospital plays out like any hospital drama on paper. There’s a busy medical center, a roster of dedicated doctors, and a never-ending stream of crises. Rob Corddry’s Dr. Blake Downs functions as a warped surrogate for Patch Adams who believes in the healing power of laughter over the practice of medicine, leaving a trail of unhappy patients in his wake. His clown makeup even resembles John Wayne Gacy’s Pogo design, which only adds to his unsettling character despite his light-hearted attitude.
Dr. Cat Black (Lake Bell) talks about her day like she’s Meredith Grey, except her analogies rarely make sense and usually highlight how hard it is to be a doctor in the most important way possible. Dr. Glenn Richie (Ken Marino) plays the resident cat, generating a constant stream of romantic chaos among the staff. Dr. Owen Maestro (Rob Heubel) is a former cop who navigates the hospital like he never stopped being a detective, often harassed by his former partner Briggs (Nick Offerman), who wants him back on the force after he left on 9/11.
Each procedure also needs a head surgeon, and this one has the chief (Megan Mullally), who uses crutches or a walker depending on the season and becomes the object of affection of all the male staff members. The mix of hospital politics, medical emergencies, and wildly inappropriate behavior across the board makes the series a perfect parody that recontextualizes shows like Grey’s, Chicago, MD, ScrubsAnd EAST. Things only get worse when Henry Winkler’s Sy Mittleman, owner of the insurance company that oversees the hospital, takes on an administrative role in season 2. He is ironically one of the only characters who seems to care about helping people, which immediately makes him an outsider even though Chief is secretly in love with him.
Countless cameos along the way
Through Children’s Hospital For seven seasons, comedians appeared constantly, including Kurtwood Smith, Jordan Peele, Michael Cera (heard only over intercom), Nate Corddry, Ed Helms and Seth Morris. Everyone fully commits to the absurdity, performing their roles as if they’re participating in a serious procedure while simultaneously behaving in a way that would immediately get any real doctor escorted out of a building. Business is brisk, procedures are reckless, rivalries are petty, and everyone subtly hates each other.
In other words, each episode plays out exactly like what you already see in Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve never felt so seen by a comedy because it channels all of my irritation with medical procedures into something so ridiculous that I’m genuinely grateful that these procedures exist.
Children’s Hospital is streaming for free on Tubi.
