Light and fluffy...

I watch a lot of British television.  Or rather I stream it.  I also watch Canadian and Australian TV.  I watch shows from those countries because I think the dramas tend to be more real and more complex than most American television.  Heck, on American TV, you'd never see someone with a missing tooth play the female lead on a show!  I happen to think that you get more of a story with British, Canadian, and Australian television than you get a dose of "Hollywood."

[And you get to learn lots and lots and lots of new words (including colorful metaphors)!]

Anyway, I just finished a show from the latter market entitled "Reef Doctors."  In watching it, I realized anew just how much American television is actually a remake of shows from other countries.  There was a show a few years ago about doctors in a tropical setting, ABC, I think.  Maybe in a jungle??  One of the doctors had long curly hair (being envious of curls my entire life, I can remember things like that).  She also had a heart condition (having a pacemaker, I now focus on that stuff, too).  And another of the female doctors was Meryl Streep's daughter who went on to star in another medical drama show I liked but was also short-lived.  Anyway, watching "Reef Doctors" I realized where that ABC show came from ... or mirrored in locale and idea (a remote clinic).

"Reef Doctors" is a light and fluffy show, though much more educational than the American version.  Whilst not generally my cup of tea, the opening music got me all ... revved up ... every time I heard it.  Foot waggling.  Bouncing Amos on my lap.

One of the things that I liked about watching the show (other than I tend to like medical shows) is that it reminded me (if I could actually remember) of my time living in a tropical local, living in Africa as a missionary.

I spent the entire thirteen episodes (not well-received, it was only one season) trying to remember.  For example, I would look at the coconut trees, the shots of those tall, curving trees, and close my eyes, trying to put myself back next to that sight, staring up into the lofty heights toward the coconuts.  I would watch the scenes of folk walking on the beach and try to feel the sand between my fingers, when I would sit on the beach with children from the city where I taught Sunday School come to visit.  I would see the rolls of ocean waves and try to remember watching the ocean lit up at night from the florescent plankton that came to the coast each year.  Basically, I would watch, trying to use my senses to place myself back in Africa.  It didn't work at all, but this nostalgic part of me enjoyed the show because I know I lived on the beach for a year.  Plus, well, I certainly could understand the constant sweating!

The show, as I said, is very much light and fluffy.  There is very little medicine and a whole lot of lauding of venom research.  There is the typical split family filled with anger and distrust.  And the handsome, arrogant doctor.  The women are all thin and beautiful, especially the German medical student doing a rotation.  There is the grumpy old man who secretly has a heart of gold.  And the rugged single man who secretly wants to court the main doctor and is friends with her teenage son.  Pretty much every stereotype that could be fit into the show was over the course of those 13 episodes.  However, there was admirable character growth in the short season and the episodes were very much a pleasant distraction.  And I thought that the show did an admirable job of wrapping up a hasty and premature end to the series.

I wish I could remember being a missionary.
I wish I could remember living on a beach.
I wish I could remember the taste of coconut fresh from a tree.

But I cannot.  SIGH.

Still, if you like to stream shows and are in need of something pleasant with which to take a break without having to think or feel or otherwise deeply engage and you have Hulu+, I would highly recommend "Reef Doctors."