quote: The series is based on the real-life Epidemic Intelligence Service, the elite corps of moon-suited heroes who chase ebola outbreaks, anthrax attacks and other emergencies for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which has been consulting with the show's producers for months.
It is publicity no amount of money could buy for the CDC, an agency historically overshadowed by its richer sister, the National Institutes of Health. Except that in NBC's version, these hotshots are not part of the CDC at all, but rather . . . the NIH.
This story is funny as hell, everyone getting mad.
quote: Anthony S. Fauci, chief of the NIH institute that deals with infectious diseases, expressed surprise Thursday when a reporter told him of the show's theme. When told about one scene in which an NIH sleuth carefully swabs the sewer line in a victim's home in search of clues, he burst into laughter.
"We don't get near that stuff," Fauci said. "We do research. CDC must be going bonkers."
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
So are you agreeing with the agencies or making fun of them in a "who the heck cares" sense?
The link wants me to register, but re-reading your post it appears to be the latter. Doh!
[ September 08, 2004, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: pooka ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I'm torn. The agencies are soooo mad. And TV is soooo stupid not to just use the right agency. It shouldn't be a big deal to the agencies, but the remedy is so easy I can't help thinking the TV show is being stupid.
The whole situation is amusing to me, making no judgment on who's in the right or wrong.
Dagonee Edit logon is in my first post.
[ September 08, 2004, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
It's saying the password is incorrect. Maybe only one person can use it at a time or something. But yeah, I can totally see that. It's like not sorting out the CIA and the FBI. Or the City Police and the County Sherriff. Or the German Shepherds and the Labrador Retrievers.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
The strange thing is that I know exactly what the CDC is. The NIH, I would have to think about for a sec to recall what they are.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Damn them - they're blocking bugmenot!
I know the NIH very well, CDC not so much.
Dagonee
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
I find the emphasis on disease from other countries as violent threats to our way of life to be horrifying and inaccurate. (This isn't a comment on you, Dags, by any means. This is a long-standing but rarely-published controversy from within the infectious disease community.)
For all the underlying message that we must be alert and aware of disease patterns throughout the world, the real threats for Americans are things like basic pneumonias (not SARS), diabetes, heart disease, food-borne illnesses. The real threats for the world are things like cholera, malnutrition, HIV, malaria.
About 1200 deaths internationally have been documented from Ebola since it was identified in 1976. Cholera, although easily treated with simple hydration supportive measures, kills 50% of those infected in areas where there is not access to clean water.
The big bogeyman isn't Ebola or Anthrax. It's the lack of basic human needs such as a clean water supply and sufficient nutrition. But you can't dress that up in fancy spacesuit gear and stick a flashing neon "danger" sign on it -- not sexy enough.
[ September 08, 2004, 10:21 AM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
CDC = coordinating and interacting agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (part of the Presidential Cabinet, just like the Department of Defense)
NIH = National Institutes of Health, a part of the research arm of the DHHS
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
The show will crash and burn - there isn't enough fear about viruses and plagues and whatnot to carry the show.
It's a little tacky the network is trying to ride today's concerns into ratings, but nobody has ever accused a tv network of having good taste.
And tv producers rarely get anything right - I mean c'mon, compare "CSI" to more realistic crime shows like "Forensic Detectives" and so on. Dramatic license in entertainment extends to the absurd.
How many cops or even lawyers for that matter can watch a legal drama without snickering because they can't help but compare it to their own, real-life experiences?
-Trevor
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Sara, I agree entirely. This pattern arises again and again with assigning resources to combat risks.
The human mind does not assess risk in a scientific manner in its default state.
Dagonee
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
The Amazing Race is quite possibly the best show on network television.
Although the teams are most certainly chosen by Exec's for their camera-bility, we at least have a convincing illusion that there's a real competition.
So, yeah, CBS got ONE thing right.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
That drama NBC ran about civil engineers was pretty accurate. Ohh wait... that was actually about a mass murder who left clues in his victim's blood for the cop who was on the edge of retirment but had a checkered and mysterious past and a bad marriage.
Hobbes
[ September 08, 2004, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: Hobbes ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
The only one most lawyers I know can watch is Law and Order, and that's because it makes a minor attempt to look accurate, not because it gets it right. (*mutters about the difference between 5th and 6th amendment right to counsel*)
And CSI has led to acquittals because juries have a terribly misguded idea of what forensics can actually do.
Dagonee
[ September 08, 2004, 10:26 AM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
They've been bantering back and forth on CourtTV regarding the popularity of shows like "CSI" influencing the demand of juries for definitive forensic proof regarding crimes.
Which is going to seriously complicate any and all future trials if it's a definite trend.
-Trevor
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
So this is what Sara really does in her job... I will now picture Sara swabbing down mysterious death scenes while wearing a red minidress, high heels, and pointing out the blindness of those in authority above her. This doesn't match what she's said, but TV says that's how it is, so it must be true. Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Sara...high heels and red mimi-dress...
-Trevor
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
mimi-dress? Like from Drew Carey? Now there's a detail I hadn't added.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Now I'm always going to picture her with massive amounts of eye liner.
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
quote:Sara, I agree entirely. This pattern arises again and again with assigning resources to combat risks.
*whew
Glad it didn't come across wrong. My funny is broken, but the bigger problem is that the directionality meter on the Surlyometer has gone all twitchy.
*grin
[You know, there is a rather flattering picture online of me here, complete with eyeliner. But I'm a little short for a minidress. ]
[ September 08, 2004, 10:47 AM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
There. Sara can now have perfect anonymity. Everyone will be looking for the big-haired, eye-lined, mumu-wearing, Mimi-lookalike swabbing at arm chairs.
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
That'll do, katie, that'll do.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I totally know the difference between NIH and CDC. NIH is in the Washington Beltway and CDC is in Atlanta.
Yeah, it is sad that no one wants to watch a show about something that they are much more likely to die from. Like obesity or artheroschlerosis. But I guess the point of TV is to escape reality.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
A show about obesity? C'mon - it's not like the Government isn't in the news enough...
-Trevor
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Well, that joke was rimshot worthy. Where's my laugh track?
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
pooka, it isn't that I don't understand the role of television as an escape from reality. That would be silly. It's that I object to further spurring on of irrational fears and the fallout that will continue to ensue.
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
I can understand not making a television show based on atherosclerosis or Type II diabetes. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to present fighting the shocking! deadly! outrageous! attacking-my-goodness-at-least-we-have-the-infection-warriors-to-protect-us! looming spectre of the dreaded (kills ~400/yr out of ~6.3 billion) Ebola virus as the zippiest little job on the planet.
Of course, I haven't seen the show. But it's kind of like seeing the words "Morman" and "babies" and "eating" in a partially-hidden headline of the Weekly World News -- it's a pretty sure bet.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
There is no way I would watch a show about diseases. I'm too easily squicked out.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
That's just it - I don't think there is enough fear, irrational or otherwise, to keep a show like this afloat.
It's bad enough shows started popping up like fireworks based on a terrorist theme, "The Grid" being one example.
But at least with an "anti-terrorist" show, you can have some semblence of diverse subject matter. "Virus Hunters" won't make the same test. Tube.
-Trevor
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
I don't know, Trevor. Currently the most popular anticipated career for young people in my clinic is "Crime Scene Investigator."
Serious.
I think the right background music and some hushed, dramatic dialogue can make any mundane job seem hot.
[ September 08, 2004, 12:06 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Eventually one of these investigators will be in physical danger from someone trying to use a virus as a weapon.
Dagonee
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
For a couple episodes, sure.
But "CSI" is as much about the pretty people and the vicarious thrill of watching a crime scene and the perverse curiosity about the drama of the people involved as it is about the science.
However, when people start exploring the field of forensics and realizing exactly what they won't be playing with, the fixation of being a CSI will fade pretty quickly.
It's not unlike the sudden influx of enlistees following "Top Gun".
-Trevor
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Probably Dag - it's a predictable plot development when the character interaction falls by the wayside.
-Trevor
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
quote:But "CSI" is as much about the pretty people and the vicarious thrill of watching a crime scene and the perverse curiosity about the drama of the people involved as it is about the science.
Yeah. But the same could be done for this show, and you sure get to show a lot of skin in medical dramas.
quote:However, when people start exploring the field of forensics and realizing exactly what they won't be playing with, the fixation of being a CSI will fade pretty quickly.
It's not unlike the sudden influx of enlistees following "Top Gun"
This cheers my crabby little self.
[ September 08, 2004, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
But this isn't a medical drama - it's a very specific set of scenarios.
Unless, of course, the actual disease takes a back seat to investigating houses of strippers.
-Trevor
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
And you know it will, eventually.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Which is how CSI accounts for a portion of it's popularity - being set in Las Vegas and Miami.
It'll be interesting to see if CSI: NY maintains the same trend.
-Trevor
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
quote:The scene: a busy Manhattan street. A well-dressed man, suddenly short of breath, looks in horror at his hands and then collapses on the sidewalk. His skin is an eerie blue.
Cut to Bethesda, where a man's cell phone rings. Soon he is sprinting to a nearby field, where a black helicopter swoops in to pick him up.
"We've got an incident!" he barks. "Get everyone. We're going to New York."
Betcha five bucks we see that blue guy's thigh (or some blue guy's thigh) in some examination by the investigators, either pre- or post-mortem.
quote: Later, the "NIH" media officer tries to seduce a reporter to keep him off the story.
Ewww. Smarmy.
[ September 08, 2004, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I saw an episode yesterday where the CSI dudes could have been exposed to Risin (sp?), but the danger was just poo-pooed away.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Depending on the NIH official and the reporter, that could be quite amusing.
On the other hand, when I dissected my very first preserved brain, my lab partner and I were puzzled by the baby-swiss cheese appearance of the parenchyma, which seemed quite at odds with the labbook pictures. This was back in 1994 when mad-cow issues were still mostly on the horizon. We were told to burn our clothes and shower in the contamination unit.
*grin
Sean and I still occasionally send each other an update on tics, tremors, and personality changes.
Actually, it's only funny in a grim, horrible way, as we were exposed to prions that, if infecting us, would take decades for the symptoms to surface. And there's no telling for sure, other than by brain biopsy.
*shudder
[ September 08, 2004, 01:23 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
Sweet, I see that a lot in my career, too.
Sadly, these disillusioned people only make it a week before they're pulling their hair out from boredom. Its really cool to feel like you're solving something, but the reality is that it takes a lifetime of research to get anything near "solved" in science and that the work is really very mundane. Its hard to keep track of that greater purpose.
That said, I haven't heard about the show. The only things I watch on tv any more are the Daily Show and Monk and even Monk is beginning to grate on me.
I wonder, was there an influx of people wanting to be in the CIA after 24 made it big? Or have the recent political screw-ups made that impossible. *ducks and runs*
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
quote:Sweet, I see that a lot in my career, too.
Yup, I think we had this conversation.
I got your email but haven't responded yet. Is the baby asleep? Are you up for a phone call?
[ September 08, 2004, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
One of the reasons I want to be a litigator is that, win or lose, eventually there's a resolution to the case.
It's like writing computer programs - ultimately, there's an acid test - it runs correctly (or correctly enough to use) or it doesn't.
Open-ended jobs would frustrate the hell out of me.
Dagonee
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Heh - that's a good question. What's the rate of applications to the FBI or CIA every time a popular spy show airs?
-Trevor
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
I'd like to suggest one very simple reason why they are insisting on NIH as opposed to CDC. The National Institutes of Health has the word National in it. CDC doesnt'. If was the ACDC, there'd be no problem with them getting the agency right.
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
Sure, give me a ring. Or, I'll try you if I don't hear from you in a few minutes. Sophie's not sure if she's sleeping or not, but that's okay.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
We discussed this show in our weekly staff meeting this week. I work as a "Disease Investigator" for the State of Hawaii, and we work very closely with CDC. We all thought it was hilarious that the TV dudes would think that our jobs could ever be interesting enough for a television show.
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