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Television, Storytelling, and Medical Power
University of Michigan Press
September 2010
On Sale: August 28, 2010
472 pages
ISBN: 0472034278
EAN: 9780472034277
Paperback
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Non-Fiction
"Joe Turow's Playing Doctor disquiets and challenges the
reader's intellect with cogent analysis of the forces that
have shaped television's portrayal of doctors and the
medical world. For that alone, it is a fantastic read. But
Dr. Turow also pleases the mind with well written and
amusing stories, interviews, and behind the scenes anecdotes
that bring to life, in an eminently readable style, the
fascinating world of TV medicine."
---David Foster, M.D., supervising producer, writer, and
medical consultant for House "Joseph Turow takes us behind the scenes of such hit
television series as ER, Grey's Anatomy, and House to reveal
the complex relationship viewers have with their beloved
fictional caregivers. Turow carefully probes the history of
TV medical series and presents a compelling argument for
telling more truthful medical stories in the future to
reflect---and address---the precarious state of our
health-care system today."
---Neal Baer, M.D., executive producer of Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit "The great contribution of Turow's book, in addition to
providing a highly readable and smart overview of medical
shows over the years, is to examine the consequences of the
gap between the reality of medical care and the often
romanticized, heroic depictions on television. This would be
a very good book for professors to use in teaching a range
of courses in communications studies, from introductory
courses to more specialized classes on health and the media."
---Susan Douglas, Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor, Arthur
F. Thurnau Professor, Communications Studies Department
Chair, University of Michigan Playing Doctor is an engaging and highly perceptive history
of the medical TV series from its inception to the present
day. Turow offers an inside look at the creation of iconic
doctor shows as well as a detailed history of the programs,
an analysis of changing public perceptions of doctors and
medicine, and an insightful commentary on how medical dramas
have both exploited and shaped these perceptions. Drawing on extensive interviews with creators, directors,
and producers, Playing Doctor is a classic in the field of
communications studies. This expanded edition includes a new
introduction placing the book in the contemporary context of
the health care crisis, as well as new chapters covering the
intervening twenty years of television programming. Turow
uses recent research and interviews with principals in
contemporary television doctor shows such as ER, Grey's
Anatomy, House, and Scrubs to illuminate the extraordinary
ongoing cultural influence of medical shows. Playing Doctor
situates the television vision of medicine as a limitless
high-tech resource against the realities underlying the
health care debate, both yesterday and today. Joseph Turow is Robert Lewis Shayon Professor at the
Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania. He was named a Distinguished Scholar by the
National Communication Association and a Fellow of the
International Communication Association in 2010. He has
authored eight books, edited five, and written more than 100
articles on mass media industries. He has also produced a
DVD titled Prime Time Doctors: Why Should You Care? that has
been distributed to all first-year medical students with the
support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Praise for the first edition of Playing Doctor: "With Playing Doctor, Joseph Turow has established himself
as one of the foremost analytic historians of the interplay
between television, its audiences, and other American
institutions."
---George Comstock, S.I. Newhouse Professor at the Newhouse
School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, in
Health Affairs
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