In the weeks ahead, there is a tremendous amount of not-to-be-missed drama--including the area's first face transplant.

It's amazing stuff. Totally engaging. And completely worth watching.

Boston Med reminds us that truth is often much more compelling and affecting than recycled fiction. Nothing is heightened or cheapened with newsmag-style manipulation on this series.

The cases (a baby at risk, a man with lung cancer, an unconscious drunk) are surprisingly moving, the editing only mildly manipulative, and you genuinely feel there's an element of reality to the show, a rare trait indeed for reality TV.

What could have easily become a pandering hybrid is in fact intelligent, emotionally resonant television.

The storytelling is spare, with few of the by-now customary compromises to reality-TV (or dramatic expectations weaned on "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy"), other than the oncamera interviews and musical flourishes that close each hour.

The results are, of course, compelling but also assiduously sterilized.