Critic Reviews

This show is probably best enjoyed dipping in for a little bit and coming back after a recharge. The joy of “Medical Police” is in the surprise. So even though you could watch all 10 of these episodes back-to-back, it’s better in smaller doses. That continuous element of surprise comes from seeing when “Medical Police” picks and chooses its moments of subversion.

It's with some relief that I can report that through seven of its 10 first-season episodes, Medical Police works in most of the same ways that Childrens Hospital succeeded. Yes, the season is padded and it feels like a 90-minute movie might have been a smarter experimental expansion, but even the Medical Police filler is fairly entertaining and at no point do episodes lag.

“Medical Police” is a warmer, even a sunny show [than Avenue 5]. (Perhaps because it’s on Netflix, the People’s Platform, it’s less twisted than “Childrens Hospital.”) Huebel and Hayes have a goofy, mutually compatible charm; as heroes, they’re inflatable punching clowns that bounce back from everything. That people are dying somewhere off camera hardly matters. There is a comedy to make.

“Medical Police” is sort of a spoof of mystery/medical shows like “Chicago Med” but it’s also sort of its own weird creation, one that satisfies as a pleasant diversion but lacks the jokes-per-minute to stand up with the best of the Wain Universe projects.

While there are plenty of jokes that fail to land, the pace is fast enough that uncompelling bits don’t have time to stink up the joint, and the moments that do work play well.

Money and cameos and nice locales don't make parodies work (nor does gun violence, which this newcomer jarringly has). ... Pallid, distant reflection of "Childrens Hospital." A whiff.