Critic Reviews

It's the strongest medical series since House arrived on Fox for an eight-season run that ended last spring. The genre badly needs a transfusion. And at last, here's a strong one.

Monday Mornings is Kelleyesque in all the best and admittedly worst--melodramatic, manipulative, shocking--ways. But it's also intelligent, particularly well-written and acted, and above all interested in matters other than what's directly mounted on the screen before your eyes, most notably ethics, human nature and human fallibility.

It’s not perfect, but it’s easily the most restrained--and satisfying--Kelley series since those first couple of years of “The Practice.”

There isn't a bad performance in the bunch.... Veterans Molina and Irwin stand out for especially complex and nuanced performances.

The cast is solid and admirably diverse.... While never as engaging as Grey's Anatomy nor clever enough to make us forget the void left by House's departure, Mornings at least does no harm.

Monday Mornings spends a fair bit of time probing controversial and ethically complex issues like organ donation, informed consent, health insurance and advance directives. But that, coupled with a cast of characters who don't become all that compelling after three episodes, isn't enough to elevate the series above the rest of the pack.

It’s just that we’ve seen most of this before, and despite its creative pedigree and a solid cast--fronted by the always reliable Ving Rhames and Alfred Molina--there’s not enough to set Monday Mornings apart from “ER,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” et al.

The cases often seem more obvious than intriguing; the emotions feel forced; much of the dialogue is trite. The cast is unusually diverse, and that's worthy of high praise.

Monday Mornings doesn’t break major new ground in TV medical dramas. It has a couple of nice twists and does a couple of familiar things well.

It's the program's central device--the prolonged trial-like exchanges between Hooten and whoever might have tripped up--that overwhelm the more promising elements, and keep "Monday Mornings" from being worthy of a Monday-night appointment, despite the tonal compatibility with its "Dallas" lead-in.