Review of Mercy

The networks have announced their Fall schedules, but which series will actually be worth watching? Throughout the Summer, as I watch the pilots, I'll be posting my first impressions. Note that a lot can change before a show actually makes it to air, so these aren't reviews, just quick thoughts on how the shows look now. Today's pick is NBC's nursing drama Mercy, which is pinch-hitting for Parenthood on the Fall schedule.

What's it about? Mercy follows a trio of nurses — and the doctors and other hospital workers who surround them — in and out of the hospital where they work, showing their interactions with patients and the way work spills over into their daily lives.

Who's in it? Taylor Schilling, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jamie Lee Kirchner, James Tupper

The good: The show swings for a sort of Grey's Anatomy-with-nurses vibe, and Schilling's Veronica is like an even more damaged, but still appealing, Meredith Grey. The pilot does a pretty solid job of introducing the characters and giving us a thumbnail sketch of their personalities. The writers seem to have lots of material to mine in the relationships — both personal and professional — between nurses and doctors.

The bad: I'm really not sure what kind of show Mercy wants to be. A drama? A dramedy? A soap? Something seems off in the tone, because in the course of one hour it's snarky, deeply dramatic, and a little romantic, but it also doesn't any of those marks particularly well. I think it's a show that needs some time to figure itself out — and that might have happened if it had gotten to keep its original midseason slot. Now that it's airing in the Fall instead, I'm worried it'll be a mess — or, at best, a copycat of other medical dramas.

Will I watch? Unless I hear and see better things as September approaches, I'm tempted to tune this one out.

To watch clips from the pilot and see more photos, just read more.

Photos courtesy of NBC