CODE BLACK: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this dramatic medical series, based on the documentary film of the same name, set in "America's busiest E.R." In this episode, experienced senior nurse Jesse Salander addresses a group of new interns and gives them a tour of the emergency room, including "center stage," where the most critical patients are treated. The young doctors then meet Residency Director Leanne Rorish as she rushes to treat a man left outside at the colloquially-named "homeboy drop-off" with a gunshot wound to the neck. Seeing that he is losing too much blood, she decides to employ a cold saline infusion to keep him alive through surgery, though Dr. Neal Hudson objects to the unapproved method and complains to the hospital director. He alludes to a tragedy in Rorish's past, suggesting that she is now too unorthodox and tough on her interns, but Mark points out that the ones who survive her tutelage are exceptionally good doctors. Malaya Pineda meets Angus Leighton, observing that he has a "superstar" doctor brother, and when a man is brought in with serious injuries from a car crash, Rorish speaks to his daughter Ariel and promises to keep her updated, sternly ordering Mario Savetti never to lie to patients' families. The man is determined to be brain-dead, however, and as Hudson treats Ariel, she reveals that her mother is also gone.
Elsewhere, Leighton suggests tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, a "miracle drug" protein treatment, for an elderly man who has suffered a stroke, and Dr. Rollie Guthrie praises his insight, though Leighton is then annoyed to be tasked with treating a teenage skater's broken arm. Hudson and Rorish attempt to break the bad news to Ariel, but Rorish fails to explain things clearly and Hudson shows his kind side as he comforts the girl and explains that her father was an organ donor. Guthrie explains the possible risks and benefits of the tPA treatment to the patient's wife, admitting that it "cures" strokes only seven percent of the time, while elsewhere Savetti questions Christa Lorenson, noting that she is older than the other interns. Savetti then guesses that a young pregnant woman complaining of flu symptoms is actually seeking drugs, and Rorish orders a tox screen despite Lorenson's doubts. Leighton is permitted to administer the tPA and hands the skater over to Pineda, and he and Guthrie are relieved when the treatment appears to work. Rorish attempts to treat a young Norwegian boy, Basti, who cannot breathe due to a genetic condition, and the E.R. soon overfills and enters "code black" status.
The skater collapses and the doctors belatedly realizes that he has a head injury as well, and Leighton freezes up as he attempts to treat Basti, though Pineda calmly reassures him. Rorish angrily fires Lorenson upon learning that she canceled the pregnant woman's tox screen, but Lorenson then realizes that the woman was actually suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Rorish decides to "be a cowboy" and drill into the skater's head to relieve the dangerous pressure, and Lorenson soon calls from an ambulance, having found the woman unconscious in her home. Learning that she is stuck in traffic, Rorish and Hudson talk her through an emergency Cesarean section over the phone, and Lorenson delivers the baby safely. Later, Leighton frets that he only got into the intern program because of his prestigious parents and successful brother, but Pineda urges him to have more confidence and Guthrie praises them for surviving their first crazy night in the E.R. Lorenson reveals to Rorish that she entered medical school after her young son's death from an illness, and Rorish rehires her as she hints that she herself has lost "everyone." Ariel returns to the hospital and meets the young girl who received her father's heart, and the doctors prepare to start another busy day. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:43:37
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 123939
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 2015-2018
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Marti Noxon … Executive Producer
- Linda Goldstein-Knowlton … Executive Producer
- David Semel … Executive Producer, Director
- Michael Seitzman … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Ryan McGarry … Executive Producer, Based on the documentary by
- Scott Printz … Producer
- Gabriel Garcia … Associate Producer
- Clinton Shorter … Music by
- Marcia Gay Harden … Cast, Dr. Leanne Rorish
- Raza Jaffrey … Cast, Dr. Neal Hudson
- Bonnie Somerville … Cast, Christa Lorenson
- Melanie Chandra … Cast, Malaya Pineda
- William Allen Young … Cast, Dr. Rollie Guthrie
- Harry Ford … Cast, Angus Leighton
- Benjamin Hollingsworth … Cast, Mario Savetti
- Luis Guzman … Cast, Jesse Salander
- Kevin Dunn … Cast, Mark Taylor
- Adina Porter … Cast, Nurse Susie
- Emily Alyn Lind … Cast, Ariel
- Emily Nelson … Cast, Hannah
- Suzanne Erickson … Cast, Ella
- Don Creech … Cast, Mr. Cleery
- Jill Andre … Cast, Mrs. Cleery
- C.J. Hoff … Cast, Caesar Lopez
- Veronica Diaz-Carranza … Cast, Angela Dinozio
- Aylam Orian … Cast, Basti's Father
- Linn Bjornland … Cast, Basti's Mother
- Frank Gingerich … Cast, Basti
- Morgan Gingerich … Cast, Basti
- Mario Orozco … Cast, Wayne
- Arriane Alexander … Cast, Linda
- Ariana Molkara … Cast, Vanessa
- Theo Breaux … Cast, Medic #1
- Andres Perez-Molina … Cast, Medic #2
- Kelli Dawn Hancock … Cast, Medic #3
- Don Danielson … Cast, Medic #4
- Johnny Kostrey … Cast, Medic #5