I'm not a TV junkie, expert, social guru, or anything like that but I am someone that knows a great show when I see one. I've never written a review before, so here goes. I don't normally watch much of what is on TV now-a-days, there just isn't anything that catches me. I spend more time reading books. I will admit I did start watching Remedy because I had enjoyed watching Enrico Colantoni in Flashpoint. However, Remedy caught my attention, right away and I was hooked. It had all the usual drama but with a realistic spin. I loved how it showed the difference between the doctors, nurses and 'other' workers in a hospital setting. The writers did a great job creating story lines that though they were made up, we also real. I've always loved medical dramas but Remedy had just that little extra. Plus the actors/actresses were all very talented! My only complaint is that they cancelled it after the 2nd season. Big Mistake I think.
10 Reviews
Canadian TV Excellence
christopherbladen22 June 2015
This is truly a great Canadian show. The writing is always heartfelt and intelligent, the acting powerful and a testament to Canada's talent, and the technical side wonderfully done. A particular favourite of mine is the multi-angle camera shots, which are truly a thing of beauty. If you're a fan of other medical shows, or just of a good dramatic series, Remedy is more than worth watching. Like its contemporaries, Remedy profiles the personal, professional, and political ins and outs of life with the hospital. However, it provides a unique approach to the subject, driving home incredible narratives about family, career, addiction, and strength, with a distinctly Canadian feel. This show deserved far more than the 2 seasons it got.
Gone Too Soon
saverinascozzari22 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Ah, Remedy. It killed me to bid farewell to a well-written and well-cast Canadian television program. The drama/comedy gave me hope that there was a bright future for Canadian television. I went in thinking it'd be like Grey's Anatomy (not a fan), but came out pleasantly surprised and as a full fledged fan.
Each episode was based on a true story, which I really appreciate. There's nothing better than when a TV show is relatable. Also, I feel that its family dynamic is responsible for the cult following. If you are not yet aware of the plot, Remedy follows a family that works in a big-city hospital (filmed in Toronto and Hamilton). You have the prodigal son who was lost, found, and then lost again in the downstairs of the hospital, while his two sisters and father work upstairs making and cleaning up messes of their own. It doesn't get realer than that.
The show itself wasn't the only thing I loved. The social media team made a point of interacting with all of Remedy's viewers and fans. Each week they hosted a live-tweet. I cannot count how many times my tweets were favourited and retweeted. They are also very supportive of members of the press. As a host and writer who interviewed a couple of Remedy's cast members, I was connected with other writers and hosts via a #FollowFriday shoutout.
It is very unfortunate that the show was cancelled after only 2 seasons. I hope that Global will reconsider its decision or that Remedy will relaunch digitally.
Each episode was based on a true story, which I really appreciate. There's nothing better than when a TV show is relatable. Also, I feel that its family dynamic is responsible for the cult following. If you are not yet aware of the plot, Remedy follows a family that works in a big-city hospital (filmed in Toronto and Hamilton). You have the prodigal son who was lost, found, and then lost again in the downstairs of the hospital, while his two sisters and father work upstairs making and cleaning up messes of their own. It doesn't get realer than that.
The show itself wasn't the only thing I loved. The social media team made a point of interacting with all of Remedy's viewers and fans. Each week they hosted a live-tweet. I cannot count how many times my tweets were favourited and retweeted. They are also very supportive of members of the press. As a host and writer who interviewed a couple of Remedy's cast members, I was connected with other writers and hosts via a #FollowFriday shoutout.
It is very unfortunate that the show was cancelled after only 2 seasons. I hope that Global will reconsider its decision or that Remedy will relaunch digitally.
Is this family supposed to be dysfunctional?
angelsbowbhim6 February 2020
This is pretty lame. The four main characters are all related and all have their personal lives and dramas spilling over into the workplace. It is as if they have no idea of social etiquette or professionalism. It's ridiculous. I do not understand the high ratings, when this show is such an unrealistic joke. You don't have time to care about the patients or the medical cases. because the show is filled up with watching the father, son, and two daughters have their public temper tantrums and shouting matches. I have no idea how this junk made it for two seasons. Pitiful.
Remedy gave us another Quality TV show
thumper-9228822 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I thought another medical show? But wanted to give it a shot because it had the moving and powerful Enrico Colantoni (FlashPoint, Veronica Mars, Just Shoot Me). So i dived in right from the first episode. And I knew right away it was not just another medical show. I mean it has some incredibly wickedly real medical scenes that will sometimes leave you ugh, but its because they are done so well.
It centres around the Conner family and those that happen to get involved in their lives. While Enrico Colantoni (as Dr Allen Conner), Sarah Allen (Nurse Sandy Conner), Sara Canning (Dr Mel Conner ) and Dillon Casey ( Griffin Conner, Porter hoping to be Dr) are the stars of the show and do a magnificently brilliant job episode after episode, I could not continue to watch without the supporting cast that is around them. I got hooked on the characters of Josey the Clown , "Sassy" Nurse Patel, Zoe, Kanaskie and Jerry. They balanced the Conners out, brought them back to reality so to speak.
The story lines were brilliant! The stories were often relatable to things that were going on in my own life and I found myself using Kleenex quite often while watching. I say great writing, great directing & great acting make quality TV. Remedy has all.
I am saddened to know I will have to dream about whether Griffin will make it, whether Mel will stay with Dr Culter or go back to Jerry & whether Zoe & Griffin can find their way back to each other. I needed and wanted more of Remedy , I hope you can take a look at both season 1 & 2...especially season 2 and tell me whether you agree that Dillon Casey deserves a nomination for his portrayal of Griffin. If I had it in my power, Remedy would be going on for season after season...yes I think its that good! thank you Remedy for being in my life :)
It centres around the Conner family and those that happen to get involved in their lives. While Enrico Colantoni (as Dr Allen Conner), Sarah Allen (Nurse Sandy Conner), Sara Canning (Dr Mel Conner ) and Dillon Casey ( Griffin Conner, Porter hoping to be Dr) are the stars of the show and do a magnificently brilliant job episode after episode, I could not continue to watch without the supporting cast that is around them. I got hooked on the characters of Josey the Clown , "Sassy" Nurse Patel, Zoe, Kanaskie and Jerry. They balanced the Conners out, brought them back to reality so to speak.
The story lines were brilliant! The stories were often relatable to things that were going on in my own life and I found myself using Kleenex quite often while watching. I say great writing, great directing & great acting make quality TV. Remedy has all.
I am saddened to know I will have to dream about whether Griffin will make it, whether Mel will stay with Dr Culter or go back to Jerry & whether Zoe & Griffin can find their way back to each other. I needed and wanted more of Remedy , I hope you can take a look at both season 1 & 2...especially season 2 and tell me whether you agree that Dillon Casey deserves a nomination for his portrayal of Griffin. If I had it in my power, Remedy would be going on for season after season...yes I think its that good! thank you Remedy for being in my life :)
How Did This Get Aired?
stevendgreening4 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I should preface this review, the first I've ever written, by saying I have only watched the first episode, Season 1 Episode 1. I would also like to say that it was that bad that I felt compelled to look the show up to see if they actually made more episodes and then saw the rating and became so confused...how have so many people given this 10 stars?
I work in healthcare and whilst I understand this is acting, I have never seen a show do so poorly with the medical aspect of the medical drama. One of my major gripes was the two blood samples taken - one where the needle was left to hang, then removed without releasing the tourniquet which, in reality would have meant blood went everywhere (don't even get me started on how much the needle was being moved around...if someone took my blood like that, well, they wouldn't be succesful and I also would have gone crazy at them), and one done with a syringe WITHOUT consent, and taken from the deltoid, that muscle at the top of your arm that you get vaccinations in. The second blood sample, in reality, would never happen. I thought she was giving an intramuscular injection, and had she been it would have been pretty spot on. But you can't draw blood from there. Plus there was no tourniquet, no swab to stop the bleeding once the needle is removed...and no vein to bleed in the first place. As for the trauma scene - you have a patient with a stab wound to the abdomen deteriorating and you stand there asking where the neurosurgeon and orthopaedic surgeons are going instead of calling the trauma or general surgeons?! And then when the patient "crashes" and the monotone flatline sounds no one does CPR? No compressions, the nurse who was told to bag the patient made snales look like speedy animals and medically no one did anything right. Did they have a medical advisor for the show? If they did I see why they're working in TV and not in a hospital. But this leads nicely to my main issue. The doctor running the trauma, Dr Decker, was out of his depth and not a single member of the team in the room supported him. In reality, if this happened and there were no other doctors present, nurses would suggest treatment options to help guide the doctor and get him/her to focus whilst someone else got another doctor to help. But this show, or at least this episode, made it seem that unless you've graduated medical school all you do is stand there and wait to be told what to do. In "Remedy" doctors are the best, and they are not to be advised nor are they to be questioned, as later we see the same doctor attempting to reduce a dislocated shoulder unsuccessfully until he gets advice from an unlikely source, the porter, who then gets belittled and bemoaned at by Dr Decker, who threatens to have the porter fired.
And that was a running theme - three separate staff members were threatened with losing their jobs for various, minor reasons that in reality would not lead to dismissal. And I stopped counting the number of arguemnts between staff members in front of patients. If I behaved that way I'd be called in to see management, but at this hospital everyone is out for themselves, all are self-serving and narcissistic, most with superiority complexes. In reality, healthcare professionals work as a team. From the very first argument in the hospital (also the first scene in the hospital) where the cleaner is cleaning down a room and being yelled at because a doctor had been told it was ready when it wasn't, I was left gobsmacked. The doctor could have gone to another room (we later found out the one next door was ready and available) or even offered to help clean the room to get it done quicker - this actually happens, I've had a surgeon help me make a bed so a patient could be seen. But no, this doctor starts a yelling match which only brings the cleaning to a halt!
Then the very next patient, a child who's name the doctor doesn't get right once, is seeing the afore mentioned Dr Decker who is supposedly a 3rd year resident. He tells the mother a porter will be along to take her daughter for a CT and when the mother asks "a what?" whilst he pays minimal attention, he starts to tell her a porter is the same as an orderly. The mother then clarifies she's asking why her daughter needs a CT scan and he says "to rule out a brain tumour" as he walks away. What the actual...? No, no, NO! Firstly, when treating younger, pre-teen patients its like have two patients - the child and the parent. Next, a doctor would never say that they're trying to rule out a brain tumour, not when there's a really small chance of that being the diagnosis and when it would be entirely out of the blue. Instead they'd say "we just want to run some more tests to get a clearer idea of what's causing your child to be ill" - saying "to rule out a brain tumour" to a worried parent would be like saying "your child is going to die" because that's all the worried parent would hear. BUT to then just walk away and continually dismiss the mother when she's just trying to get clarification?! If I saw this happen at work I'd be advising the mother to complain, I'd be dragging that doctor back to speak to the mother and I'd be getting the nursing manager and the doctor's senior in to talk with both the mother and the doctor.
There's a lot more I could go into, but this review is already pretty long. But I'd like to reassure everyone reading that 'Remedy' is the farthest thing from realistic in any way. Besides the fact they don't perform procedures evenly remotely close to realistically, we don't flippantly deliver bad news and walk off, we don't freeze in an emergency and be left to stand there, we don't yell and fight in front of patients, we don't watch out for ourselves and only ourselves or try to get our colleagues fired, nor do we try and intimidate our colleagues or run around on power trips. We work as a team, from the most senior doctors to the junior doctors, the nurses, the healthcare assistants...we support each other, we support our patients and their loved ones, we all pitch in our points and advocate for our patients and everyone is seen as equal, from the senior surgeons to the HCA and beyond, even the housekeepers, cleaners and catering staff, because we all have a role to play and without just one of those roles the team would not function.
Besides the shows horrendous portrayal of healthcare professionals and our work, the show is still terrible. It's just continuous arguments and fights with a lame plot that would be difficult to care about if it were the main focus of the show (in the first episode the long lost black sheep of the family returns home against his wishes after stabbing someone) but not only is the story a sub-plot with the main focus being dramatic fights, the characters aren't likeable enough to care about and, even for a pilot are very under-developed. Compare this with the very first episode of 'ER' and my heart broke for Doug, I really wanted Carol to pull through and Carter was like a rabbit in headlights in the funniest way. If you're looking for a medical drama with gripping storylines, dramatic plots, comical moments and a ton of realism to boot then I'd recommend you check that out instead. No sex in closets, nurses who actually do work instead of the doctors doing everything and extremely accurate medical dramatisation, 'ER' was, and still is a gem in a sea of medical drama excrement!
Remedy gets 1 star from me for two reasons; not only will IMDb not let me leave zero stars, but there is one believable character that I did care about - the porter, Bruno Dias, who was the only one who seemed to reflect what hospital staff are like - caring for patients and trying to alleviate their pain and their worries, and this proved to be the right path when he got thanked by the young girl at the end in front of Dr Decker who'd not long told him he'd have him fired. Unfortunately I'll never know if Bruno switches from brown to white as I can't watch another minute of the rest of the characters, nor the painfully inaccurate medical scenes. Though I did think it could become a drinking game - 1 shot for each inaccurate medical procedure, 1 shot for each fight, 1 double shot each time someone threatens to have someone fired...then I realised that would be at least 8 singles and 3 doubles in 40 minutes for the first episode alone.
I work in healthcare and whilst I understand this is acting, I have never seen a show do so poorly with the medical aspect of the medical drama. One of my major gripes was the two blood samples taken - one where the needle was left to hang, then removed without releasing the tourniquet which, in reality would have meant blood went everywhere (don't even get me started on how much the needle was being moved around...if someone took my blood like that, well, they wouldn't be succesful and I also would have gone crazy at them), and one done with a syringe WITHOUT consent, and taken from the deltoid, that muscle at the top of your arm that you get vaccinations in. The second blood sample, in reality, would never happen. I thought she was giving an intramuscular injection, and had she been it would have been pretty spot on. But you can't draw blood from there. Plus there was no tourniquet, no swab to stop the bleeding once the needle is removed...and no vein to bleed in the first place. As for the trauma scene - you have a patient with a stab wound to the abdomen deteriorating and you stand there asking where the neurosurgeon and orthopaedic surgeons are going instead of calling the trauma or general surgeons?! And then when the patient "crashes" and the monotone flatline sounds no one does CPR? No compressions, the nurse who was told to bag the patient made snales look like speedy animals and medically no one did anything right. Did they have a medical advisor for the show? If they did I see why they're working in TV and not in a hospital. But this leads nicely to my main issue. The doctor running the trauma, Dr Decker, was out of his depth and not a single member of the team in the room supported him. In reality, if this happened and there were no other doctors present, nurses would suggest treatment options to help guide the doctor and get him/her to focus whilst someone else got another doctor to help. But this show, or at least this episode, made it seem that unless you've graduated medical school all you do is stand there and wait to be told what to do. In "Remedy" doctors are the best, and they are not to be advised nor are they to be questioned, as later we see the same doctor attempting to reduce a dislocated shoulder unsuccessfully until he gets advice from an unlikely source, the porter, who then gets belittled and bemoaned at by Dr Decker, who threatens to have the porter fired.
And that was a running theme - three separate staff members were threatened with losing their jobs for various, minor reasons that in reality would not lead to dismissal. And I stopped counting the number of arguemnts between staff members in front of patients. If I behaved that way I'd be called in to see management, but at this hospital everyone is out for themselves, all are self-serving and narcissistic, most with superiority complexes. In reality, healthcare professionals work as a team. From the very first argument in the hospital (also the first scene in the hospital) where the cleaner is cleaning down a room and being yelled at because a doctor had been told it was ready when it wasn't, I was left gobsmacked. The doctor could have gone to another room (we later found out the one next door was ready and available) or even offered to help clean the room to get it done quicker - this actually happens, I've had a surgeon help me make a bed so a patient could be seen. But no, this doctor starts a yelling match which only brings the cleaning to a halt!
Then the very next patient, a child who's name the doctor doesn't get right once, is seeing the afore mentioned Dr Decker who is supposedly a 3rd year resident. He tells the mother a porter will be along to take her daughter for a CT and when the mother asks "a what?" whilst he pays minimal attention, he starts to tell her a porter is the same as an orderly. The mother then clarifies she's asking why her daughter needs a CT scan and he says "to rule out a brain tumour" as he walks away. What the actual...? No, no, NO! Firstly, when treating younger, pre-teen patients its like have two patients - the child and the parent. Next, a doctor would never say that they're trying to rule out a brain tumour, not when there's a really small chance of that being the diagnosis and when it would be entirely out of the blue. Instead they'd say "we just want to run some more tests to get a clearer idea of what's causing your child to be ill" - saying "to rule out a brain tumour" to a worried parent would be like saying "your child is going to die" because that's all the worried parent would hear. BUT to then just walk away and continually dismiss the mother when she's just trying to get clarification?! If I saw this happen at work I'd be advising the mother to complain, I'd be dragging that doctor back to speak to the mother and I'd be getting the nursing manager and the doctor's senior in to talk with both the mother and the doctor.
There's a lot more I could go into, but this review is already pretty long. But I'd like to reassure everyone reading that 'Remedy' is the farthest thing from realistic in any way. Besides the fact they don't perform procedures evenly remotely close to realistically, we don't flippantly deliver bad news and walk off, we don't freeze in an emergency and be left to stand there, we don't yell and fight in front of patients, we don't watch out for ourselves and only ourselves or try to get our colleagues fired, nor do we try and intimidate our colleagues or run around on power trips. We work as a team, from the most senior doctors to the junior doctors, the nurses, the healthcare assistants...we support each other, we support our patients and their loved ones, we all pitch in our points and advocate for our patients and everyone is seen as equal, from the senior surgeons to the HCA and beyond, even the housekeepers, cleaners and catering staff, because we all have a role to play and without just one of those roles the team would not function.
Besides the shows horrendous portrayal of healthcare professionals and our work, the show is still terrible. It's just continuous arguments and fights with a lame plot that would be difficult to care about if it were the main focus of the show (in the first episode the long lost black sheep of the family returns home against his wishes after stabbing someone) but not only is the story a sub-plot with the main focus being dramatic fights, the characters aren't likeable enough to care about and, even for a pilot are very under-developed. Compare this with the very first episode of 'ER' and my heart broke for Doug, I really wanted Carol to pull through and Carter was like a rabbit in headlights in the funniest way. If you're looking for a medical drama with gripping storylines, dramatic plots, comical moments and a ton of realism to boot then I'd recommend you check that out instead. No sex in closets, nurses who actually do work instead of the doctors doing everything and extremely accurate medical dramatisation, 'ER' was, and still is a gem in a sea of medical drama excrement!
Remedy gets 1 star from me for two reasons; not only will IMDb not let me leave zero stars, but there is one believable character that I did care about - the porter, Bruno Dias, who was the only one who seemed to reflect what hospital staff are like - caring for patients and trying to alleviate their pain and their worries, and this proved to be the right path when he got thanked by the young girl at the end in front of Dr Decker who'd not long told him he'd have him fired. Unfortunately I'll never know if Bruno switches from brown to white as I can't watch another minute of the rest of the characters, nor the painfully inaccurate medical scenes. Though I did think it could become a drinking game - 1 shot for each inaccurate medical procedure, 1 shot for each fight, 1 double shot each time someone threatens to have someone fired...then I realised that would be at least 8 singles and 3 doubles in 40 minutes for the first episode alone.
A must-watch!
camelot-lady22 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Remedy is not just one of the best Canadian TV shows, it's one of the best TV shows ever made, period. It's fresh, interesting, and fast-paced, and most of the time it keeps your head spinning in the best possible way.
As far as I recall, it's quite possibly the only medical drama with a heavy focus on the family values and interpersonal relationships, and probably the only one that didn't have broom closet hookups - I'm looking at ALL of you, other medical TV series.
The Conners are exactly the kind of family that are fun to watch - they're very different and very likable in their individual ways. You may not disagree with them now and then, but at the end of the day you can't help but want them all to have a happy ending, one way or another.
That's not to mention exciting and unique 'traumas of the week', amazing supporting cast, and exception writing (that I am shamelessly envious of).
As far as I recall, it's quite possibly the only medical drama with a heavy focus on the family values and interpersonal relationships, and probably the only one that didn't have broom closet hookups - I'm looking at ALL of you, other medical TV series.
The Conners are exactly the kind of family that are fun to watch - they're very different and very likable in their individual ways. You may not disagree with them now and then, but at the end of the day you can't help but want them all to have a happy ending, one way or another.
That's not to mention exciting and unique 'traumas of the week', amazing supporting cast, and exception writing (that I am shamelessly envious of).
Remedy is amazing
bootseyjovi22 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Remedy is not one of those classic hospital drama shows like "Grey Anatomy" or "ER". It doesn't contain a lot of dumb relationship drama. It has real heart to it. I love the family aspect to the show how pretty much the entire family works in the hospital together. It makes for interesting and complex story lines. The actors are amazing too. In the second half season 2 of Remedy Dillion Casey brings a lot of emotional turmoil to the family and he does it extremely well. Enrico Colantoni playing Allen Connor is super funny with some of the one liners he says but he is also a dad who truly cares about his kids.Sarah Allen and Sara Canning are all amazing and bring a lot to their characters. Im really sad and disappointed that Remedy got cancelled I would alway look forward to every Monday when it was on.
Worse than The Manson Family
rusherman20020 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is the ugliest family put together since the Manson's hit the dessert. The one daughter keeps trying to kill people on the table. Dad uses blackmail to keep a drug addict that has proved incompetent employed at the hospital. The mother is a pizztank and the son is a tweaker. The other daughter left needles where a worker could get HIV from it and then the family covered it up. They use relationships like a shirt. They pull it on in the morning and dump it in the hamper at night. No one seems to be able to escape their unholy clutches. People are trapped like rabbits in the headlights. The entire family uses their friends like dirt. I am not a coward but I shudder now every time I see a hospital. I wonder if it could be harbouring a crazed bunch of home grown incompetent narcissist lunatic users like Remedy has for staff. This should be on the horror network.
Another Canadian stupid one
davet-617245 June 2015
I'm stuck watching this because my wife does. The show should be called the fighting hospital or hospital fighting family. It's on the level of the red green show. I've been waiting for red green to make a cameo instead of trying to be funny it's fighting and arguing. I know this might be a surprise but there is room for better story lines. I really don't know why they have other actor's on cause it always centers around the four actors. I hope it gets better the second time around. What's this ten line thing I can say what needs to be said in less. But I guess we all have to sound uneducated. So with this being said it should be enough.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
