What To Watch On Netflix: Childrens Hospital

Our Netflix series to binge-watch for this week is the Adult Swim live-action comedy, Childrens Hospital.

Last week, I suggested a British-crime drama starting Gillian Anderson as our binge-watch series of the week. It was only five episodes so you Netflix hounds, you fanatics of the binge-watching kind, probably knocked that one out in a day. 

I hope you heeded my advice and clicked play. If not, maybe that show or genre didn’t whet your television-hungry palate. Remember our slogan: “We Watch It So You Don’t Waste Your Time!”

We’ll switch gears this week and give fans of humorous shows a chance to find their new Netflix series. My pick is Childrens Hospital, a live-action comedy that found a home on Adult Swim, and eventually our Netflix queues. Call me old school, but I’m still referencing the queue. It’s called a list now, right? RIP queue.  

Backstory:

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Let’s talk webisodes. There are millions of them out there. Some are high quality and highbrow, yet decidedly low overhead productions. Others are the brainchild of a few ambitious seventh graders huddling in the back corner of a study hall. What’s my point? Like Netflix, and the entire point of this recurring column, there’s an overwhelming amount of entertainment content available to us. When it comes to web series, we really need people to point us in the direction of the good ones.

That becomes easy when big names are attached to a project, as was the case with the Rob Corddry creation, Childrens Hospital. Corddry brought the series to TheWB.com in 2008 and managed to escape the crowded wasteland of the internet by 2008, inking a deal with Adult Swim to bring the hospital comedy to television. The series had internet success, winning a Webby Award, and television success, winning back-to-back Emmy Awards for short-form live-action programing.

Premise:

Rob Corddry didn’t create meta-jokes but he’s working his ass off to perfect them. Corddry plays Cutter Spindell, an actor who plays Dr. Blake Downs on a show called Childrens Hospital. If you’re still following me, this is a show within a show. Dr. Downs, who dresses in John Wayne Gacy-like clown makeup, leads the ensemble cast through a myriad of medical-drama spoofs, out-of-left-field gags and hyper-sexualized hospital banter. If It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is Seinfeld on crack, then Childrens Hospital is Scrubs after a four-day meth bender.

Why you should watch it:

The cast is superb. 

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The episodes are short, especially in the first two seasons, but they are loaded with brilliant comedic talent. Let me run off a few names for you: Henry Winkler, Megan Mullally, Ken Marino, Malin Åkerman. Let me run off some names of some guest stars: Michael Cera, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Jon Hamm, Jordan Peele and of course David Wain as the unforgettable Rabbi Jewy McJewJew. Oh, you’re already updating your queue list? My job here is done.  

Seasons:

Recently renewed for a sixth season. The first two seasons are available on Netflix. 

This series is for you if:

You could only dream of a medical drama that was more over-the-top outrageous than Scrubs.   

Final Verdict:

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Since making the switch to the more classic medium in season three, Childrens Hospital has thrived in a longer format, expanding the depth of its characters and developing richer storylines. That doesn’t help you, new viewer, because Netflix only has the first two seasons. Luckily, this is a bizarre show that you’ll need to ease into, so breezing through the first season should get you well acclimated to one of Adult Swim’s top shows. 

Previous Picks of the Week:

Undeclared 

The Fall

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Rating:

3.5 out of 5