“Red Band Society” review
By Ike Hajinazarian
Grade: C
Even before I watched the “Red Band Society” pilot, I kind of hated it.
It seemed like such a blatantly obvious and tasteless ripoff of “The Fault in Our Stars” that it kind of made me sick.
Some Fox executive must have thought, “Wow, the people really seem to love stories about teenagers with cancer being philosophical. Let’s do it while it’s still popular. Let’s also a cast a lead guy who looks the exact same.”
I watched it. And it’s true, actor Nolan Sotillo looks a lot like Ansel Elgort in “The Fault in Our Stars.”
And it is about a bunch of teenagers with ailments being philosophical. But it’s not the worst thing ever.
In “Red Band Society,” a group of teenagers live in a hospital (Fox, what?) because they have terminal illnesses and need pretty constant care.
They also go to school at the hospital (again, Fox, what?) so they’re a pretty tight-knit group.
In the pilot, which is narrated by Charlie, a boy in a coma who is played by Griffin Gluck , Jordi , played by Sotillo , is preparing to get his leg amputated. There are other teens in Jordi’s group, as well.
There's Leo , played by Charlie Rowe , has also had his leg amputated, and Emma , played by Ciara Bravo , has an eating disorder and used to be in a relationship with Leo, among others.
There was a lot to look past before I could start liking “Red Band Society.”
Among other things, there’s the corny network “dramedy” dialogue and the fact that I don’t think the writers at Fox quite know how a hospital works.
Once I got past those, though, I didn’t mind the show.
Octavia Spencer is pretty great as Nurse Jackson and, despite all of the show’s terrible writing mistakes, I was compelled for the entire episode.
I wanted to see what would happen next with every character. That’s not an easy feat.
It’s always hard to judge pilots because they can’t be graded like movies.
You’re supposed to be able to see the show through its pilot. Strictly going off of potential, the pilot for “Red Band Society” was OK.
The show’s going to go somewhere, and it’s going to get plenty of viewers.
It’s got quite a bit of polishing to do first, though.
