Medical drama

Medical drama is a subgenre of the standard dramatic television program. It differentiates itself from other dramas in that the primary setting of the series takes place at a hospital or clinic. Medical dramas began coming into fashion as early as the late 1960s with the David Victor TV series Marcus Welby, M.D., which starred Robert Young and James Brolin and aired for seven seasons on ABC. In 1972, NBC began airing Emergency!, created by Jack Webb, which also ran for seven seasons and set the standard that other similarly-themed shows would use in giving rise to the medical drama genre. Arguably, the most well-known of all medical dramas is ER, which was created by Michael Crichton and ran for fifteen seasons from 1994 to 2009. The show helped to launch the careers of several name brand actors including George Clooney, Noah Wyle and Julianna Margulies. Only slightly less popular than ER is David Shore's House, M.D., which starred multi-Emmy award winning actor Hugh Laurie in the eponymous role of Doctor Gregory House. The show aired for eight seasons on the FOX Network from 2004 to 2012.