Emily Owens, M.D.

Plot

The series follows Emily Owens (Mamie Gummer) as she begins an internship at Denver Memorial Hospital, believing she has left her high school days as a geeky girl behind. She has graduated from medical school and is joined by her med-school crush Will Collins (Justin Hartley), also an intern. Emily soon discovers that her high school nemesis, the gorgeous and manipulative Cassandra Kopelson (Aja Naomi King), is also a new intern. Fellow intern Tyra Dupre (Kelly McCreary) warns Emily that hospital cliques mirror high school: orthopedics for jocks, plastics for mean girls, the ER for rebels, anesthesiology for stoners and slackers, and neurology for nerds and geeks.

Tyra, whose father Dr. Tim Dupre (Harry Lennix) is the Chief of Medicine, quickly befriends Emily and confides personal details, including that she is a lesbian and interested in dating a certain nurse. Emily and Cassandra compete to impress the brilliant but stern cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Gina Bandari (Necar Zadegan), who has inspired both of them. They also vie for Will's attention; Will and Emily were friends in med school, but he has made clear he wants to keep their relationship platonic, though Emily struggles with seeing him talk to Cassandra.

Meanwhile, Emily gets to know resident Dr. Micah Barnes (Michael Rady), who is smart and handsome but slightly needy. Micah faces serious medical issues in his own family, and Emily's compassion helps him. Impressed by her skills, Micah brings her into a delicate surgery, talking her through the procedure and bringing them closer professionally and personally.

Reception

E! Online described it as a mix between Grey's Anatomy and Mean Girls. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the show scored 47/100.

Three years after the show was canceled, the CW president Mark Pedowitz stated that the failure of the show helped the network realize what type of show their audience wanted, which enabled them to start ordering more shows that were like that. The realization would ultimately help improve overall ratings and critical reception for the network. At the 34th Young Artist Awards the show won the award for 'Best Performance in a TV Series – Guest Starring Young Actor Ten and Under' for Bruce Salomon.

International broadcasts

The series was picked up in Canada by CTV Two and aired in simulcast. Network Ten planned to air the series in Australia. ETC aired the series in the Philippines. In Hong Kong and the Netherlands, the series aired on TVB Pearl and Net5, respectively.

In the United Kingdom, it will be shown weekly on Really from August 19, 2013 onwards. In Italy, it was shown daily on Rai 3 from August 11 to August 23, 2013. In France, TF6 broadcast the show on March 6, 2014 and M6 broadcast the show on March 24, 2014.