Mercy (TV series)

Plot

Set in the fictional Mercy Hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey, this ensemble drama follows three nurses. Veronica Flanagan Callahan has just returned from Iraq. Her best friend, Sonia Jimenez, is dating a police officer. New graduate Chloe Payne is overwhelmed by the realities of nursing.

Development and production

NBC producer Jim Bigwood selected a warehouse at 10 Enterprise Avenue in Secaucus, New Jersey as the primary filming location. Some interior shots were filmed in the unused Barnert Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey, and in the old St Mary's Hospital in Passaic. Exterior shots of Mercy Hospital used the back side of a public school on 4th street in Jersey City. The exterior of Lucky 7's Bar was filmed at a corner of 2nd and Coles Street in Jersey City, while its interior was the Park Tavern on West Side Avenue.

Exterior shots of The Red Fox Saloon were filmed at the Monaghan House in South Amboy, with interiors at Ted's Bar in Sayreville. The production moved to New York in 2010 after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie suspended film and television tax credits for fiscal year 2011. The series was originally slated for midseason but was moved to fall after Parenthood was delayed.

Critical reception

Mercy received a score of 41 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating mixed reviews. Critics described it as a collection of hospital clichés and a weak copy of Showtime's Nurse Jackie. The Hollywood Reporter called it a lethal cocktail of virtually every medical drama ever seen on TV. Matt Roush of TV Guide wrote that nurses deserved better than this ludicrous potboiler.

The writing was criticized for twisting itself into a pretzel to provide ironies, and Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune found all characters thinly drawn. Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the show hits viewers over the head with its thesis that nurses are under-appreciated. Robert Bianco of USA Today stated that remarkably good actors were going to waste. On the positive side, Rachel Ray of The Daily Telegraph found the show utterly enjoyable and marvelous television, praising its pace, dialogue, writing, story line, and acting.

David Hinckley of the New York Daily News favorably compared it to ER, saying Mercy came closest to capturing that chemistry.