The Cancellation of Mercy

Within that past year I have discovered the awesomeness that is hulu.com. It is a website that allows you to watch certain continuous segments of current tv shows for those of us who are not constantly glued to the television nor have TiVo. Some of the shows have delayed airings dues to the regulations of the networks and some are only allowed to air 5 to x-amount of shows at a time. While this set-up may not work for everyone, especially those who need the regular instant gratification of watching tv shows as they air, it has been a godsend to me! Thanks to hulu, I have been able to catch up on some my fav shows such as House, The Office, Dancing with the Stars, etc. *Oh, side note: they also play some older movies/documentaries.

Well, today I was pleasantly able to catch the most recent airings of both House and Mercy; my two favorite "medical" dramas. House was awesome as always and while there is always the scare of cancellation for any show, I think the series has enough fans and Emmy nominations to hold it's ground. Unfortunately, I may be among the few, yet devoted viewers of Mercy. It is more of a nursing-oriented show, with it's main character (Veronica Flanagan) being a nurse.

This week hulu posted the season finale of Mercy's first season. It was such as good episode and had a really good cliff hanger, but to my great dismay... the network has canceled the show.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This saddens me because out of the outcropping of "nursing focused" tv series (Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe - which was also canceled), I thoroughly enjoyed Mercy. Actually, I never saw an episode of HawthroRNe and I think Nurse Jackie is just a cop-out of House with the pill popping. Does this mean that Veronica's alcohol abuse is any better? No. But as my brother mentioned today, "Nurses are human. We all have our vices". Regardless of what method these nurse characters chose as a means of self-destruction, I liked how the health care team camaraderie was portrayed in this show (putting aside the love triangle between Veronica, her husband/childhood sweetheart, and the doctor who she had a brief, yet passionate affair with while in Iraq). The characters made me laugh and cry, and portrayed emotions that both scared and excited me about my future in the health care.

Already-long story short, I will miss seeing Mercy go. It was a great show while it lasted and I'm sad that the network didn't do more to promote it. I absolutely loved Michelle Trachtenberg as Chloe, the green RN who eventually develops into an awesome nurse. I hope I can be as awesome as the character she portrayed. It was also a nice flash from the past to see James Van Der Beek again in a tv series. I always liked his smile :)