I’m a fan of Shondaland’s latest show, Off the Map. As a fan, I’ve got to say that I’m a little fed up of the comparisons to Grey’s Anatomy. All you hear about the show is that it is Grey’s in the jungle. Shonda Rhimes is a producer, so it is destined to be just another clone of her popular debut. Even my friend Rachel made the connection. Frankly, I think it is a weak comparison for people (and critics) who don’t want to put any effort into the show.
Let me get something (important) out of the way first: I’m not saying that OTM is Shakespeare or anything. It is not The West Wing, it is not Sopranos, nor any other ground breaking hour-long drama. It is primetime soap about doctors. Doctors that practice in a jungle.
Just like Grey’s Anatomy; but, it is also like ER, or St. Elsewhere or any other ensemble medical show. There are many other genres (police dramas, lawyers, etc) you could throw in the conversation, too. OTM has patients and cases of the week, but the story of this show is about how the jungle is the place that these doctors, newbies and old hands, have come to hide from something back home and find themselves. Some are more broken than others, but all of them are more or less in the same predicament.
This unifying theme already sets this show apart from others it is being compared to. Does it make it better than the shows it is being compared to? No, not at all. Lonestar had a theme, and it was pretty much the worst show I’ve seen in years (critical love of the show aside, I stand by my original opinion). But it deserves to be judged on its own, something very few have taken the time to do.
I also love how when people use Grey’s as a comparison point, they say it like it is the worse thing the world. Don’t get me wrong, the doctors of Seattle Grace Mercy West have had their good years, and their bad years. But they’ve rebounded quite well from their truly horrendous season (which coincided with year of the writer’s strike, and was far from the only show that had a rough season that year), and has produced enjoyable television over the past several seasons.
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Feb 10, 2011 @ 00:12 EST5EDT
This could be also why ‘Defying Gravity’ got slammed and then canceled — nobody watched it deeply enough to understand it was not Grey’s-in-space, so it got slammed and dumped.
Not sure that is a fair comparison. Defying Gravity was nothing like Grey’s at all. Whoever came up with that ruined the show and its chances for success.
OTM … it is Grey’s in the jungle or very close. But, in this case, not necessarily a bad thing. And, the target audience for both shows are the same.
*POST AUTHOR*
Yes! Doctors! Who have sex with each other (Just two couples, as a reminder)! In a Jungle! It’s Grey’s in a jungle!
And Grey’s was ER in Seattle!
And ER was St. Elsewhere in Chicago!
And Chicago Hope was a bad ER on the other side of Chicago!
And on, and on, and on….
This show is a primetime soap opera about doctors in a jungle. Just like Grey’s is a primetime soap opera about doctors in Seattle. ALL primetime soap operas are just a genre difference from being XXXX in a jungle. or XXXX in a Vancouver Rookie Cop team. Or blah blah blah.
My comment was in reply to Keith. And, I think I agreed w/ you.
*POST AUTHOR*
Ah…. I must have misunderstood.
Of course the statement “OTM … it is Grey’s in the jungle or very close.” is in perfect agrement of a post titled “Off the Map is NOT Grey’s Anatomy in the jungle.”
I’m not sure where I would have made that mistake :P
You are missing the context of my comment.
*POST AUTHOR*
I agree w/ you that the DG/Grey’s comparison was poor and weak.
I agree w/ you that a OTM/Grey’s comparison isn’t necessarily a negative, either way.
I disagree that OTM is just Grey’s in the Jungle, and stand by the idea that the comparison just generalizes OTM and its characters.
To me OTM is about these characters and their path to rediscovering themselves and face whatever put them in the jungle in the first place.
You’re right, it’s not ‘ Grey’s Of The Jungle ‘, which wouldn’t have been such a recommendation anyway….. getting tired of Seattle Grace shenanigans…. but what it is is predictable and slightly cliched, and I tried, but… no. Not a fan.
(‘That’s why they make chocolate and vanilla’, as my Mom used to say… YMMV).
Thanks for calling me your friend, even though you disagreed with me ;)
*POST AUTHOR*
If I was only friends with people who agreed with me, I probably wouldn’t have many friends…
Hey – when I said it wasn’t Grey’s in the jungle you told me that a comparison wasn’t a negative. ;-) Mind like a steel trap, I tell you!
*POST AUTHOR*
And I quote myself from this post: “I also love how when people use Grey’s as a comparison point, they say it like it is the worse thing the world. Don’t get me wrong, the doctors of Seattle Grace Mercy West have had their good years, and their bad years. But they’ve rebounded quite well from their truly horrendous season (which coincided with year of the writer’s strike, and was far from the only show that had a rough season that year), and has produced enjoyable television over the past several seasons.”
:P
Oh, ok. I surrender.