More Star Sightings

Star Sightings:

I was in the check-out line at Trader Joe's off Sunset/H-wood recently when I looked at the guy checking out next to me. He looked real familiar and not because I had nearly swiped him with my cart in the refrigerated food aisle minutes earlier. I mean the guy REALLY looked familiar. The guy looked to be in his mid 30s and about 6 feet tall. He was nicely built, kind of ruggedly handsome in a down-to-earth way in just t-shirt and jeans. He was with a happy teenage girl and another lady who looked like a family member. I stared at the guy again and he caught me but I looked away, totally embarassed to be caught staring. But I mean this guy looked like I knew him... like maybe from church here in LA. I made brief eye contact again and he shrugged and nodded real humbly back at me. That nod confirmed that I did know him... maybe from back east... But not from home.. No... not from home...

I shook my head as I continued to ponder the situation then I placed my bananas from my cart to the counter. I finally gave in and decided to ask the guy where I knew him from. So I tapped him and said, “You look so familiar to me. Where do I know you from"? The guy put his hands in his pocket shyly and paused then he took his hands from his pockets and motioned with them as he began to explain to me the situation. He turned around to face me mid-explaination and I finally saw his full face and then I immediately knew! Meanwhile, the guy took a big breath to start to explain to me quietly but I cut him off almost simultaneously with ” Oh, Greys...” .

You see, it was Justin Chambers aka Alex Karev from Grey's Anatomy. Chambers blushed a little at me then he smiled boyishly and nodded as I told him what a great job that I thought he did on the show. Then I mouthed sorry, lowered my voice and slinked away hoping no one else recognized him because of my noise and nosiness.

I went back to checking out but couldn't resist leaning back over to Chambers and whispering to him that I was a medical doctor and that Grey's was the only medical drama that I had really liked in years and that my first two spec scripts were for Grey's (then Monk, then Samantha Who, then House, M.D. -lol). He shook my hand and asked me my name. I told him and he said he would let the cast, crew, writers and Shonda Rhimes etc know of my feedback. I have already met a few of Grey's Anatomy's writers who are medical doctors also but it was nice meeting Mr. Chambers as he was very, very sweet.

Update: TV Medical Dramas
Speaking of TV Medical dramas, House, M.D. had its series finale a few months back but I didn't watch it. IMHO, I felt the show ran it's course and actually jumped the shark big time this past season. I have one spec script for House that I'll be posting here soon because it is useless as a spec now. I haven't kept up with Private Practice or Grey's but I hope they have at least 1-2 more years because I have 2 written specs for Grey's.

I do like Dr. Neal Baer's new show, A Gifted Man, where the doctor sees the ghost of his dead ex-wife but I wish the show had more Judeo-Christian elements as oppose to the shaman elements. I can't seem to catch any episodes of Gifted Man though so I hope it's not canceled. I have caught ads for a new NBC medical TV drama for Fall 2012 called Hope which reminds me of Gifted Man.


I will definitely do a spec for Gifted Man with added Christian content if it comes back for the 2012-2013 season. Or I may write an original medical drama spec like Dr. Sunjay Gupta just did.

Hollywood, Health and Society

I attended a Hollywood, Health and Society event last week at the Writers Guild of America building on Fairfax and 3rd. Hollywood, Health and Society is a free program at USC's Norman Lear/ Annaberg Center that provides science and medical information resources and consultations to writers and producers for TV or film. The program is funded by the CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There was a presentation by Dr. Tachi Yamada of the Bill and Melinada Gates Foundation then a panel discussion with Dr. Nael Baer (a writer who returned to med. school and became a pediatrician then returned to writing/producing ER, Law & Order: SVU), Peter Blake(House) and J. David(Numb3rs) and two other medical doctors. The writers showed video clips of their shows that had health or medical story-lines from HIV, infectious diseases and organ donation.

The panellist and presentations were great and it was especially nice to meet other pediatricians interested in health and the entertainment industry. I am not at all surprised that pediatricians were in a majority, as we've been on to the importance of media and health for decades. I recall the "Media Matters" campaign by the AAP and something similar through the APHA but I think the best way for us to affect media is to have doctors involved in the creative process (consulting, writing, producing and advocating) ala Neal Baer.


I was thinking of attending Pediatric Grand Rounds to keep my feet in clinical medicine but after the panel I see it as a good way of finding story ideas. The panel also had great story ideas! In fact, I raced home after the panel to flesh out a malaria script I was already working on but now with an added twist. I have also finished a spec. script for House that I am submitting to various contests which involves Down Syndrome and blood disorders. I submitted my Grey's Anatomy script last year to the Disney/ABC fellowship but didn't get it. Then I submitted it for coverage and got fair to good coverage on it, the main complaint being my formatting. I am also turning a feature script I wrote into a spec. pilot as Ellen Sandler (Everybody loves Raymond) suggests (get her book, The TV Writer's Workbook ). As Neal said on the panel, 'getting the medical right is most important" but doing it in 65 character driven pages is definitely a challenge.