Someone- perhaps Samuel Johnson?- said "Second marriages are the triumph of hope over experience." I gave this new series a few tries. Apparently, there is a new school of screenwriter thought which dictates "The more subplots per character, the better." I shall refer to this as the GRRM school of writing. This show seems to be firmly in that camp. As a "ferinstance", there is a main plot about dealing with the casualties of war in a hospital in the midst of a bloody conflict with primitive medicine. Then there are subplots involving conflicts between old and new schools of thought, confronting racial prejudice, split political allegiance, family conflicts, and the breakup of a marriage. The proceeding only involves one character. The actual medical research seems decently done, although the historical accuracy gets short shrift. The Emancipation Proclamation was not even signed, let alone law, when the series is initially set and would not be law for several months. This series cannot seem to make up its mind if it is Deadwood, MASH,or Gone With The Wind with a dash of Uncle Tom's Cabin thrown in.

I was really looking forward to this. Quality always from PBS. What happened? Was it filmed on the cheap? The shots are so tight as to not have any expensive establishing shots that might show what a small set they are working on. It shows! It looks like what it is cheap! Not even some green screen shots to make for some very interesting historical setting that could have been interesting. Did they cost too much?The lead actress is not up to par, her character drives the story and she can't. So instead of the quality of a Downtown Abbey, we trade on it's reputation and we get a poor quality PBS product trying to make up for it's obvious lack of quality with gratuitous gore and now a simulated oral sex scene? Sorry I'm out!

I am greatly enjoying this series. The production has the feel of the period from the mud in the streets, to the period decor of the rooms and costumes, all the way to the amputated limbs being taken away in a wheelbarrow. War is hell, and none was more so than the Civil War, when weaponry had become so efficient as to mow down regiments marching forward in outdated styles of battle. Some viewers might object to bloody surgery scenes. However, one of the most affecting scenes to me was of a Confederate soldier with shell shock who told of the horror of battle, "the smoke and blood and the screaming, you never know where it's coming from." Soldiers who make it to this hospital are cared for to the best of their abilities by Mary Phinney and Dr. Jedediah Foster, played admirably by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Josh Radnor. Their own personal dramas are interwoven into the story lines quite well. Applause to the producers and directors!

(I hope what I have written is not considered spoilers - I would not do that intentionally!)I understand a lot of the criticisms written in these reviews. My reaction to watching Episode 1 was "What is this? Desperate Housewives of Civil War Medicine??" - because it seemed so "overheated" and unbelievable. For example, when Nurse Phinney has to sleep on the floor of the ward among the soldiers' beds, I exclaimed, "That didn't happen! That would never have happened! But then I started to read the true story of Nurse Phinney, "Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars" and guess what - it DID happen plus a whole lot more! What I saw as "overheated" in terms of the drama between hospital personnel was actually DOWNPLAYED from the true reality!!! The surgeons and doctors did NOT want female nurses around and wanted to drive them OUT. The hospital WAS as chaotic, as shown. And as far as soldiers not being fed - YUP, it was only TOO TRUE!!! There was a shocking amount of graft and profiteering going on in the food supply chain! I highly recommend the true story of Nurse Phinney - it is quite a read!!