News Releases

New ABC Series to Feature Memorial Hermann Hospital

Houston, Texas, June 7, 2002 -- Memorial Hermann Hospital staff and doctors from The University of Texas Medical School at Houston will make house calls this summer, entering the homes of millions of television viewers nationwide. After visiting several prestigious medical institutions across the country last year, ABC Television selected the staff and patients at Memorial Hermann as the cast for the network's newest prime-time project.

Houston Medical, a reality series on ABC, will bring viewing audiences an unprecedented look at the real-life drama that unfolds every day in the Texas Medical Center. The series debuts locally at 9 p.m., June 18, on KTRK Channel 13.

Houston Medical builds on the success of Hopkins 24/7, a documentary taped at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Medical Center for ABC News. ABC decided to expand the idea and turned to New Screen Concepts, an independent production company based in Connecticut and Los Angeles, to make the concept a reality.

Last spring, executive producers Lou Gorfain and Chuck Bangert visited top hospitals around the country, including academic medical centers in Chicago, Miami, North Carolina and San Francisco.

"We needed a good trauma center that could supply action, but we also searched for character in the community around the hospital that would allow us to take the show beyond the halls of medicine," Bangert says.

Gorfain says he and Bangert were especially impressed with the commitment of the staff, the breadth and quality of medicine being practiced at Memorial Hermann and the fact that it's a renowned teaching hospital. "But just as importantly, we appreciated the openness of the medical staff and administration to our cameras," he said.

Gorfain and Bangert next called in producers and camera crews to film for four weeks last spring. The resulting 20-minute pilot went to top ABC executives, who liked it enough to order the crew to proceed with production of six, one-hour episodes for prime time broadcast. By September, more than 30 New Screen Concepts employees and local freelancers were rotating through the hospital in around-the-clock shifts.

Producer Tracey Washington-Bagley says important moments are not captured by simply running over to a family with a cameraman. "I spent 20 minutes in the family consultation room consoling a mother about her 12-year-old son who was the victim of an accidental shooting," she says. "In that moment, it didn't matter to me whether we were going to get any great video footage. What mattered was letting her know that I'm a mom, too, and I can empathize with what she's going through."

Producer Janis Biewend says she's constantly surprised how families have opened up to film crews during the most difficult times of their lives. "They understand that other people nationwide can benefit from their loss or experience," she says.

With the support of employees, patients and families, along with ABC's commitment to the show, hopes run high that Houston Medical emerges as a summer season smash.

"What we have captured with Houston Medical is a real cross-section of life - what's going on in all of our lives," Bangert adds. "I think through other people's lives, we see our own."

For more information, contact Media Relations.