Mercy (TV series)


Mercy is an American medical drama television series created by Liz Heldens, which aired on NBC from September 23, 2009, to May 12, 2010. The series initially aired on Wednesday at 8:00 pm, as part of the 2009 fall season, but was pushed back to 9:00 pm in April.
On October 23, 2009, Mercy was picked up for a full 22-episode first season. On May 14, 2010, NBC cancelled the series after one season.

Plot

Mercy is an ensemble drama set in the fictional Mercy Hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey. The show focuses on the lives of three nurses. Veronica Flanagan Callahan is a nurse who has just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, while Sonia Jimenez, her best friend, has become seriously involved with a police officer, and Chloe Payne is a recent nursing graduate who is thrown into the world of nursing and is unprepared for what it entails.

Cast and characters

Main cast and characters

Recurring cast and characters

producer Jim Bigwood selected the warehouse at 10 Enterprise Avenue in Secaucus, New Jersey as the filming location for the series. The show occasionally also filmed inside a private residence in Weehawken, New Jersey. The production left New Jersey for New York in 2010, however, when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie suspended the tax credits for film and television production for the fiscal year 2011 to close budget gaps.
Some interior shots for the show were filmed in the unused Barnert Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. in the old St Mary's Hospital in Passaic. Exterior shots of Mercy Hospital were taken of the back side of a public school on 4th street in Jersey City, New Jersey. The exterior of Lucky 7's Bar was filmed at a location on the corner of 2nd and Coles Street in Jersey City. The interior of the bar was the Park Tavern located on West Side Avenue off Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City. The exterior shots of The Red Fox Saloon were filmed at the Monaghan House in South Amboy, New Jersey. The interior shots of the Saloon were filmed at Ted's Bar in the Morgan area of Sayreville, New Jersey.
Mercy was originally slated to begin midseason, but was moved to the fall after the premiere of Parenthood was pushed to 2010 due to production issues.

Episodes

Critical reception

Mercy received a score of 41 of 100 from the review aggregator Metacritic, and received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Matthew Gilbert, from The Boston Globe, referred to the show as "a bunch of played-out hospital clichés" and said it "follows the hospital melodrama blueprint way too closely." Similarly, a review in The Hollywood Reporter calls the show "just another hospital soap opera" and "a lethal cocktail of virtually every medical drama ever seen on TV". Matt Roush of TV Guide wrote "Nurses deserve better than this ludicrous potboiler". Several critics have referred to Mercy as a weak copy of Showtime's Nurse Jackie.
The show's writing has been criticized as "twisting itself into a pretzel to provide ironies," and a review by Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune states that "all the characters are so thinly drawn." In a review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rob Owen said the show "hits viewers over the head with its thesis statement that nurses are under-appreciated." Robert Bianco from USA Today stated that "remarkably good actors going to waste here."
On the positive side, in a review in The Daily Telegraph, Rachel Ray found the show "utterly enjoyable" and "marvelous television", while praising the "clicking pace, real-person dialogue, excellent writing, a fresh story line, and thoughtful acting". Noting an effort by NBC to find a replacement for the former standout ER, David Hinckley, from the New York Daily News, favorably compared the two shows and stated that Mercy "comes the closest yet to capturing that chemistry."

Ratings

Seasonal ratings

SeasonTimeslot Season PremiereSeason FinaleTV SeasonRankViewers
1Wednesday 8/7c
Wednesday 9/8c 		September 23, 2009May 12, 20102009–2010#766.33

Home media

International distribution

CountryChannelNotes
Seven Network
7Two		Monday 9:30 then 10:30, moved to 7Two on Wednesday 9:30 p.m. then 10:30
ORF 1Monday 9:55 p.m.
vtm
RTBF		Wednesday 22:40, vtm
Tuesday, La Une
LivTuesdays 10:00 p.m., premiered April 13
CityMonday 8:00 p.m., in simultaneous substitution
MTV3Friday 9:00 p.m.
M6June 12 at 8:50 p.m.
Star ChannelSaturday 6:00 p.m.
RTÉ TwoMonday nights 12:45 a.m.
Yes Drama
MyaFriday 9:00 p.m., from September 3, 2010
Universal ChannelSaturday 11:00 p.m.
Star WorldTuesday 9:00 p.m.
Canal 5Weekdays 3:00 a.m. – 5:00 a.m., from April 1, 2013
RTL 5Thursday 9:25 p.m.
FOURMonday 9:30 p.m., from February 7, 2011
TV3Wednesday 10:30 p.m.
2nd AvenueMonday 9:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.
TVNSaturday 11:10 p.m.
Fox life
TSRFriday 8:30 p.m., TSR1
FactoríaDeFicciónWeekends 7:00 p.m.
MNET SeriesMonday 9:30 p.m.
TRK UkrainaTuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 11:50 p.m.
TV6Weekends 10:30 p.m.