http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/arts/television/sex-sent-me-to-the-er-and-untold-stories-of-the-er.html 2014-11-01 01:10:59 ‘Sex Sent Me to the ER’ and ‘Untold Stories of the ER’ Shows like “Sex Sent Me to the ER” and “Untold Stories of the ER” acknowledge the absurdity of the notion of major surgery as entertainment. === A new study has found that people who watch a lot of television are far more likely to find themselves in hospital emergency rooms than people who watch little or no television. This study wasn’t conducted by some university or think tank. I did it myself, just by turning on the TV. These trips to the hospital are vicarious: Emergency room and operating room scenes have become so common on scripted TV that they’re clichés. You know: An overhead shot shows doctors and nurses gathered around someone’s open chest or abdominal cavity, calling for a scalpel, more suction, 10 c.c.s of something or other, stat. Perhaps we’re even treated to the sight of the opening of that cavity: the cutting of flesh, then the peeling back. And soon comes the close-up: a gloved hand reaches into the bloody hole and pulls out an organ or entrails or whatever, the camera lingering on the gooey mess to make sure you get the point. And the point, usually, is “Look how gory we’re allowed to be on TV these days!” There is rarely any need to show that quivering liver or chunk of lower intestine — for decades, medical shows got along just fine with hardly any blood. But it’s shown anyway, as if the director were daring you not to turn away. The thing is, there has been so much of this in recent years that for the viewer, whatever squeamishness there was originally is long gone. The show, whether I’m becoming more selective about how much time I log in TV emergency rooms (also autopsy rooms, where the same stuff goes on). So — sorry, Ducky from “NCIS” and Miranda from “Grey’s” and the rest of you earnest but fake medical professionals — lately I have found more enjoyment in the reality side of this phenomenon: “Sex Sent Me to the ER” is a TLC show produced by “Sex Sent Me to the ER” is exactly what the title suggests: real cases that began with an attempt at intimacy. Each episode has three: one from a doctor, two from couples. Saturday’s installment serves up a kinky firehouse birthday, a picnic romp that resulted in something resembling hives, and a fiancé with postcoital headaches and dizziness. As for “Untold Stories,” if you want a sampling, try its special on Friday, “Craziest Cases,” a greatest-hits compilation from previous seasons. You’ll love the guy with the snapping turtle clamped on his neck. The two series use a combination of cheesy re-enactments and recollections of the participants, and there’s a low-rent honesty that makes them a bit addictive. Michael Branton, an executive producer of both shows, said in a telephone interview that one attraction is the willingness of the participating medical professionals to display vulnerability. “There’s an amount of openness that maybe you don’t associate with doctors,” he said. “Maybe they made a mistake, or maybe they were unsure of the diagnosis.” There is also an element of sociological documentation in these shows, especially “Sex Sent Me to the ER,” that is fascinating in a train wreck way. People are actually willing to admit on television that they tried to have sex while sky diving but forgot to open their parachutes on time (last week’s episode). “A few years ago, I don’t think this show would have been castable,” Mr. Branton said — that is, finding enough stories would have been impossible. “But television viewers at this point, and, by extension, the general public, realize that television is a place where people reveal a lot of personal data. There’s a precedent for people being very open.” “Untold Stories” had to overcome some resistance among doctors when it began in 2004. “When we first started that series, the medical community was very wary about participating,” Mr. Branton said. Now, though, the odd combination of wackiness and authenticity has found converts. Doctors and nurses often play themselves in the re-enactments. Those actors shoving their hands into an open chest cavity in scripted prime time may end up with a shelf full of Emmy Awards, but I’ll take the tackily rendered real story of the guy who fell off his roof and ended up with a shovel jammed between his legs (from the Nov. 14 “Untold Stories”). “I am not sure what test I’m going to order that’s going to tell me where the handle of that shovel is,” Dr. Kevin Klauer says in the episode. Now that’s entertainment.