Scenes of fear, pain, and trust between doctors and patients give viewers an intimate look at what happens at the hospital in "Boston Med," a new documentary series on ABC. The show is neither "reality TV" nor the fictionalized medical fantasy land that we see on "Grey's Anatomy" and "House." In fact, it's a very real documentary that provides an unflinching look at the relationships between doctors and patients. We talk to the show's executive producer and one of the featured doctors about gaining access and building trust, and why they made this documentary.
The couple that crashed President Obama's first White House dinner, Tarek and Michaele Salahi, managed to slip through several layers of security in order to pose with such Washington luminaries as Vice President Joe Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel. The couple aren't new to (fleeting) fame. They're reportedly in the running to be one of the couples on the Bravo reality show, "The Real Housewives of Washington." And the New York Times reports that the Bravo cable TV network followed the couple up to the entrance state dinner. For more on this, we're joined by Brian Stelter, who writes the Media Decoder blog for our partners, The New York Times.
Everyone’s talking about the "Balloon Boy": not just about the hoax, but about the Heene family in particular and reality TV families in general. What does Falcon Heene's story tell us about parenting in the spotlight, and about those people who want to parent in the spotlight? Kate Dailey, Health & Lifestyle editor for Newsweek.com, and Liz Gumbinner, from the blog Mom101, share their insights about reality TV, families and fame.
"Kids would love drinking anti-freeze if they had the chance, and that's not good for them either. Kids can't be the arbiter of whether or not they should be on TV."
—Kate Dailey, Health & Lifestyle editor for Newsweek.com, on children's ability to decide whether or not to participate in reality TV
Read Kate's recent blog post about her take on this topic, "Takeaway From The Takeaway: Don't Let Reality TV Turn Your Kids Into Judgmental Jerks".
"With reality television you can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it."
—Kate Dailey on children growing up watching reality TV
Comedian Baratunde Thurston on 'How to Be Black'
Today's Takeaway: Focus on Violence Syria
Today's Takeaway: Big Night for Rick Santorum
'Tebow Bill' May Allow Home-Schoolers to Play on High School Teams
In-Depth Look at the Situation in Syria
Today's Takeaway: Multi-Billion Dollar Foreclosure Settlement Imminent
Is Our Constitution Out of Date?
Newly-Discovered Recordings Shed Light on a Young Malcolm X
Multi-Billion Dollar Foreclosure Settlement Imminent
Contraception Coverage Draws Criticism from Catholic Bishops
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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