Red Band Society - Pilot - Advance Preview

“Red Band Society” is an upcoming teen drama debuting this fall on Fox. The coming-of-age series focuses on a group of kids with different ailments who meet at an L.A.-area hospital and become friends. The show is executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

The pilot introduces us to all of the kids and the adults who treat and mentor them at the hospital. The teens are all different from each other, some of them fitting into typical high school stereotypes: the bitchy cheerleader, the smart overachiever, etc. One character points out they would never have been friends at school. But that’s what the hospital does: it brings together an unlikely group of kids who may not have crossed paths otherwise. Here, as the narrator says, patients become friends with all types – “losers, populars, stoners, nerds.” Here their walls fall down and they let people in.

The show features five main teens – three boys and two girls. Three of them already know each other from being at the hospital awhile. The other two end up at the hospital for the first time. With one kid scheduled to have surgery the next day, they decide to throw him a party that night. During this party, the leader of the group, Leo, decides to divvy up his plastic red hospital bracelets (red bands), each one signifying a past surgery. For Leo, who has been pulling away, the gesture shows he is choosing to save himself. He is doing that by placing his trust in his peers, peers who can also understand what he’s been through. In that moment they all become a “band of brothers.”

The narrator of the series is Charlie, a boy in a coma. And if you think that’s weird, he tells you straight up, “Yeah, this is me talking to you from a coma. Deal with it.” Charlie becomes the omniscient, all-seeing character. He introduces the other kids to you and knows everything about them. The show jumps between narration from Charlie and the actual action. In the beginning Charlie introduces all of the players and he comments on things going on in his own hospital room. You learn that just because he’s in a coma, he can still hear everyone – he just can’t respond to them. But about a third of the way through the pilot, Charlie suddenly starts commenting on what is going on in other rooms. At first it’s a little jarring because you wonder how he could know what’s happening in all the rooms. But you just have to go with it. Charlie is in a state between life and death and he somehow can see everything that goes on, kind of like an out-of-body experience. Once I got over the initial weirdness of it, I accepted it.

Surprisingly, the tone of the series was fun. You would expect a show about kids with serious illnesses to be intense and somewhat depressing but it was not a downer at all. The pilot was hopeful, positive and uplifting. It was actually a feel-good show. While I am sure the characters will encounter struggles in future episodes, the show is described as a “dramedy.” I can see why. These kids don’t pity themselves at all. In fact, they have a captivating irreverence about their illnesses that was fun to watch. They don’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves. They make fun of themselves and one another and don’t try to spare each other’s feelings. They get right to the heart of the issue by teasing each other. In fact, their witty humor and biting sarcasm is without a doubt the best part of the show. The dialogue is extremely clever. The characters are well written and I found myself laughing numerous times at their pert, saucy quips. The writing hooked me.

I also enjoyed the characters and the acting. Though the characters aren’t real original, they were all well-acted and fun to watch. And the casting was flawless. I liked that the cast was not a group of 25-year-old actors playing young teens. They are mostly 17 and 18-year-olds themselves, so the show skews young. You’ll hear the lingo of a younger generation, phrases like “YOLO” and “Cray-cray.” And it’s filled with popular music, which added a nice element. While the show is geared to a younger audience, it should appeal to others, too.

I was impressed with the pilot episode of “Red Band Society.” I thought it was a nice soapy teen drama with just the right amount of edge. The show offers built-in drama with all the kids’ sicknesses, but they may or may not capitalize on that. They didn’t in the pilot and it actually worked in the show’s favor. Instead they showed kids who were confident, beating the system, bending the rules and using their sicknesses to their advantage. It was an enjoyable take on a hospital drama. I think they have found a nice niche with a good group of characters, irreverent tone and witty writing. It all left me eager for more.

“Red Band Society” debuts September 17 on Fox at 9/8c.


Here is a short introduction to each of the main characters:

Charlie: The coma kid. He misses the smell of pizza. And he farts in his comatose state.

Leo: Cancer patient who’s been in the hospital awhile. He brings the kids together.

Dash: Cystic fibrosis patient. He always knows where the party is.

Jordi: Cancer patient whose parents aren’t around. He’s determined to get the best treatment.

Emma: Hardworking overachiever with an eating disorder.

Kara: Mean-girl cheerleader with no friends and a biting wit.

Nurse Jackson: Tough nurse who is not one to cross. But she also looks out for the kids.

Dr. McAndrew: Pediatric surgeon who treats the patients.

Brittany: Nurse who is way too happy for Nurse Jackson.







Great Quotes from the Episode:

“Ow. You just gave me nip-lash. Are you man-strating?”

“If you get in trouble, how bad can it be? You’re already in a hospital.”

“That’s Rosemary’s Baby in 515B.”

“I gotta go meet with that newbie nurse. I’m this close to getting a sponge bath out of her.”

“You are seriously twisted.” “Not everyone appreciates it.”

“You know what happens to patients who cry wolf? We sell their organs for cash on the black market and split the money.”

“Hey, volunteer dude, shut up already. I’ve blown like five levels of Candy Crush since you’ve come in.”

“Your taste in music is so average, it hurts me. Scoop some vanilla ice cream on your white bread, will ya?”

“Stop with the word vomit.”

“This is really old, like 2013.”

“It’s hard to sleep over the sound of your thoughts.”

“Everyone thinks that when you go to a hospital, life stops. But it’s just the opposite – life starts.”

About the Author - Tonya Papanikolas

Tonya Papanikolas is a freelance journalist who loves covering entertainment and television. She spent more than 10 years as a broadcast news anchor and reporter. Now she does everything from hosting to writing. She especially loves writing TV articles and reviews for SpoilerTV.