Strong Medicine is a dramatic television series developed by executive producers Whoopi Goldberg and Tammy Ader about the medical staff in the Rittenhouse Women's Health Center. In this first season, the show primarily looks at two female doctors from different backgrounds who are forced into working alongside each other learning to deal with each other while maintaining the quality of care their respective patients are used too. Along the way, they deal with many different issues in medicine including ethnical aspects, breast cancer, cell harvesting, teen pregnancy, and many others. The content gets very dramatic and watching the cast develop relationships with each other and the patients get pretty intense.

Before this review, I had not seen a single episode of Strong Medicine and after watching the pilot episode, I did not think much of it. The pilot episode seemed to be about two people from different worlds bickering over this and that, and the appeal was not there. I found very little appeal in this as the majority of the drama from the pilot episode came from their indifferences. After the pilot episode the tension between them was still there, but the stories started to focus on the patients and it made for some great drama. In a nutshell, I found the first season of Strong Medicine to be dramatic and entertaining. It provides some well written out stories, likeable characters, and enough drama and intensity to keep you wanting more.

The two main characters are Dr. Dana Stowe (Janine Turner) and Dr. Luisa Delgado (Rosa Blasi). Stowe had spent her entire medical career working in upscale Medical Facilities catering to the rich while Delgado ran a free clinical catering to those who can't afford medical care. In the pilot episode Delgado's free clinic is on the verge of being shutdown. With nowhere to turn, Delgado went to the Rittenhouse Hospital with the hope they would help financially support the free clinic. Stowe is sent to check out their operation and determines the clinic is run haphazardly and not worth the investment. Despite her recommendation not to support the free clinic, it is decided that supporting the free clinic will help boost Rittenhouse's public image. Stowe is forced to merge her practice with Delgado's free clinic into the Rittenhouse Women's Health Center.

The other characters include the lively receptionist Lana Hawkins (Jenifer Lewis) who is a more than able administrator and all around likeable person, the male nurse-midwife Peter Riggs (Joshua Coxx) who is willing to use unconventional means to care for a patient, Rittenhouse Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Jackson (Philip Casnoff) who at times comes off as the guy who cares more about finances and success than patients, but deep down he is concerned about patient's welling being, Dr. Nick Biancavilla (Brennan Elliott) who is the young intern and love interest for Dr. Stowe, Marc Delgado (Christopher Marquette) who is Dr. Delgado's young son and someone we see in the center of several episodes, and Dr. Lydia Emerson (Whoopi Goldberg) who is a well respected doctor and supporter of the Rittenhouse Women's Health Clinic. The supporting roles are all likable characters and they all provide acceptable compliments to balance out each other's personality. You should have no problem liking and getting to know each and everyone of them.

Some of the stories this first season deals with besides the indifferences between the approaches to medicine Stowe and Delgado take are the dramatic tales about patients. These are the stories that really give this show its dramatic edge. In "Pre-Existing Conditions" Dr. Stowe informs a couple their anticipated child from a surrogate birth has a rare disease and there is a high probability they will be born mentally disabled. The couple decides they no longer want the baby and they put it up for adoption. In "Misconception" Dr. Stowe takes legal action when she finds out a HIV positive mother is not giving her four year old son his anti-AIDS medication. When the boy is on his medication he becomes nearly comatose, and Dr. Stowe has to wrangle with her medical duty against ethical obligations towards what is best for the boy. In "Drug Interactions" Dr. Delgado has to deal with an overwhelming number of female drug addicts who want to get their tubes tied. Apparently someone offered two-hundred dollars cash for female drug addicts to successfully become sterile.

"Brainchild" is pretty powerful episode where the morality of cell harvesting is address. A woman is suffering from Parkinson's and wants more than anything to be cured. Dr. Stowe decides to try an experimental operation which involves taking the cells from a recently aborted fetus and inserting them into the patient's brain. With the help of Dr. Delgado, Dr. Stowe finds a young pregnant woman willing to give up her aborted fetus. The problem that arises is the mother who had the abortion wants to go into the fetus selling business, which is definitely not a pathway I would hope we ever take. In "Complications" a twelve year old girl is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease and the finger gets pointed at a grade school teacher.

The other episodes in this season deal with many ethical and dramatic medical issues, as well as interpersonal developments between the cast and the patients. With each episode I was greatly intrigued and left wanting more. The stories were all well developed and the characters very likable. In the end, after watching a couple of episodes of Strong Medicine, you will be hooked.

Episode Guide
1. Pilot
2. Pre-Existing Conditions
3. Misconception
4. Second Look
5. Performance Anxiety
6. Drug Interactions
7. Do No Harm
8. Miracle Cure
9. Dependency
10. BRCA1
11. BRCA2
12. Brainchild
13. Second Opinion
14. Side Effects
15. Blessed Events
16. Fix
17. Maternity
18. Complications
19. Child Care
20. Drugstore Cowgirl
21. Wednesday Night Fever
22. Mortality

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality looks decent and offers a viewable picture. There are traces of edge enhancement and a fair amount of compression artifacts, as well as some ghosting. Colors usually look good, but there are times when they are not represented well and bright colors appear too dark.

Audio:
The audio is given in English and Portuguese 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound. The sound quality is adequate and like most TV on DVD releases provides an audible track with dialogue that is easy to hear throughout each episode. There are subtitles in Spanish and Portuguese included, and support for English closed captioning.

Extras:
There are no extras included with this DVD release.

Final Thoughts:
Strong Medicine is a solid television drama and offers intense content that is both entertaining and gripping. The cast does a wonderful job at their performance and produce several characters you can't help but like. The issues they tackle in the episodes are developed well and leave you wanting more. For a good drama about the medical issues in a women's health clinic that expand beyond, Strong Medicine delivers. It comes recommended.