RED BAND SOCIETY: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this drama series about a group of seriously ill teenagers living in a hospital.
High school cheerleader Kara Souders falls unconscious during practice and is taken to Ocean Park Hospital. Among the staff at Ocean Park are Nurse Jackson, known for being mean and blunt with those around her. She catches two terminally-ill teenage patients, Leo Roth and Dash Hosney, in a medical supply closet smoking a supply of medical marijuana, and she takes them back to their designated room. The narrator, Charlie, is a boy in a coma who is somehow is able to communicate to the audience. He notes that he is able to hear everything around him but is unable to respond, much to his frustration. Nurse Jackson drops Leo and Dash off at their schooling session, and tells Leo that he is her “investment” and wants him to make better decisions. Charlie notes that children living in hospitals often form friendships that would be unlikely to arise in other situations. He turns his attentions to Emma Chota, a teenage girl with a crippling eating disorder; she has few friends and is introverted, contrasted with Leo and his wide circle of friends at the hospital. At one time the two of them had a romantic relationship, but they broke up and now constantly trade insults with each other.
Jordi Palacios, a teenager suffering from cancer in his leg, checks himself into the hospital and tricks his way into securing an appointment with Dr. Jack McAndrew. He believed that earning an appointment in a legitimate manner would have taken so long that his cancer would spread to his entire body and killed him. He produces his file and notes that he was sent to live with his cousins in Mexico after his mother died. Dr. McAndrew is impressed by Jordi’s courage but refuses treatment, believing that he can be cared for by his regular doctors, although Jordi is still determined to get treated by him. Kara is placed in the same room as Charlie and starts smoking around him, even blowing smoke into his face. Brittany, a young nurse, asks Nurse Jackson for an hour off to spend time with her boyfriend on his birthday, but Nurse Jackson bluntly refuses. Dr. McAndrew decides to treat Jordi after all, and leaves him in the care of Nurse Jackson for the time being.
Kara activates Charlie’s help buzzer and Nurse Jackson checks to see if he is awake. He is not, and she yells at Kara for deceiving the hospital staff and takes her phone away. Dr. McAndrew plans to put Jordi in the same room as Leo, although Leo is very much opposed to the idea. The two of them are left alone and Jordi tells Leo about the cancer and the imminent amputation of his leg, believing that Leo doesn’t understand his plight. Leo reveals that his own leg was amputated due to his own condition. Jordi tries to acclimate to being in a wheelchair as Leo has, and in private asks him about what he has to look forward to with his leg. Leo introduces Jordi to Dash and the three of them visit Ruben Garcia, a hypochondriac “rich hippie” living in the hospital who is catered to since he is to leave his vast fortune to the hospital when he dies. He recommends that they throw a big party for Jordi before he loses his leg. Dash tricks Brittany into giving him a sponge-bath, and tries to get her to have sex with him although she refuses outright.
Eventually Kara finds Emma’s room and offers to take some of her food, and Emma accepts. They criticize each other, although seem to be somewhat friendly as well. Kara enters a service elevator with Jordi and Leo, and they invite her to their party. She refuses the invitation and gets into an argument with Leo when he claims that she’s already “peaked.” Jordi meets Emma and immediately hits it off with her, frustrating Leo somewhat. The water girl for Kara’s cheerleading team visits Kara in the hospital; Kara is upset with her because she believes the water girl is using this situation as a means to start a relationship with her. The water girl admits that no one else on her squad wanted to see Kara and she felt sorry for her. She leaves and Kara is upset by the news that she is hated by her classmates. She falls unconscious again and Nurse Jackson immediately responds and gets her medical attention. While unconscious she somehow encounters a fully-conscious Charlie existing in an ethereal version of the hospital. She is surprised to learn that he can perceive what is happening around him, and he makes two requests of her: to order him pizza hoping that the smell will awaken him, and to tell his father that “it wasn’t his fault.” Kara awakens when the doctors restart her heart.
Dash, Leo, and Jordi briefly acquire the hospital chauffeur’s car and use it to drive to a convenience store to get alcohol for their party. The store clerk refuses at first, but Jordi manages to convince him otherwise. They are caught pulling in to the hospital with the beer in tow, but Dash fakes having symptoms from his cystic fibrosis to allay suspicions. They lose possession of the alcohol and Nurse Jackson quickly finds out about their scheme. Kara’s parents arrive and learn that her heart is enlarged due to a viral infection and is beginning to fail. She discovers that she will require a heart transplant to survive, which is problematic due to a shortage of available hearts and the various drugs in her system, putting her at the bottom of the waiting list for new hearts. Kara is deeply affected by this news. Later she asks a volunteer coming in to see Charlie about his parents; they are divorced and his father lost visitation rights since he was with Charlie during the accident that put him in a coma. It turns out that the volunteer is secretly Charlie’s father, who becomes deeply concerned when Kara discusses her encounter with Charlie during her blackout. She tells him, but only after getting him to secure beer for the party, which she has decided to attend. Emma decides to attend as well, feeling threatened by Kara’s arrival. Ruben sets up chairs and lights on the roof for the kids; he, Nurse Jackson, and Dr. McAndrew are all aware of the party but decide to permit it for a short time.
As the party winds down, Leo gives each of the other kids one of his red bracelets, each one given to him for his various admittances to the hospital. They feel a sense of camaraderie with each other. Later Emma visits Jordi in his room, and she discovers that her red band fell off, asking Jordi not to tell Leo. They slow-dance together and Leo observes them. He goes to speak to Charlie, giving him a red band as well. He claims that Charlie spoke to him while he was under anesthesia during his surgery and gave him advice about “surviving” which Leo took to heart. Neither Leo nor Jordi can sleep that night as Leo follows up on his advice to Jordi earlier, noting that while the physical pain of the loss of his leg can be dulled, the true difficulty will be dealing with its absence on a psychological level. Kara fulfills Charlie’s request for pizza and orders a large number of pies, hoping that one of them will be able to rouse him from his coma. Jordi is wheeled into surgery but stops briefly to give Emma his new red band. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: FOX
- DATE: 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:45
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 116230
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical
- SERIES RUN: FOX - TV series, 2014-2015
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Sergio Aguero … Executive Producer
- Darryl Frank … Executive Producer
- Justin Falvey … Executive Producer
- Steven Spielberg … Executive Producer
- Margaret Nagle … Executive Producer, Developed by, Writer
- Carlos Fernandez … Co-Executive Producer
- Julio Fernandez … Co-Executive Producer
- Alonso Gomez-Rejon … Co-Executive Producer, Director
- James Kleverweis … Producer
- Tom Flores … Associate Producer
- Albert Espinoza … Based on the TV3-Televiso de Catalunya television series “Polseres Vermeles” created by
- Pau Freixas … Based on the TV3-Televiso de Catalunya television series “Polseres Vermeles” created by
- Ludwig Göransson … Music by
- Octavia Spencer … Cast, Nurse Jackson
- Dave Annable … Cast, Dr. Jack McAndrew
- Astro (See also: Brian Bradley) … Cast, Dash Hosney
- Ciara Bravo … Cast, Emma Chota
- Griffin Gluck … Cast, Charlie
- Zoe Levin … Cast, Kara Souders
- Rebecca Rittenhouse … Cast, Nurse Brittany Dobler
- Charlie Rowe … Cast, Leo Roth
- Nolan Sotillo … Cast, Jordi Palacios
- Belita Moreno … Cast, Dr. Holtzman
- Thomas Ian Nicholas … Cast, Nick Hutchison
- Wilson Cruz … Cast, Kenji Gomez-Rejon
- Jessie Ennis … Cast, Water Girl
- Mike Pniewski … Cast, Dr. Dick
- Griffin Dunne … Cast, Ruben Garcia
- Elias Madera … Cast, Alex
- Andrea Powell … Cast, Andrea Souders
- Tom Ohmer … Cast, Henry Souders
- Phil Armijo … Cast, J.J.
- Eyas Younis … Cast, Cashier
- Sheldon Frett … Cast, Pizza Delivery Man
- Cassie Lee Minick … Cast, Charlie's Mom
- John Paul Marston … Cast, Drug Rep
- Joshua Ross Cohen … Cast, Manstrating Cheerleader
- Lindsey Moser … Cast, ER Admitting Nurse
- Dean Elias … Cast, Male Cheerleader
- Rachel Varela … Cast, Girl Cheerleader
- Dana Gourrier … Cast