Fox’s new TV series Red Band Society is half teen comedy, half medical drama show. Based upon the Catalan series Polseres Vermelles, the plot revolves around a group of teenagers living together as patients in a hospital’s pediatric ward. It promises not to make you cry, too much. Dark humor should prevail. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television is producing the show and the script is provided by Boardwalk Empire‘s Margaret Nagel.
On Red Band Society, which premieres September 17 at 9/8c, Oscar award winning actress Octavia Spencer (The Help) plays Nurse Jackson (nicknamed by a few of the teen patients as “Scary Bitch”). Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters) plays Dr. Jack McAndrew. But they’re not a heavy presence on the show. The kids are central to the story while the adults “help them navigate the real world because a lot of times these kids’ parents can’t be there with them,” said Octavia Spencer. The kids’ illness, though always present, are mostly pushed to the background. Red Band Society is about the patients’ adolescence and the teen angst they’re going through just like other “normal” kids who aren’t sick.
