The Knick

At times, The Knick may look like a horror show; its explicit, detailed depiction of operations in a fictional, 1900-era New York City hospital doesn’t downplay the bloody, gritty reality of pioneering surgical techniques at the turn of the century. But it is the modern style and substance of The Knick that have made an impact, with innovative camera work, precise recreations of the New York of a century ago and a score bursting with today’s musical sounds, all filtered through the creative vision of director/executive producer Steven Soderbergh. The story itself is bold: Clive Owen’s driven, drug-dependent star surgeon Dr. John Thackery nurses his own ravaging addiction while leading the Knickerbocker Hospital’s surgical staff and – at first – resisting the hire of Harvard-educated Dr. Algernon Edwards (Andre Holland) as the institution’s first black surgeon. As the first season unfolded, viewers saw tales which turned on race, class and gender issues, from Edwards secretly creating a hospital for the area’s black residents to efforts by the daughter of hospital’s biggest funder to develop better health care for the poor and the institution’s struggle to cope with a full-on race riot. For providing a historical drama that mirrors (and sheds new light on) so many modern problems, The Knick is honored with a Peabody award.