Code Black is the latest in a lineage of televised medical dramas that transport audiences from the living room to the hospital. Code Black's setting is Angels Memorial hospital located in Los Angeles, California, but if you're looking for a doctor in L.A., you won't find them in Angels Memorial. In fact, you're not going to find Angels Memorial at all because it isn't real. It's now one of the many fictional hospitals that hold stories of triumph, failure, and the doctors that witness all of it firsthand. What other beloved fictional television hospitals will Code Black be joining in the pantheon of make-believe medical facilities?
Television shows seem to avoid being set in real hospitals (possibly because people wouldn't want to go to hospitals where all the doctors are portrayed as being very busy making eyes at each other), and so they create their own hospitals that they can portray however they want. These hospitals range from the serious workplace environments to the steamy romance-driven hallways where doctors yearn for each other from afar, as well as the goofy menagerie of costumes and hijinks that medical comedies sometimes showcase. Here are some of the most-loved fictional hospitals that Code Black will be joining:
County General
ER is the mother of all modern medical dramas, primarily because it was still on air when most modern medical dramas premiered. ER ran for a staggering 15 seasons from 1994 to 2009, and every episode took place in the fictional County General hospital. County General was supposedly located in Chicago, and yet it suffered a level of destruction that would be better suited for a war-zone, ranging from biochemical outbreaks to helicopter crashes, and even an episode where a former patient came to the hospital in a stolen tank. While County General may not have been an easygoing facility, it clealy had doctors that were able to handle anything. It was loosely based on Cook County Hospital in Chicago, which shut its doors in 2002.
Seattle Grace Hospital / Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital / Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital
Easily the winner of "Fictional Hospital That Has Gone Through The Most Name Changes" award, the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital is home to the doctors of Grey's Anatomy. Going at 12 seasons strong, Grey Sloan Memorial is giving County General a run for its money by attempting to be the hospital with the longest running show. Meredith Grey, the titular protagonist of Grey's Anatomy, has been present for the entirety of the show as she worked her way up from being an intern who accidentally had a one-night stand with an attending neurosurgeon to become Chief of General Surgery and beyond. The hospital itself has changed with her, as doctors have died and attacks have occurred, but Grey Sloan Memorial (miraculously) still stands.
Sacred Heart Hospital
Scrubs, unlike the other hospitals on this list, was a comedy show. That means the proceedings at Sacred Heart Hospital, located in the fictional city of San DiFrangeles, California, could get wacky. Patients would still die, and doctors would still hook up, but there were far less helicopter crashes and instances of gun violence. Instead, sometimes there would be puppets and the doctors would occasionally break out into song and give sarcastic life advice. Frankly, if more hospitals could have the sense of fun that Sacred Heart had, maybe going to the hospital wouldn't be such a consistently miserable experience.
Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital
The Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital of House, M.D. is a very unique case in fictional hospitals. Many fictional hospitals are inspired by real hospitals that are then adapted and morphed into the fictional TV hospitals that fans come to know and love. The fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital was meant to be a part of the real Princeton's fictional medical school. However, in 2012 the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro opened. This means that a fictional hospital existed before a corresponding real hospital was built. There is no indication that Hugh Laurie's portrayal as a misanthropic medical expert inspired the state of New Jersey to build a new hospital in Plainsboro, but there's no indication that they weren't inspired by the FOX medical drama, either.
Image: Cliff Lipson/CBS; Giphy (4)
