The Resident still scores the occasional hit, even if it does so clumsily.

Harrowing medical drama about hospital politics, ethics.

But what we have here is really two shows in one. There's that dark, fascinating portrait of the modern hospital. And then there's the much more standard, dispiritingly regular drama about a cool doctor with eleven o'clock shadow.

If all broadcast TV shows are going to be cops, law or medicine, it helps that the new "The Resident"... is, on the basis of its first show, pretty good, with the supporting cast outshining the ostensible star, played by Matt Czuchry.

If it doesn't break any new ground in the genre, it efficiently delivers a familiar mix of ethical conundrums and colorful characters, with just enough blood and sex to seem "real" in TV terms.

The show doesn't totally abandon being aspirational, while simultaneously trying to carve out enough space to distinguish it from other white-coated network fare.

If you need to compare it to anything, then compare it to the late ER or the lesser known hit Strong Medicine, but this is not a Grey's Anatomy, nor a The Good Doctor, and that's OK.

Matt Czuchry's considerable charisma, which served him well on Gilmore Girls and The Good Wife, isn't entirely extinguished by the arrogant and self-righteous vibes generated by his new persona.

A familiar medical show filled with broad strokes and broad characters that might - like "The Orville" and "9-1-1" - bring some viewers to the party too.

Perhaps "The Resident" will click with folks disenchanted with medical care. This show's mix of good acting, melodramatic writing and hospital horror could serve that huge audience.

There's a lot to love about the medical drama. It puts a new spin on the genre by painting veteran doctors as sleazy, power hungry people - a role usually reserved for hospital administration in this kind of show.