Entertainment

Doc workers

AFTER watching the premiere of “Com bat Hospital” — premiering Tuesday on ABC — I can’t decide if it’s more like an updated version of “M*A*S*H” or just a military-themed episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

In fact, it’s a little of both.

Set in a multinational military hospital (American, Canadian, British) in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2006, “Combat Hospital” has the look, feel and pacing of an old “M*A*S*H” episode — minus the humor and preachiness — and the soapy elements of fellow ABC hospital drama “Grey’s Anatomy” (a smarmy British doctor, nervous newbies and the no-nonsense unit chief — with the heart of gold, of course).

But these aren’t necessarily drawbacks. This is an episodic TV drama, after all.

“Combat Hospital” opens with the helicoptered-in arrival at the Kandahar military hospital of wet-behind-the-ears docs Rebecca Gordon (Michelle Borth) and Bobby Trang (Terry Chen), a surgeon and trauma specialist, respectively. She’s being stalked via cell phone by her ex-fiancee — and worries that she’s pregnant — while he vapor-locks during his first trauma crisis (of course he’s utterly brilliant and fearless the second time around).

Their commanding officer is a fellow physician, Col. Marks (Elias Koteas), who takes a stern-yet-fatherly approach to his new charges while calmly shooting a snake in the OR and dealing with the political and military implications of treating a wounded Taliban leader.

There’s also wannabe camp romeo Dr. Simon Hill (Luke Mably), a British neurosurgeon who actually sips tea during rounds; nursing chief Will Royal (Arnold Pinnock); Dr. Grace Pedersen (Deborah Kara Unger), the camp’s Aussie psychiatrist; and Kelly (Gord Rand) a version of “M*A*S*H” go-to-guy Radar O’Reilly who’s always one step ahead of his boss.

“Combat Hospital” doesn’t gloss over the ugliness of war — there’s blood and gore, but nothing too graphic — but neither does it take a political stance.

And that’s refreshing.