As my mother would say, Oh, piffle-doodle

Okay, I watched Mental last night. I was kind of curious. I mean, it really couldn’t be as clueless as the title implied. I mean, people in stressful occupations sometimes have jargon that covers the brutality of their daily lives. Cops have been known to use the term “floater.” Disrespectful, sure. But gallows humor has its purpose. So I thought maybe the use of “mental” was something along those lines for people who work in the psychiatric field.

I’m thinking maybe not. Any relation this show has to real people in the mental health profession is about as relevant as 50s safety movies that recommended hiding under a table in the event of a nuclear attack. The main plot line involves the new “maverick” (and I’m really starting to hate that word) clinic head recommending that a schizophrenic go off his meds and just “see what happens.” Umm. Isn’t a big problem with schizophrenics trying to get them to stay on their meds? So that they don’t have naked psychotic breaks in a hospital ward and threaten people with folding chairs? Oh, right. He’s a maverick. They do things different. Seriously, was this show produced by Tom Cruise?

And of course, the naked psychotic man gives Dr. Maverick a chance to get his kit off and show off that he ain’t just a pretty face. He’s also a hot bod. Well, thank god. I know that’s always the first thing I look for in good psychiatric care. [And by the way, note to whoever came up with this steaming pile of a show: Your character is a flaming rip off of Greg House, who is on your own network. House is a flaming rip off of Sherlock Holmes. That's a rip off of a rip off, if you're counting.]

Really, I’m as distrustful of the medical establishment, Dr. Feelgood, here’s a pill, pharmaceutical intervention mainstream as anybody. But this was the most errant nonsense that I’ve ever seen on a medical program. As far as the true to life details of mental illness, this show made The Bob Newhart Show look like reality TV.