Who you gonna call, Claire Danes or Marcia Gay Harden?
By DONNA FREYDKIN
ONE TO WATCH: Raza Jaffrey
Move over, Dr. House. Raza Jaffrey plays another obnoxiously arrogant doctor on the CBS hospital drama "Code Black."
A pivotal episode of his airs on Wednesday, and gets into his character's back-story. "His mother is brought into the ER. Neal's father is there from the UK and there are a lot of father/son altercations that happen. We get to see why he is the way he is," promises Jaffrey.
He most recently appeared on the fourth season of the acclaimed terrorism series "Homeland," opposite Claire Danes. Now, he's working with Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden.
So let's say, he's about to lose a limb in an explosion. Who would he want there in an emergency?
"I want them both there. Can I have that? One is playing a TV doctor and one is playing a superspy," he says.
Better yet: "Yeah, I'd call 911."
The series is based on the documentary by Ryan McGarry and strives hard for realism.
"When we first started work on the show, we shadowed real ER doctors. You stand back and watch the doctors work. It's a privileged place to be. You see extraordinary things. I can't be flippant about it. What's happening is life and death," says Jaffrey.
Thankfully, he has an iron stomach, so nothing he saw made him run for the nearest bathroom.
"I'm good with blood and guts. I'm such a geek for the medical stuff so it's fun. It's pretty true to life," he says.
His one take-away from being around real docs? How the job never ends for them.
"There were some cases I saw brought in where people lost their lives and watching doctors deal with family members -- and the end of the night, live with their decisions. It's their job. They don't make drama out of it," he says.
