— "Just the facts, ma’am." If docuseries lived by Joe Friday’s "Dragnet" mantra, they would be 10 minutes long. Television documentaries require a delicate balance of information and emotional manipulation, artfully blended so you don’t notice that you’ve sat still for a half-hour, digesting something it would have taken you five minutes to read.
This phenomenon becomes apparent while streaming "Diagnosis" on Netflix. Adapted from a long-running New York Times column by Yale University School of Medicine professor Dr. Lisa Sanders, it’s steeped in the crowd-sourcing ethos of the internet age.
As Sanders explains, in practicing medicine, many mysteries abound. Practitioners don’t always have easy solutions and, like good detectives, they’re often aided by comparing notes with the other Sherlock Holmeses of the stethoscope set. What might be mystifying to one doctor could seem common to another.
On the page, Sanders tends to explain medical mysteries and the search for cures in a series of paragraphs. On the screen, "Diagnosis" takes many heart-tugging detours.
In the first segment, we meet our patient, Angel, an energetic 23-year-old Las Vegas native who has been plagued by excruciating pains and harrowing symptoms since high school. She’s been in the hospital more times than she can count.
In her brisk efficiency, Sanders explains that standard medical practitioners are trained to prevent patients from dying and that they do a pretty good job at that task. But for our young patient, they offer no real answers as to why she landed in the ER in the first place. They send her home with a staggering bill and move on to the next emergency.
We not only meet Angel, but also her boyfriend, an athlete easily given to tears, as well as her parents, seething from decades of frustration and quick to lash out at her as well as at the medical profession. Her dad is "colorful," in a way that reminded me of Harry Dean Stanton in "Repo Man."
After Sanders writes up her history, Angel is confronted with hundreds of theories from all over the world, from medical experts, amateur sleuths and patients suffering similar symptoms. She’s amazed that none of the many doctors she had consulted had ever demonstrated as much understanding or empathy as all of these strangers, some from as far away as Cambodia.
Angel’s interaction with international medicine also confronts her with the peculiarities of the American model. Facing imminent bankruptcy from her many bills, she is staggered when Italian doctors offered to run a battery of tests free of charge.
It would spoil things to reveal their diagnosis. But I can tell you it doesn’t come before the 50-minute mark. The reader in me thinks this show should run a half-hour, tops. But some may enjoy meandering through its gamut of emotions.
— Nobody mines the anxieties of the straight white dad type quite like comic Jim Gaffigan. His stand-up special "Quality Time" begins streaming on Amazon Prime today. He kicks off by congratulating himself on "graduating" in shirt size from XL to 2XL. He dreads 3XL, 1because to him, its triple X would brand him as "obscenely obese."
— Hulu streams "The Amazing Johnathan Documentary," profiling an alternative comedian/magician.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Tori and Jennie push the reboot on "BH90210" (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
— John Quinones hosts "What Would You Do?" (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
— "Great Performances" (9 p.m., PBS, r, TV-PG, check local listings) presents a U.K. adaptation of "The Sound of Music."
— Tenants are terrorized on "Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests" (9 p.m., Travel).
— Frank’s old partner spills secrets on "Blue Bloods" (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
— Track stars (Mariel Hemingway and athlete Patrice Donnelly) fall in love while pursuing individual milestones in the 1982 sports drama "Personal Best" (10:15 p.m., Showtime), written, produced and directed by Robert Towne ("Chinatown").
SERIES NOTES
A mob wedding on "Hawaii Five-0" (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … Obstacles galore on "American Ninja Warrior" (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … Greg’s baby fever on "American Housewife" (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14) … Dean Cain hosts "Masters of Illusion" (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Book promotion on "Fresh Off the Boat" (8:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Sharp objects on "The Big Stage" (8:30 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG).
Behind bars on "Magnum PI" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … A sweet and savory challenge on "MasterChef" (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … Taye Diggs hosts "Hypnotize Me" (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … "Dateline" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … "20/20" (10 p.m., ABC, r).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Hasan Minhaj, actress Vanessa Kirby and Sam Fender on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Mark Hamill, Bradley Whitford and Lewis Capaldi appear on "The Late Late Show With James Corden" (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
