I have to confess I’ve never really liked medical dramas. Didn’t care for St. Elsewhere or ER back in the day. Didn’t watch House and I don’t watch Chicago Med or any of the modern crop of medical dramas that are on now. It’s just not my thing. In fact, I think the only genre of primetime shows I like less than medical shows are lawyer shows, all of which seem awful.

So that’s why I missed it when the show New Amsterdam opened this week with a slow-mo montage of people reacting to an unseen tragedy over melancholy piano music. What was the tragedy? Well…

Tuesday's NBC medical drama "New Amsterdam" began with mass sadness among the characters. Did someone at the hospital die? Was there a mass shooting? Wife got it right: "Roe vs. Wade overturned?"

Then she said: "Isn't half the country pro-life?" Not in Hollywood! pic.twitter.com/ZLxnTN1fWE

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) November 4, 2022

David Harsanyi from the Federalist did a thread about this that struck me as pretty funny.

It was a tough day in Park Slope.

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 4, 2022

We are ACTING!

pic.twitter.com/Zb2LHLQP4e

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 4, 2022

The shot of the little girl was meant to imply she’d grow up in a Gilead-like dystopia but what I actually thought was how did she escape?

"… and put it on NPR"

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 4, 2022

David also makes a great point about the leaked decision.

Did none of these doctors hear about the Dobbs leak? There was wall-to-wall coverage on msnbc!

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 4, 2022

Also, they live in *New York* where abortion is legal into the 3rd+ trimester.

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 4, 2022

Needs an abortion?

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 4, 2022

TV shows are produced weeks or months in advance. I’m guessing when this was written and filmed there was general agreement that it would be a message Democrats would be reinforcing right through the election. And that meant airing this reminder one week before the election would have the show surfing a blue wave of voter discontent that would still be cresting.

But that’s not quite how things worked out. Instead, the showrunners and the Democratic Party calculated wrong. There’s a growing consensus that the abortion focus may have helped boost the party for a weeks but isn’t enough to change the fundamentals of a midterm election where gas and food prices are high and the president’s popularity is low. The NY Times published a story about it today.

In the first major election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the debate over abortion rights has not emerged as a political silver bullet for Democrats, who have largely abandoned hopes that a surge of voter outrage over the decision alone would lift them over obstacles they face in the midterms.

After spending hundreds of millions of campaign dollars on abortion messages — nearly $415 million on ads alone — Democrats have found the impact to be uneven. While support for abortion access is driving the party’s most loyal voters, it does not appear to be outweighing economic concerns for pivotal swing voters…

In bluer states where abortion remains a protected right, issues like gasoline prices, inflation and crime have already emerged as more forceful motivators. In places like New York, Nevada and New Mexico, where state law protects abortion, Democratic candidates for governor have tried to draw a contrast with their opponents. The Republicans have urged voters to all but ignore the issue, saying they have no plans to change current law…

“There’s no place in the country where abortion’s not on the ballot,” said Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. But, she acknowledged it’s not having the same impact everywhere. “In a state like Connecticut, where there may not be anything driving a contrast, issues around inflation could be more impactful because it may not feel as visceral.”

You know it’s bad when even NARAL admits their issue isn’t the top issue. And that’s also why Biden and Hillary and other leading Democrats are changing course in the final days of these midterms. Internal polls apparently show fear-mongering about Social Security and Medicare is more effective for Democrats than droning on about abortion.

If Republicans take power, Social Security and Medicare are on the chopping block. https://t.co/tTgeqxNYNU pic.twitter.com/mnVMWIyYdw

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 4, 2022

As I was saying, after you’ve seen a few episodes of these shows, the tropes all become the same. There’s always an unexpected love story that crops up every season. There’s always a crusading doctor or nurse who is trying to save the life of some patient by doing something unethical/illegal and risking their career. But it always works out in the end. The wild diagnosis almost always pays off. The hospital exec always backs up the doctor who seemed in danger of being fired. But it’s not like that in real life as Democrats are about to find out.