The story
The staff of Childrens Hospital, named after the late Dr Arthur Childrens, are vain, oblivious and hopelessly unprofessional, yet they treat every corridor exchange like the climax of a prestige medical drama. Played completely straight by an ensemble led by creator Rob Corddry, the show sends up the genre's solemn voiceovers, tangled romances and grand speeches in quick-fire episodes that lean happily into the absurd.
Why it matters
Childrens Hospital started as ten short webisodes on TheWB.com and was picked up by Adult Swim, which aired those original webisodes before commissioning new ones. Seven seasons, plus offshoots including Adult Swim's Newsreaders and Netflix's Medical Police, made it one of the more durable web-to-TV transfers of its era.
From web series to TV
Rob Corddry's parody began as ten roughly five-minute webisodes on TheWB.com, all released on 8 December 2008. Adult Swim picked it up over a competing Comedy Central offer, first airing the original webisodes from 11 July 2010 and then newly made episodes from August 2010.
Notable facts
- Comedy Central also bid for the show, but Corddry chose Adult Swim, which offered the short 15-minute slot he wanted. (source)
- The season two finale, a parody of ER's live episode "Ambush", was promoted as a live broadcast. (source)
- Newsreaders, a fictional 60 Minutes parody featured within some episodes, became its own Adult Swim series in January 2013. (source)
- Netflix premiered a ten-episode spin-off, Medical Police, in 2020. (source)