Fox's 'The Resident' may not shake up the medical drama, but it can still raise a pulse

"The Resident," premiering Sunday on Fox before taking up its regular Monday post the following night, is a meat-and-potatoes hospital show in which mostly pretty people, mostly in lab coats, try to work or game or fight the system (and each other) in order to help their patients or help themselves. If it doesn't break any new ground in the genre, it efficiently delivers a familiar mix of ethical conundrums and colorful characters, with just enough blood and sex to seem "real" in TV terms. If it is unusual in any way, it's that it is perhaps more than usually frank about what hospitals do for money, and the likelihood that merely being admitted to one increases your chances of never leaving. "Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States after cancer and heart disease," says alliteratively named nurse Nicolette Nevin (Emily VanCamp, from "Revenge"). You will also learn that 1 in 7 hospital patients get an infection they didn't come in with. Still, the show is more in favor of hospitals than against them, and says so in just about those words.