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Spielberg Plans ‘Docudrama’ at Israeli Hospital
‘Survivor’ meets ‘E.R.’ meets Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s Shaare Tzedek Medical Center—one of the world’s busiest hospitals—normally treats secular and Haredi Jews, Israeli-Arabs and West Bank Palestinians, and Jewish settlers. But even emergency heart surgery is a less formidable challenge than the one the hospital will assume in 2011: satisfying America’s insatiable desire for quality reality television. Steven Spielberg and Everybody Loves Raymond producer Phil Rosenthal hope to use Shaare Tzedek as the setting for a new American “docudrama” in which U.S. doctors will be thrust into this fraught, high-paced setting, where—believe it or not, kids—Arabs and Jews somehow work together. According to the series’ Israeli producer, the show will capture the contrast between the “innocent [American] outsiders” and their more experienced, native counterparts. This might not be the only project Rosenthal attempts in Israel, either; he’s already reportedly talking to local production companies about creating a sitcom for Israeli television. Has anyone told him that the doctor series might, for its Israeli audience, already fit the bill?
Ben-Gurion
Cheap Eats
An entrepreneur opened a Jewish-themed restaurant in Lviv, Ukraine. Chopped liver is on the menu, but not its price—diners get to haggle over it.
Grace Notes
Orthodox klezmer and bluegrass virtuoso Andy Statman and evangelical country star Ricky Skaggs cross genres and faiths to form a mighty duo
Goodbye to All That
For generations, the Jews of Caracas had idyllic weather, prosperity, and vibrant communal organizations. Things have changed under Hugo Chávez.
