Mercy Street

There wasn't much on TV last night and I wasn't in the mood to watch the Democratic Debates. Seriously, there's nobody to vote for this year. Politics aside, I ended up watching the new 6 part mini-series on PBS: Mercy Street. A civil war drama but unlike so many others we've seen. There are no bloody battles, no marches and no dramatized political fights over states' rights. Some of the same economic, racial and gender-based tensions still come to a head,(you can't get away from that) but being PBS, it's pretty much historically accurate.

Loosely based on accounts from nurses and doctors, the six-part series follows volunteer hospital staff, contraband slaves and freemen as they collide under the roof of the Mansion House, a makeshift hospital in the Union-occupied city of Alexandria, Va. ts portrayal of the collision of the North and South focuses on two characters: a nurse from New England who strongly opposes slavery and a privileged Confederate belle whose family's hotel is requisitioned as a military hospital.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (from the American version of "The Returned" on A&E) and newcomer Hannah James play the women. Josh Radnor of the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" is Dr. Jed Foster, a doctor for hire at the hospital, while McKinley Belcher is Samuel Diggs, a free black laborer who keeps his knowledge of medicine hidden from his employers. "Mercy Street" has the prestigious look of other PBS dramas in the highbrow prime-time soap vein, and expertly explores the most painful chapter of America's history with real depth Without doing too many spoilers, I urge you to watch it.