A Jerusalem hospital will star in a U.S. reality television show by Steven Spielberg and Phil Rosenthal premiering in 2011.
The show features Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek hospital and is to air on the Sundance Channel, The Jerusalem Post said.
The show will thrust a group of American doctors into the heart of one of Jerusalem’s busiest hospitals, treating a wide spectrum of patients from Orthodox and secular Jews to Muslim and Christian Arabs, the Post said.
Rosenthal, the creator of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and his wife visited the hospital this week. He said discussions are under way with an Israeli team in charge of production for the show, the newspaper said.
Rosenthal told the paper Spielberg has wanted to do a television series based in Israel for some time.
“Steven Spielberg had asked me to think about a series set in Israel. I guess if he called me he was thinking about a comedy. But I honestly couldn’t think of anything that would attract an American audience with the subject being Israel,” Rosenthal said.
Eventually, he said he came up with the reality show concept.
“It’s kind of a fascinating situation where you have Arab doctors working next to Jewish doctors, patients of all kinds as well, and you have to check your religion at the door,” he told the paper.
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