Jerusalem's bustling Sha'are Tzedek Hospital is set to play host to a new American reality TV show being put together by Steven Spielberg and Phil Rosenthal, creator of the popular television series Everybody Loves Raymond.
The new show, which will premier in 2011 on the Sundance Channel, will thrust a small group of American doctors into the fast-paced, culturally and religiously diverse and often harrowing world of a major Israeli hospital.
Sha'are Tzedek is one of Jerusalem's busiest hospitals, and treats a wide spectrum of patients, from Orthodox Jews to secular Israelis to Muslim Arabs. It's doctors and nurses also hail from the same broad societal spectrum.
Things get especially busy any time there is a terrorist attack nearby. During the height of the most recent Palestinian terrorist war, Sha'are Tzedek was the first destination for victims of suicide bombings in the capital.
During a recent visit to Israeli, Rosenthal told The Jerusalem Post that Spielberg had wanted to do a television series based in Israel for some time, but that finding the right angle had taken some time.