With Pulse, Netflix is ​​venturing into the medical procedural genre that has always been a staple of mainstream television broadcasts.
The series comes from debutant creator Zoe Robyn (pictured, left), who serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside veteran Carlton Cuse (pictured, center), known for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Locke & Key. Justina Machado (photo, right), lead actress in Prime Video's The Horror of Dolores Roach, is the first regular actress in the series, the first two episodes of which are directed and produced by Kate Dennis.
Like that other procedural medical drama, the long-running Grey's Anatomy, Pulse will mix medical cases and office romances. While the staff at Miami's busiest Level 1 Trauma Center handles medical emergencies, young ER doctor Dani Simms is unexpectedly promoted to chief of resident amid the fallout from her own provocative romantic relationship.
Machado plays Natalie Cruz, a brilliant and politically savvy physician who oversees both administration and medicine in her role as Chair of Surgery and Emergency Medicine.
Bradley Gardner, Emma Forman and Michael Klick also produce the series, which goes into production in Albuquerque in March.
While Netflix introduced binging to television viewing with its original series featuring heavily sterilized storylines, the streamer has tried to expand the reach of its offerings by introducing procedural series, including the legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer, which started at CBS. It has also had great success with acquired procedural series such as Grey's Anatomy, NCIS and Suits.
This marks the first series creation and first time as executive producer and showrunner for up-and-coming television writer Robyn, who began her career as a writer on CBS' Hawaii Five-0 in 2017, rising to co-producer before moving to another CBS/CBS Studios procedural series, The Equalizer, where she has worked since 2020, most recently as a producer.
The green light for Pulse comes after Robyn and Cuse teamed up with a writers' room to write scripts last year.
Cuse co-wrote and produced Apple TV+'s limited series Five Days at Memorial about Hurricane Katrina with John Ridley. Previously, he was co-creator and showrunner of the first two seasons of Prime Video's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. His extensive showrunner/co-showrunner credits also include Locke & Key for Netflix, Bates Motel for A&E, The Strain for FX, Lost for ABC and Nash Bridges for CBS.
Machado recently starred in the Amazon/Blumhouse series The Horror of Dolores Roach, based on the popular Spotify podcast of the same name. She previously starred in Netflix/Pop's critically acclaimed One Day at a Time (2017) reboot and recently guest-starred in NBC's comedy series Lopez vs. Lopez.
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