The Hospital Show is the 17th episode of the second season and the 39th overall.
Stanley suffers a heart attack and is taken to the hospital where Karen's friends make a bet as to whom she will seek comfort from.
Synopsis[]
Stanley is helping Grace decorate his study when he suffers a heart attack and is taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital. Will, Jack, Rosario and Grace all show their support as anxiously Karen waits with Stan in the ICU.
I'm not an orange!
The doctor tells Karen that Stanley is fine and only had acute angina. She also learns that her friends have made a bet as to whom she would "lean on for emotional support". Karen then devises a plan to punish her friends for taking advantage of Stanley's situation. Knowing that they are willing to do anything for her to win the bet, Karen starts asking her friends one by one ridiculous favors: Grace (who is terrified on needles) to donate blood with the help of an inexperienced nurse; Will to continue dating Neil, a self-absorbed guy whom he detests; Jack to cut up all his credit cards; and Rosario to clean the entire hospital.
After Karen reveals that she knew about the bet all along, her friends leave except for Grace who finally is able to comfort Karen, who is still rattled at the thought of losing Stan.
Cast[]
- Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
- Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
- Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
- Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)
Guest[]
- Shelley Morrison (Rosario Salazar)
- Dan Bucatinsky (Neil)
- Reggie Hayes (Dr. Osher)
- Jennifer Elise Cox (Nurse Trainee Pittman)
- Lyndsey Fields (Nurse #1)
- Jennie Fahn (Nurse #2)
Notes[]
- Debra Messing has stated that the outtakes from a scene (with Jennifer Elise Cox) in this episode are her favorite. In the blooper reel, Messing could not get through Cox's lines without breaking character several times.[1]
- Neil's first appearance. He appears again in the season 9 episode Three Wise Men where it is revealed that he is part-Argentine.
- We learn that Grace's blood type is AB- and that she is terrified of needles.
Cultural references[]
- When Grace asks the nurse at the reception to say "something hospital", she mentions "myocardial infarction", the technical term for a heart attack; "Lime Jell-O", as gelatin is commonly served in hospitals; and "that gown goes on the other way", referring to the johnny gown worn by patients where the slit is located at the back.
- Karen refers to Stan's black doctor as Dr. Huxtable, after the lead character of The Cosby Show played by Bill Cosby.
Media[]
Quotes[]
Ready to get Neiled? — Neil
| Rosario: | If Miss Karen falls apart, you all know who she's gonna come to to pick up the pieces. |
| Jack: | Um...I don't think she'll be coming to anyone who wears a Members Only jacket. |
Give it to me straight, Doc. Am I looking at a future filled with loneliness and memories of better days... or is Stan gonna die? — Karen
| Neil: | What would you like to do to Neil first? |
| Will: | Well, the first thing is a surprise, but the second thing is bury you. |
| Grace: | Maybe that's the blessing that's come out of all of this. You know, having Stan almost... you know... made you realize just how much love you've got for him. I guess that's the trick: to remember that love and to show it to him every day. |
| Karen: | You're right. Maybe I'll give him a little booby later. |
| Grace: | That sounds very romantic. |