Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? It's an age-old chicken and the egg question of which came first and which then followed. When it comes to primetime television, with images beamed into the living rooms and bedrooms of nearly every household in this country  -- it might be more the subject of distortion for the sake of sensationalism than imitation.

Today, the Academy of Television Arts&Science announced this year's 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards nominees for drama series that include two weekly medical shows, House and Grey's Anatomy. Scrubs is nominated in the comedy series category.

Which got me to thinking about the impact, if there is one, on the viewer's idea about the medical community.

While there might be a drug-addicted doctor out there with such a genius IQ that he is supported by a medical team that makes allowances for the anti-social behavior his addiction creates, I am certain in real life the medical community does a better job of self-policing itself than they do in regard to House.

When it comes to watching the social drama of sex, introspective angst and egos run rampant on Grey's Anatomy, I suppose when you put any group of people together it's only a matter of time before some of them become entrenched in a mobius strip of narcissism, but still I don't believe this is a realistic representation in the life of an intern.  

At least Scrubs is just silly and does not attempt to seriously portray itself as anything other than a light-hearted spoof. But when it comes to shows written with an intent for dramatic real life settings, I wonder if the images we are exposed to on a regular basis can have an influence on perception and can alter attitude -- especially if you are not critically analyzing what you are watching -- and for the sake of entertainment, who does that?  Do you think these medical shows, on a subconscious level, affect the viewer's perception of the medical community?