{ "id": "epq2r5xamn", "slug": "five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series", "title": "Five Days at Memorial (2022 TV series)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": 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"api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.true_crime_docuseries", "label": "True crime and investigative docuseries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.true_crime_docuseries" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Five Days at Memorial is an eight-episode Apple TV+ limited series (2022) by John Ridley and Carlton Cuse, adapted from Sheri Fink's book about Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina, starring Vera Farmiga and Cherry Jones.", "snippet": "Five Days at Memorial is an eight-episode Apple TV+ limited series (2022) by John Ridley and Carlton Cuse, adapted from Sheri Fink's book about Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina, starring Vera Farmiga and Cherry Jones.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.true_crime_docuseries.yr-2006-2022", "markdown": "# Five Days at Memorial (2022 TV series)\n\n**Five Days at Memorial** is an American limited drama series that premiered on Apple TV+ on August 12, 2022, dramatizing the ordeal of staff and patients at [Memorial Medical Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/memorial-medical-center) in New Orleans during the five days after [Hurricane Katrina](https://www.edgepedia.org/hurricane-katrina) made landfall on August 29, 2005[1](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/five-days-at-memorial//) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/five-days-memorial). It was created by [John Ridley](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-ridley) and Carlton Cuse and adapted from Sheri Fink's 2013 nonfiction book *Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital*, itself an expansion of her Pulitzer Prize-winning 2009 investigation in The New York Times Magazine[1](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/five-days-at-memorial//) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/five-days-memorial).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | Eight-episode limited series on Apple TV+, rated TV-MA; premiered August 12, 2022[1](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/five-days-at-memorial//) |\n| Creators | John Ridley (Academy Award winner for *12 Years a Slave*) and Carlton Cuse (Emmy winner for *Lost*), showrunners, writers, and executive producers; Ridley also directed[3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/08/apple-lands-five-days-at-memorial-from-academy-award-winner-john-ridley-and-emmy-award-winner-carlton-cuse/) |\n| Source | Sheri Fink's 2013 book, an expansion of her Pulitzer-winning 2009 New York Times Magazine article; Fink served as a producer[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/five-days-memorial) • [3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/08/apple-lands-five-days-at-memorial-from-academy-award-winner-john-ridley-and-emmy-award-winner-carlton-cuse/) |\n| Lead cast | Vera Farmiga as Dr. Anna Pou, Cherry Jones as incident commander Susan Mulderick, with Cornelius Smith Jr., Adepero Oduye, Julie Ann Emery, and Robert Pine[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3283594/) • [5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama) |\n| Structure | The first five episodes cover one day each; the final three follow the investigation into the 45 deaths at the hospital[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/five-days-at-memorial-tv-review-2022) |\n| Reception | Metascore 74 (generally favorable); 85% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating; 7.7/10 on IMDb; one Primetime Emmy win[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/five-days-at-memorial/critic-reviews/?season=season-1) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3283594/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Subject matter\n\nThe series reconstructs events at Memorial Medical Center, a hospital built below sea level in the New Orleans basin, after Hurricane Katrina broke the levees, flooding the city and cutting the hospital off from electricity and outside aid[8](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/television/five-days-at-memorial-08-29-22). Roughly 600 staff and more than 200 patients, along with their loved ones, were stranded at the hospital during and immediately after the storm[9](https://academic.oup.com/annalsats/article-abstract/11/6/1000/8432210). With no power, dwindling fresh water, dying batteries, and sweltering heat, staff triaged rescue efforts and placed the most severely ill patients last for evacuation[8](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/television/five-days-at-memorial-08-29-22) • [10](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/five-days-at-memorial).\n\nThe central ethical crisis concerns the injections given to critically ill patients. According to Fink's book, a triage process led to the controversial decision to inject critically ill patients with fatal doses of morphine to refocus attention on those with a chance of surviving; 45 bodies were recovered from the hospital, nine of which were deemed suspected victims of euthanasia[11](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780307718969). In the series, the morphine is administered by Dr. Anna Pou, played by [Vera Farmiga](https://www.edgepedia.org/vera-farmiga)[5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama). Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry were charged with murder; a grand jury declined to indict Pou, while charges against the nurses were dropped after they agreed to testify before the grand jury[11](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780307718969) • [17](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jul-25-na-doc25-story.html).\n\n### Structure and episodes\n\nThe eight episodes divide into two movements. The first five episodes play out with one day per episode, tracing the deteriorating conditions as increasingly impossible decisions had to be made; the final three episodes shift to the aftermath, following investigators seeking to establish what happened and who was responsible for the 45 deaths[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/five-days-at-memorial-tv-review-2022). The narrative is interspersed with archival news footage[5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama). The finale is titled \"The Reckoning\"[16](https://www.flicks.co.uk/tv/five-days-at-memorial-limited-series/).\n\nThe series also depicts the institutional failures surrounding the hospital: it had no plans for mass evacuation in the event of flooding, and it was overseen by a remote, profit-motivated company; executives off site ordered the medical staff to abandon high-risk patients[5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama) • [12](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2022/08/10/Five-Days-at-Memorial-Katrina/3831660064769/).\n\n## Production and development\n\nApple announced the project on September 1, 2020, as a limited series from Ridley and Cuse, both serving as showrunners, writers, and executive producers, with Ridley directing and [ABC Signature](https://www.edgepedia.org/abc-signature) producing; Fink served as a producer[3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/08/apple-lands-five-days-at-memorial-from-academy-award-winner-john-ridley-and-emmy-award-winner-carlton-cuse/). Cuse said development began in 2019, and that working through the COVID-19 pandemic added resonance to the story of a hospital crisis[12](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2022/08/10/Five-Days-at-Memorial-Katrina/3831660064769/). The adaptation rights had a longer history: the project had previously gone to producer [Scott Rudin](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-rudin) and then to Ryan Murphy as part of FX's *American Crime Story* series before Ridley and Cuse convinced Fink they should tell her story[13](https://www.thewrap.com/five-days-at-memorial-creator-interview-recreating-medical-crisis/).\n\nFink's reporting rested on more than 500 interviews conducted during a six-year investigation, and the production design team had access to photographs of the hospital in the aftermath of Katrina[14](https://assets.adg.org/media/submissions/2022-10-17_12-36-19/FIVE_DAYS_FINAL_DESIGN_SUBMISSION.pdf) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/five-days-memorial). The real people the characters were based on were not directly involved in the production; Farmiga said Fink's book \"was our Bible\" for the cast[15](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/five-days-at-memorial-true-story-exclusive/).\n\n## Reception\n\nCritical response was largely favorable. The season holds a Metascore of 74 on Metacritic, with 15 of 19 critic reviews positive and none negative[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/five-days-at-memorial/critic-reviews/?season=season-1), and an 85% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating[16](https://www.flicks.co.uk/tv/five-days-at-memorial-limited-series/). Reviewers singled out the ensemble: [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker) called the series \"excellent\" and praised [Cherry Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/cherry-jones), Vera Farmiga, Adepero Oduye, and Julie Ann Emery for \"truly masterly performances\"[8](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/television/five-days-at-memorial-08-29-22). The [San Francisco Chronicle](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-francisco-chronicle) described it as \"harrowing, infuriating yet remarkably even-handed\"[16](https://www.flicks.co.uk/tv/five-days-at-memorial-limited-series/). Critics were more divided on the final three episodes: RogerEbert.com found the investigation section less effective, tending toward melodrama as it tried to cover too much in three episodes with new central characters[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/five-days-at-memorial-tv-review-2022), and The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the closing episodes did not offer a reckoning of their own despite the finale's title[16](https://www.flicks.co.uk/tv/five-days-at-memorial-limited-series/). Sight and Sound judged that themes of race, religion, and money were treated cursorily and that the question of Pou's guilt was largely fudged[5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama).\n\nOn IMDb the series holds a 7.7/10 rating from about 17,000 users, and it won one Primetime Emmy Award with four wins and two nominations overall[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3283594/).\n\n## Historical context\n\nThe series ends not with the hospital but with a fact about the city itself: by 2018, $14 billion had gone into a system of levees and floodwalls built to shield New Orleans against future floods, which the review observed could require updating as soon as 2023 given rising sea levels.[5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama) Hurricane Katrina caused about 1,800 deaths and over $120 billion in damage in New Orleans[5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Five Days at Memorial, Apple TV Press](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/five-days-at-memorial//)\n2. [A Murky Five Days at Memorial, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/five-days-memorial)\n3. [Apple lands \"Five Days At Memorial,\" Apple TV Press, September 1, 2020](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/08/apple-lands-five-days-at-memorial-from-academy-award-winner-john-ridley-and-emmy-award-winner-carlton-cuse/)\n4. [Five Days at Memorial (TV Mini Series 2022), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3283594/)\n5. [Five Days at Memorial: weighty themes given cursory treatment in this Katrina drama, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/five-days-memorial-weighty-themes-given-cursory-treatment-this-katrina-drama)\n6. [Five Days at Memorial review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/five-days-at-memorial-tv-review-2022)\n7. [Five Days At Memorial critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/five-days-at-memorial/critic-reviews/?season=season-1)\n8. [Five Days at Memorial, The New Yorker, August 19, 2022](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/television/five-days-at-memorial-08-29-22)\n9. [Five Days at Memorial. A Review, Annals of the American Thoracic Society](https://academic.oup.com/annalsats/article-abstract/11/6/1000/8432210)\n10. [Five Days at Memorial review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/five-days-at-memorial)\n11. [Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, Publishers Weekly review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780307718969)\n12. ['Memorial' cast, creators say healthcare hasn't reckoned with Katrina failings, UPI](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2022/08/10/Five-Days-at-Memorial-Katrina/3831660064769/)\n13. ['Five Days at Memorial' Creator on Recreating Medical Crisis, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/five-days-at-memorial-creator-interview-recreating-medical-crisis/)\n14. [Five Days at Memorial production design submission, Art Directors Guild](https://assets.adg.org/media/submissions/2022-10-17_12-36-19/FIVE_DAYS_FINAL_DESIGN_SUBMISSION.pdf)\n15. [Five Days at Memorial true story, Radio Times](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/five-days-at-memorial-true-story-exclusive/)\n16. [Five Days at Memorial: Limited Series, Flicks](https://www.flicks.co.uk/tv/five-days-at-memorial-limited-series/)\n17. [Katrina doctor won't be indicted](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jul-25-na-doc25-story.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › True crime and investigative docuseries › Premiered 2006 to 2022*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Five Days at Memorial (2022 TV series)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Five Days at Memorial (2022 TV series)](https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series](https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Five Days at Memorial (2022 TV series)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/five-days-at-memorial-2022-tv-series. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Five Days at Memorial is an eight-episode Apple TV+ limited series by John Ridley and Carlton Cuse, adapted from Sheri Fink's book about Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina, starring Vera Farmiga and Cherry Jones." }