Something's Killing Me Host BD Wong on the Show's Shocking Real-Life Medical Mysteries

Something's Killing Me is a show for anyone who appreciates that the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

HLN's new docuseries, which is hosted by Emmy-nominated actor BD Wong, is gripping the way both Datelineand House are. On the show, which airs Sundays at 9/8c, doctors and scientists race against time to solve life-or-death medical mysteries, and the stories would be unbelievable if they weren't true.

"They're told in a kind of dramatic news-journalistic style that is fun to watch and yet has a certain journalistic integrity to it," says Wong.

Wong has never done anything like this before, and is clearly having a lot of fun hosting. He's playing off his familiar persona as Dr. George Huang, the character he played for more than a decade on Law & Order: SVU who used his medical expertise to help solve crimes. Wong does the intros and outros from inside a catacomb in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, and he walks a tightrope between sober and salacious while doing them. He says it was an interesting new challenge as a performer to be credible as the host of a newsy show but also to raise his eyebrow just enough to titillate the audience into getting drawn into the story.

He says he had been looking for opportunities outside of acting when producers approached him to host the show, which he thinks they did because of his TV-doctor credibility. He was a little wary at first, but then as he learned about the show, he got really excited.

"As it turns out, this is the exact kind of show that I like to watch with my mom when I go home to visit her in San Francisco," he says. "We don't agree on a lot of TV, and this is the one thing that I can sit with her and really enjoy." That is, those Friday night mystery shows with so many twists and turns that you can't believe what you're watching is true -- but it is.

Each of the six episodes of Something's Killing Me's first season have been carefully selected to deliver that sensation. "The stories are so rich with intrigue and mystery and a high dose of surprise."

Last week's season premiere found doctors discovering a shocking secret in the final stages of care for a beloved young mother dying of cancer. This Sunday's episode follows Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, who took over a medical practice from the coincidentally-named Dr. Vincent Gilmer, who was in prison for murdering his own father. Dr. Benjamin thought there was a medical reason for why his seemingly normal predecessor did what he did, and set out to uncover the truth. Further episodes will explore similar intersections of crime and medicine.

Something's Killing Me airs Sundays at 9/8c on HLN.