My damned DVR is eating my life.
It seems like every free moment I have is now haunted by the notion that somewhere in the digital ether, episodes of good shows I haven't seen yet are waiting patiently for me to watch them. So very patiently. Staring at me with the TV-show equivalent of big, mournful, puppy-dog eyes. I never thought I'd miss boredom.
The situation's gotten so bad that I'm actually upset when good new shows hit the airwaves, and relieved to think that even terrific shows like NBC's Kings -- back on the air for a summer burnoff, and more eerie and eloquent with each passing week -- will soon be gone for good. If only so I don't have a Hulu queue and DVR hard drive groaning under the weight of Ian MacShane awesomely delivering quasi-Shakespearean dialogue and stabbin' folks Swearingen-style.
All the same, I just can't quit watching USA's Royal Pains. That's a testament less to its Burn-Notice-but-with-a-doctor premise, and more to its set of engaging characters brought to life by a really great cast. It's the kind of cheerful, breezy summer series USA seems to do better than any other network.
It seems like every free moment I have is now haunted by the notion that somewhere in the digital ether, episodes of good shows I haven't seen yet are waiting patiently for me to watch them. So very patiently. Staring at me with the TV-show equivalent of big, mournful, puppy-dog eyes. I never thought I'd miss boredom.
The situation's gotten so bad that I'm actually upset when good new shows hit the airwaves, and relieved to think that even terrific shows like NBC's Kings -- back on the air for a summer burnoff, and more eerie and eloquent with each passing week -- will soon be gone for good. If only so I don't have a Hulu queue and DVR hard drive groaning under the weight of Ian MacShane awesomely delivering quasi-Shakespearean dialogue and stabbin' folks Swearingen-style.
All the same, I just can't quit watching USA's Royal Pains. That's a testament less to its Burn-Notice-but-with-a-doctor premise, and more to its set of engaging characters brought to life by a really great cast. It's the kind of cheerful, breezy summer series USA seems to do better than any other network.
How closely does Pains ape its spy-show predecessor? Both shows
feature a deeply principled, ultracompetent professional hero with a
knack for cobbling together improvised solutions to life-threatening
dilemmas. Unjustly cast out of the profession he loves, he finds
himself stranded in a sunny, bikini-intensive locale, taking odd jobs
that fall through the cracks of a broken and ineffective system, aided
primarily by a sultry colleague/antagonist/love interest and a genial,
loyal mooch of a best pal. Note to USA: In future, kindly avoid using
the office photocopier as a source for new series ideas.
To its credit, though, Pains offers plenty of fun variants of its own. Unlike Jeffrey Donovan's measured, flinty performance as Michael Weston, Pains' Hank Lawson is an all-around nice guy with ironclad ethics and a great big heart. Notable Hey-It's-That-Guy Mark Feuerstein somehow keeps Hank grounded and likeable, even when he ought to be an insufferably perfect goody two-shoes. And he shares a definite zing! with Jill Flint's prickly but admiring hospital administrator, which makes their awfully sudden entrance into a relationship a bit more believable.
Paulo Costanzo never quite gets annoying as Evan, Hank's ambitious, skirt-chasing little brother and financial advisor. For all his superficiality, he's obviously devoted to his brother, and he's capable of the occasional thoughtful act or savvy business move to counter his grating dweebishness. (A scene in the second episode, in which Evan dances an impromptu ballet while whipping up a home-cooked meal for a ballerina he wants to impress, is also one of the most wonderfully, sweetly goofy things I've seen this side of Pushing Daisies.)
And Pains has a few aces up its sleeve that Burn Notice can't match. Reshma Shetty's Divya, Hank's unflappable PA, is a really cool character, with her icy wit and fully loaded super-SUV of medical wondergadgetry. I can't wait to see more of her currently offscreen family, from whom she's hiding her covert medical career, and I'm enjoying her amusing hate-hate relationship with Evan.
I'm also quite fond of several of the show's recurring characters. Tucker, the hemophiliac son of an often-absent playboy, is a really sweet and interesting kid, played with low-key charm by Ezra Miller. He makes a great comic duo with Meredith Hagner's Libby, Tucker's high-strung girlfriend, whose extreme hypochondria seems to actually be a touching response to Tucker's own fragile existence. And Campbell Scott owns every scene he glides into as the enigmatic Boris, a Bavarian zillionaire who's set himself up as Hank's benefactor for mysterious and possibly sinister reasons. The growing hints that Boris may in fact be some sort of James Bond villain add a weird and welcome kick to the show, like a shot of Tabasco on scrambled eggs.
This great collection of fun characters -- and really likeable actors -- do a lot to bandage up Royal Pains' more feeble elements. The medical mysteries can be interesting, with some nifty attention to technical detail, but the show's still working on making them feel particularly urgent or suspenseful. Or novel, for that matter. Thus far, every medical plotline seems to run something like this:
Still, Royal Pains is undeniably fun, with a bunch of great characters I've come to look forward to spending an hour with every Thursday night. Which doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to the end of its season, if only so that my DVR will quit sulking there in the middle of my entertainment center. Waiting. Watching. Judging.
To its credit, though, Pains offers plenty of fun variants of its own. Unlike Jeffrey Donovan's measured, flinty performance as Michael Weston, Pains' Hank Lawson is an all-around nice guy with ironclad ethics and a great big heart. Notable Hey-It's-That-Guy Mark Feuerstein somehow keeps Hank grounded and likeable, even when he ought to be an insufferably perfect goody two-shoes. And he shares a definite zing! with Jill Flint's prickly but admiring hospital administrator, which makes their awfully sudden entrance into a relationship a bit more believable.
Paulo Costanzo never quite gets annoying as Evan, Hank's ambitious, skirt-chasing little brother and financial advisor. For all his superficiality, he's obviously devoted to his brother, and he's capable of the occasional thoughtful act or savvy business move to counter his grating dweebishness. (A scene in the second episode, in which Evan dances an impromptu ballet while whipping up a home-cooked meal for a ballerina he wants to impress, is also one of the most wonderfully, sweetly goofy things I've seen this side of Pushing Daisies.)
And Pains has a few aces up its sleeve that Burn Notice can't match. Reshma Shetty's Divya, Hank's unflappable PA, is a really cool character, with her icy wit and fully loaded super-SUV of medical wondergadgetry. I can't wait to see more of her currently offscreen family, from whom she's hiding her covert medical career, and I'm enjoying her amusing hate-hate relationship with Evan.
I'm also quite fond of several of the show's recurring characters. Tucker, the hemophiliac son of an often-absent playboy, is a really sweet and interesting kid, played with low-key charm by Ezra Miller. He makes a great comic duo with Meredith Hagner's Libby, Tucker's high-strung girlfriend, whose extreme hypochondria seems to actually be a touching response to Tucker's own fragile existence. And Campbell Scott owns every scene he glides into as the enigmatic Boris, a Bavarian zillionaire who's set himself up as Hank's benefactor for mysterious and possibly sinister reasons. The growing hints that Boris may in fact be some sort of James Bond villain add a weird and welcome kick to the show, like a shot of Tabasco on scrambled eggs.
This great collection of fun characters -- and really likeable actors -- do a lot to bandage up Royal Pains' more feeble elements. The medical mysteries can be interesting, with some nifty attention to technical detail, but the show's still working on making them feel particularly urgent or suspenseful. Or novel, for that matter. Thus far, every medical plotline seems to run something like this:
PATIENT: I think something may be wrong with me.The pilot in particular, for all its charms, indulged in some pretty hilariously lazy writing. I especially rolled my eyes at the scene in which Hank, while canoodling in bed with his previous superhot girlfriend, talks about how everything is so wonderful in his life, and nothing will ever, ever happen to disrupt it. And then the phone rings...
HANK: Yeah, you're sick.
PATIENT: But not that sick!
HANK: No, you really are. I'm going to give you a bunch of reasonable, practical advice that you can then proceed to ignore for the purposes of drama.
PATIENT: I can't get help within our broken health-care system!
HANK: Yeah, our system really sucks, although I'll content myself with just saying that in broad terms, rather than addressing specific flaws or offering any solution beyond the sort of magical feel-good stuff you only see on TV.
PATIENT: [suffers life-threatening emergency]
HANK: [does something awesomely MacGyvery]
PATIENT: Yay! I'm all better! Thank you, Dr. Awesome!
HANK: Aw, shucks. I'm just a regular old brilliant trauma surgeon trying to help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my palatial guest house so that I can get ready for my date with my superhot doctor girlfriend. [Also, if patient is rich:] Will you be paying me in a check so large, I won't mention the actual amount, or just an entire bar of gold?
Still, Royal Pains is undeniably fun, with a bunch of great characters I've come to look forward to spending an hour with every Thursday night. Which doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to the end of its season, if only so that my DVR will quit sulking there in the middle of my entertainment center. Waiting. Watching. Judging.
The "prickly but admiring hospital administrator" is Jill Casey, played by Jill Flint. "Jill Foote" isn't anybody, at least not in this context. Sorry to comment in public with this, but y'all don't seem to have e-mail contacts.
Fixed. Thanks!
This is my first comment since the format change. I've been a fan since TeeVee circa 1997.
Mark Feuerstein is an old family friend of my wife & bro-in-law so I've hung out with him a fair amount over the years. In fact, I'm hoping he finally makes it really big so I can sell my wedding video to E! or something. I can say that Mark's as nice in real life as his Dr. Hank character.
I agree Royal Pains is great summer tv, a not-quite guilty pleasure.
While I don't expect that TV shows are the way to learn medicine, they could have done a better job with the fisherman in episode 2 that had contracted hepatitis C. There were so many utterly wrong things done in that one scene, I expected that the next episode would show Hank getting the chair for his bad advice.
What mistakes did the show make? I always enjoy finding out how TV should've handled medical issues.
In this single scene, where Hank gives interferon to a fisherman suffering from hepatitis C, there were some big problems.
1) No hospital would just miss its interferon supply - It's expensive. And if it disappeared, the person who stocked the meds would be fired.
2) Pegylated interferon is now being used for treatment, which is easier on the patient the way a ball peen hammer to the head is easier than a sledge hammer.
3) No doctor would just give a box of interferon to a patient - it's better if Hank held onto it. (Although I think Hank said he would give the patient the injections, Hank should have kept the box.)
4) No doctor would start giving interferon to a patient without telling them that they will feel like they have the king hell of the flu for about 3-6 months, if they're lucky.
5) No doctor would ever ever ever blithely state that interferon is a cure. It, and its pegalated cousin, can drop the viral load close to zero in some patients, but...
6) No doctor would put a patient on interferon without lots of tests on the patient's systems. If the patient has immune system problems, interferon isn't advised. Age and liver condition are other mitigating factors.
I might have missed some details from the episode on how things were handled, but if even half of what I listed above was true for the scene, someone needs more medical knowledge for this medical show.
Isn't it illegal for anyone other than an RN or MD to give injections? What's Divya doing?
Physician's Assistants can administer meds. They're trained and licensed to do about as much as a GP or family doctor, they just need to work under a doctor's supervision. That degree of supervision depends on the doctor, and the degree that Hank gives Divya is pretty common.