TV Jots

USA Network Rolls Out Another Original Dramedy

USA Network has been promoting the heck out of its latest original dramedy Royal Pains, which finally debuts tonight at 10pm ET, following the Season Three premiere of hit spy dramedy Burn Notice at 9pm. Is the newcomer worth watching?

Well, I only had the chance to preview the pilot, an extended episode of about 75 minutes that will air with limited commercial interruption for the premiere. It was directed by Jace Alexander, who has previously worked on USA’s Burn Notice, as well as the Sci Fi Channel’s upcoming dramedy Warehouse 13, and the experience shows.

Based on the premise — which isn’t exactly intriguing, in my opinion — I expected to not like the newbie. But it turns out the pilot actually works and makes the humdrum notion of a blacklisted doctor becoming a reluctant on-call M.D. in New York’s posh Hamptons community both entertaining and even interesting.

Mark Feuerstein (3 lbs., The West Wing, Good Morning, Miami) plays lead character Hank Lawson, a compassionate hospital physician who finds himself fired and unable to get another comparable job after he tries to save a young neighborhood man’s life instead of a rich bigwig’s. Since Murphy’s TV Law dictates that problems come in batches, Hank’s pretty fiancée also breaks up with him after the professional downsizing, leaving Hank with lots of time to drown in a non-stop cycle of boozing, bad TV, and self-pity.

Thankfully, Hank’s younger brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo, Joey), an often annoying and always enterprising accountant who likes the ladies and the good life, comes to his rescue before it’s too late and whisks the doctor away to the Hamptons so they can lie their way into a little fun at a swank house party. Yet, smack in the middle of the good time, Hank stumbles upon a medical emergency and instinctively goes into life-saver mode, an act that catches the attention of the area’s wealthy residents, who then refuse to take “no” for an answer when they want him to show up on the fly to tend to their medical needs.

As a result, within hours of his arrival, members of the Hamptons’ elite population begin calling Hank on the phone to come rescue them from their own bad judgment, and complete stranger Divya Katdare (Reshma Shetty, 30 Rock) even shows up at his motel to talk her way into a non-existent job as his physician’s assistant. The one bright spot in the weirdness that follows is Jill Casey (Jill Flint, Gossip Girl), a down-to-earth administrator at the local hospital, whom Hank is immediately attracted to when he meets her at the party.

While that plot isn’t exactly exciting stuff for fans of USA’s crime-oriented dramedies, the Royal Pains pilot succeeds due to nice pacing, extremely cool music, and Feuerstein, who plays Hank as a kind but no-nonsense professional more concerned about “doing no harm” than doing whatever powerful people want. I’m not as gaga over the supporting characters, but maybe they’ll grow on me as the story unfolds and the season progresses.

I should also warn potential viewers that Royal Pains aims for authenticity when it comes to Hank in action, à la medical shows like ER and House. So, be prepared for a few Nip/Tuck-worthy moments every now and then, such as closeup looks at needles sinking into skin, blades cutting across body parts, and blood oozing out of wounds.