Before last year I never watched TNT. TNT never really appealed to me. That all changed last season when a little show called Leverage popped up. With how Leverage came out of nowhere, I have now decided to give all of TNT’s new shows a chance to impress. This summer TNT has two new shows: Dark Blue and HawthoRNe. Since Dark Blue doesn’t premiere until July (along with Leverage) the review of that show will have to wait (Check back later as we should have a review before it premieres). I have been able to see the pilot of HawthoRNe though and while it is nowhere near as good as Leverage (that was almost impossible to begin with), HawthoRNe is a very solid show that passed it’s first test.
If you didn’t already know (or couldn’t determine from the picture above) HawthoRNe is a medical show. While most medical shows follow the doctors, HawthoRNe takes a different approach. HawthoRNe instead focuses on the nurses. Jada Pinkett Smith plays a nurse by the name of Christina Hawthorne. While dealing with the recent death of her husband, Christina needs to keep the doctors in check while she looks out for her patients and fellow nurses.
Joining Jada Pinkett Smith are: Michael Vartan (Alias) as Dr. Tom Wakefield, the chief surgeon at the hospital; Suleka Mathew (Men in Trees) as Bobbie Jackson, Christina’s best friend and fellow nurse; David Julian Hirsh (Lovebites) as Ray Stein, a male nurse trying to break the stereotype of nursing being a female job; Christina Moore (90210) as Candy Sullivan, a nurse at the hospital; and Hannah Hodson (The Ron Clark Story) as Camille, Christina’s daughter.
The one negative really working against HawthoRNe is the fact that the medical genre has been overdone in my opinion. There have been so many medical shows on television that is is hard to truly be unique. This upcomming season is flooded with new medical dramas as well. While HawthoRNe focuses on the nurses at a hospital, it really doesn’t bring a whole lot of new material to the genre. You really can’t blame the show though since it really is hard to bring something new to the medical drama genre.
Even though the series isn’t highly original, the series is still worth a look. Based on the pilot the show appears to be well written and shares a similar feel to TNT’s other dramas. The cast is also very solid and Jada Pinkett Smith does a very good job in the lead role. The show has a very solid foundation which I believe can be built upon for further growth.
While the pilot didn’t blow me away, it did impress me enough to give the show more of my time. I plan on continuing to watch the series.
If you are a fan of medical dramas or TNT shows in general, I think you owe it to yourself to give HawthoRNe a chance. The show won’t blow you away like Leverage but I believe the series could be a good distraction in the otherwise boredom known as summer television.
HawthoRNe premieres on TNT June 16 at 9/8C.
