...or is at least vaguely familiar with the concept. I'm writing this as the pilot episode of HawthoRNe airs on the network, and it's as bad as the reviews have suggested. And yeah, Showtime's Nurse Jackie is a far superior show, although I didn't like the pilot nearly as much as a lot of other people did.
I don't want to pile on, and it seems like I'd just be repeating a lot of other people's criticisms. But watching HawthoRNe, I'm struck by something New York Post critic Michael Starr wrote: Christina Hawthorne seems like a superhero.
And superheroes are boring, unless you're nerdy Peter Parker or haunted Bruce Wayne. No one wants to watch someone be right all the time. Greg House is right nearly all the time, but he's also a jerk. Jack Bauer's right all the time too, but that's on a show where characterization isn't really important.
Then again...it would be kind of cool if -- say three episodes in -- the writers revealed that Christina actutally had superpowers. Like maybe an alien crashed in Richmond, * giving her superhuman levels of caring and moral certitude.
* Although the show takes place in Virginia, it's clear its writers come from the west coast from one telling detail: Michael Vartan's doctor character refers to an accident on "the 95," meaning Interstate 95. Putting "the" in front of a highway is a west coast thing.
If that happens, I won't be around to watch. I'll just chalk it up to another in TNT's tradition of mediocre-at-best dramas. The network is just outclassed by its peers when it comes to original programming. FX, AMC, even USA do a better job at it. TNT seems content to produce things like this, or shows like The Closer and Leverage, which are entertaining, but just that. One day, hopefully, the network can make its Mad Men or its Shield. But HawthoRNe is not it.
Tom Coombe
I like Leverage, but don't care for much else, even Saving Grace seems sort of forced.
Posted by: Chris Casey | June 27, 2009 at 10:21 PM