TV Review: HawthoRNe

With so many medical dramas out there focusing on the doctors, it’s nice to see nurses getting some love on the small screen. HawthoRNe is TNT’s new medical drama, which follows Christina (Jada Pinkett Smith) as she attempts to juggle her job as a nurse with being a grieving widower and the mother of a rebellious teenage daughter.

The series opens on the one-year anniversary of the death of Christina’s husband. A year is certainly not enough time to get over losing a spouse but it’s evident that Christina is managing, though she still misses her man. In addition to worrying about what her daughter Camille is up to when she’s not around, she also has to deal with her pesky mother-in-law, who, like Christina, is also still grieving.

At work, Christina is the chief nursing officer, which means she needs to constantly make sure that her crew of nurses is taking care of business. In addition to delegating responsibilities, she’s also serving as sort of a mentor. At one point, she gives a kind lecture to another nurse on the importance of following ones instincts after a patient falls ill due to a doctor’s error in the medication he prescribed him. It’s in this scene that we come to understand that Christina isn’t completely by the book.

Among the staff at the hospital is the dreamy but competent Dr. Wakefield (Michael Vartan), the young and wet behind the ears Kelly (Vanessa Lengies), Candy (Christina Moore), the hot blonde who proves early on in the pilot that she’s willing to go above and beyond to take care of certain patients and Ray, the male nurse who wishes he were lucky enough to be one of Candy’s charges. Finally, there’s Bobbie (Suleka Mathew), the beautiful and intelligent nurse with a prosthetic leg. Her story involves her attempts to date a paramedic who doesn’t mind that she’s missing a leg. The problem is, Bobbie does.

HawthoRNe looks like Grey’s Anatomy-light in terms of the drama that’s going on at the hospital. Not quite as severe (over the top) as Grey’s and replace the surgeons with nurses. From the few episodes I’ve seen it looks like they’re taking the standard format in mixing long-running character arcs with stand-alone quirky-patient drama to keep this show running, much like Grey’s has done for a handful of seasons now. Only instead of a commitment-phobic, whiny moper at the center of the series, we have Christina, a woman who’s been through the ringer and though she struggles to keep a solid grip on her responsibilities at work, it’s clear that the struggles she’s faced and is still facing in her personal life are going to affect how she does her job.

The cast is great and you’re likely to recognize a few faces. Pinkett Smith is known well enough not only for being Smith’ed by her musician/actor husband Will Smith but also for her roles in the Matrix sequels and Scream 2. Or if you want to take it back a few more years, A Different World. Michael Vartan, who plays Dr. Wakefield, is known largely for his role in J.J. Abram’s TV series Alias. Suleka Mathew played Sara on Men In Trees, I recognized Vanessa Lengies (playing Kelly) from her role as the jailbait hottie in Waiting and Rebecca Field, who plays another one of the nurses from her role as Janet in October Road. So this is definitely not a drama filled with TV newcomers and all of the cast, particularly Pinkett Smith handle their roles well.

Is HawthoRNe worth watching? If you like medical dramas, sure. As a habitual Grey’s Anatomy watcher, myself I found HawthoRNe refreshing, not only because we’re getting to see how things work in a hospital from the nurses’ point of view but also because despite the characters’ shortcomings, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for all of them, including the lead character.

HawthoRNe - Series Premiere

Starring:Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Vartan, Vanessa Lengies, David Julian Hirsh, Suleka Mathew

Premieres: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on TNT.