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Hercules Takes The Pulse Of TNT's New Jada Pinkett Smith Nursing Series HAWTHORNE!!
I am – Hercules!!
A predictable and disappointing hospital hourlong from John Masius, who wrote for “St. Elsewhere” (the best hospital hourlong of all time, if you’re asking me), Richmond, Va.-set “HawthoRNe” stars fabulous Jada Pinkett Smith (of the “Matrix” sequels) as caring chief nursing officer, single mother and new widow Christina Hawthorne. Michael Vartan, a long way from “Alias,” plays her doctor boss.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Smith is now (get this) only the third African-American woman to play the lead on a weekly American primetime drama, after Jill Scott in HBO's "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" (2009) and Teresa Graves in ABC’s "Get Christie Love!" (1974). Wow!
“Hawthorne” turns out to be nowhere near as fun or funny as “St. Elsewhere.”
Smith remains plenty minx-like, but I hated (SPOILERS AHEAD):
1) Christina’s made-for-TV conversations with her dead husband;
2) how nice Christina is to the batshit homeless lady who repeatedly assaults her (that homeless lady, candidly, needs incarceration; she is a menace to herself and others); and
3) the subplot with the uncaring doctor and the insulin overdose (if the nurse was so sure he had the wrong dosage, he should have awoken the sleeping intern or consulted with a more senior doctor or nurse).
Oh, I was also very concerned that Christina’s episode-punctuating Asian balloon was going to set her neighborhood on fire.
On the upside, the girl who plays Christina’s daughter, Hannah Hodson, is almost as cute as her TV mom.
Entertainment Weekly gives it an “C” and says:
… the results here are mostly mawkish and predictable …
The New York Times says:
… The writing is a bit stilted and predictable, but the show is not unbearable — there are some amusing supporting actors and the occasional engrossing medical crisis. As a character study, however, “HawthoRNe” is weighed down in the pursuit of worthIness.
The Los Angeles Times says:
… Everyone working so hard, everyone talented and professional and doing their very best to make this a terrific television show, and it just isn't.
The Washington Post says:
… drudgery that once or twice borders on torture … a show in need of emergency care rather than one offering fast-fast-fast relief.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… Fans of subtlety are advised to steer clear of this show. But viewers who prefer uncomplicated, pabulum-like TV could find worse programs on TV this summer -- and already have (e.g. NBC's "The Listener"). As uninspired as "Hawthorne" may be, it's still better than TNT's last medical drama, the Pittsburgh-set "Heartland." The "Hawthorne" pilot, directed by Mikael Solomon, moves like a freight train from the start and sustains a decent pace throughout. And "Hawthorne" shows potential for character development among the show's supporting players.…
The Boston Herald says:
… It’s a mess …
The Boston Globe says:
… If there were some complexity afoot in the writing, perhaps she could hint at hidden, less unnervingly calm parts of Christina's character that will emerge later. But "HawthoRNe" seems bent on being reverential, complete with musical montages meant to break our hearts. It's not awful, by any means, just too good to be true.
Variety says:
… administers to a pretty generic formula … Despite some potentially intriguing characters, about the best one can scribble on "Hawthorne's" chart is that it's an improvement over TNT's earlier forays into medicine, "Heartland" and "Saved." …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… a fairly standard hospital drama … On the one hand, it is nice to see one of TNT's ladies not weighed down with vices (Hawthorne's worst problem is insomnia), but barring some serious shocks to the system, this patient is not going to live long. For now, it does at least have an etherlike quality: It'll lull you into thinking you've watched some far better, far more intriguing drama. And then you'll go quietly to sleep.
9 p.m. Tuesday. TNT.
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Mein Fuhrer!!
Shipping Now!!
The New Book From The Guy Behind THE WRATH OF KHAN, THE VOYAGE HOME And THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY!!
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I love Jada, but this does look predictable.
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When they broadcast a preview with a dumbass being arrested screaming, "You can't take me. I'm a nurse." WTF?
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I recall one of the, I think, Black Singers having a tv show in the 60-70's. Plus shouldn't shows like the Jefferson's and Moving on up count?
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Saved was one of the best shows TNT had. At the time they didn't want a challenge to the Closer. So they canceled it.Canceled it for fucking Heartland, which in fact did suck big time.
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Hasn't been posted today.
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Doesn't that count?
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was a sitcom.
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And at the same time, trying to copy House's success.
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tnt misses often.
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I loved SE, watched every episode. Then, the series ender that still sucks so high on tit, it's up on the collarbone. As for Hawthorne...not very good. The medication/dosage error was ignorant. When I was a medic during VietNam, we had a doctor's order for a cardioactive drug transcribed incorrectly as 5cc instead of the max human dosage of POINT 5 cc's. Had I given the drug, the patient would have died in about 30 seconds. I refused, was reamed out by the medical officer in charge, and stood my ground until the senior officer called the attending (a Lt. Colonel...at 2:00 a.m.) to verify the order. The sleepy doc's response "WHAT?!?...that dose would kill that fucker!!" The ashen face of the dickhead that was about to have me court-martialed was priceless. I actually got a commendation for essentially refusing the direct order of a superior officer. Only one of 8 zillion reasons I generally hate medical shows...stupid plotlines, performed by the clueless.
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and she looks hideous
A face full of sharp angles
So like saving grace and raising the bar this will run for season after season -
by producing and starring in a show that's only driving purpose is to re-use hackneyed and played-out plots and archetypes that have earned critical praise in the past.
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WTF? I'm going back to bed.
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my brain: "Gee, someone probably needed that job." Meaning Jada should just stay home and play with Will's money while someone else collects a paycheck. Isn't that terrible? I'm such a lousy person. But yeah, I'm not going to watch this.
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Why is this site even bothering to mention TV shows about nursing, or the 90210 spinoff? How are either of these even remotely relevant to the focus of a geek site called Ain't It Cool News? Focus, guys--focus. You're becoming a poor man's Entertainment Weekly. I keep expecting to find news about Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
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That line means about as much as staring at the shit in my toilet.
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Give me THE ORDERLIES. Then I will watch.
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Boy howdy... there's your next hit reality show(I'll settle for 20% of both the merchandising and syndication rights). Actually, when homeless peoples DO attack, the trick is to distract them by taunting them with food in Ziploc freezer bags, then toss said vittles in the opposite direction. Works every time.
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That show is responsible for some of the worse atrocities inflicted upon Hollywood and the collective pop culture consciousness. I will always hate Jada Pinkett, Bill Cosby, Sinbad & Marisa Tomei because of that terrible, sweaty-ass-sucking show (Kadeem Hardison redeemed himself in the awesome, DRIVE). Every motherfucking episode was a thinly veiled excuse to vomit simple, empty rhetoric on race politics to the point of exhaustion. If it weren't one of the 3 shows my bible-thumping mother allowed me to watch as a child, I wouldn't have bothered with that humorless mess. It was either that or Davey & Goliath and there's only so much bad puppetry a young child can stomach. In retrospect, I think Flying House & Veggie Tales would've been better for my self-esteem because every time Jada Pinkett or Kadeem Hardison stepped on their respective soapboxes it made me embarassed to be black. Every dude was a prissy, arrogant cunt that would rather discuss Martin Luther King than have a beer or tell a joke. I still remember being offended by the basketbll episode with Dean Cain where they spray nigger on Dwayne's car. I have experienced racism in my own life and it was never that stupid and blantant. In real life bigots rarely see the error in their ways and the PSA before the credits was even more annoying. There is no book on the planet that can prepare you or comfort you from the pains of racial tension.
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Seems like they based a show on finding the letters RN in a name. I can review it using RN letters then:
IndisceRNible
HoRNswoggled
MouRNful
PooRNess
ScoRNful
SpuRNed
TaRNished -
Jun 16, 2009 10:25:33 AM CDT
Single, widowed, war veteran, tough as nails, heart of gold
by falafalguy
Can't miss!!!
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Or stop making all these shitty hospital series. Enough is enough. There's a billion of em. How many variations on that theme do we need for fuck's sake?!
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A truly fucked up series with some truly fucked up characters and a couple of really good episodes.
On the other hand, you could not pay me to watch Hawthorne. Every commercial I've seen just makes me think 'sanctimonious bitch.' Vanity pieces are just not my cup of tea, sorry. -
Jun 16, 2009 11:31:23 AM CDT
Remember " A Different World?" When Jada was pretty?
by theycallmemrtibbs
Geez!---WTF?
If she was a Dick Tracy villain she would be PRUNE-FACE! -
...Julia back in the late 60's-early 70's starring Diahann Carroll, also a nurse show.
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Look above. While "Julia" had some dramatic elements, it was a sitcom. Carroll, was, however, the first black female lead on TV, period.
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... know what you mean dude, that show embarrassed me and I'm not even black. One thing though, Jasmine Guy. She was awful in it too, but went on to be awesome in Dead Like Me. So, one diamond out of all that horseshit, anyway.
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...Heack I don't even think I've ever actually SEEN that show, just heard about it. Oh well, at least I was half right.
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I always wondered if that show annoyed white people as much as it aggravated me. My sister and I would joke that if we were white and saw an episode it would instantly turn us into skinheads. I grew up in a cultural diverse city and none of my friends acted like the ass-clowns on that lousy show. I do agree that Jasmine Guy deserves a pass too. I haven't seen Before The Devil Knows You're Dead but I hear Marisa Tomei is good in it. She'd have to be Glenn Fucking Close to warrant a pass because she might've been worse on that show than Jada Pinkett.
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Jun 16, 2009 12:16:11 PM CDT
"That line means about as much as staring at the shit in my toil
by theycallmemrtibbs
BWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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I've read a lot of complaints from people wanting talkbacks for more geek friendly shows during the season and they don't get it. But then this show is promoted here. I dunno. It doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean I barely watch series TV so I don't really care but, I'm beginning to see their point.
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Jada Pinkett is the ebola virus manifested flesh. Like Rosario Dawson all she does is shitty vanity projects yet Herc plugs her shit. Then an awesome show like Supernatural couldn't even get a TB for its season finale. Lame.
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what the hell happened to Sinbad? Is he still alive?
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Sinbad was in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia from last season. Funniest thing he's ever done. He played an aggressive mental patient that bullied Rob Thomas around
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Damned hard to find movie, but worth the watch. Even SNOW has a bit going on in it.
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From the show's ads overwhelming every single channel, I was already throwing up in my mouth. I like Jada Pinkett-Smith, but the too-serious, holier-than-thou contriteness of "Hawthorne" is just BORING! For fuck's sake, give me a drug-addicted cross-dresser doctor. Or a clown-obsessed religious freak doctor. Or even a war-scarred Sudanese immigrant doctor. ANYTHING but the well-adjusted, two and a half kids, I'm-totally-awesome mom doctor.
BLECH! PUKE!
What made "St. Elsewhere" so memorable and moving back in the day was its cast of flawed, fucked-up doctors and equally quirky, fucked up attendants and patients. There was no perfect mom fakeness going on. And if there was, it was skewered and given unexpected turns and heart by the episode's end.
Hawthorne looks like a cloyingly self-important perfect person show.
Fuck that. I'm not watching one episode of it. -
Yay!!!!
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Nothing will ever top MASH. Ever.
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1) Jada. She's a subpar actress whose only emotion is PMS bitchy. I don't want to watch a cranky midget play a holier-than-thou nurse. 2) Writing. Clearly from what people have said this show doesn't set the bar for great story lines and logic. 3) Hospital. This setting and its story lines are played out. Bring something original to it, like House did, or go the fuck away.
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Was the Inkwell. Funny ass movie with Larenz Tate. Whatever happened to him? But then again she was playing a bitch in that. And she even fucks another guy. But yeah, I love that movie. Fuck you if you say otherwise.
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the camera panning out to show the whole thing has simply been the imaginings of a retarded guy with a snow globe
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Honestly, Jada's only real redeeming asset are the semi-haunting eyes she has and that constant piercy stare. Other than that, meh.
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She just can't act.
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before my movies, I'm never watching anything from TNT. FUCK! I want to see Land of the Lost! I am not the target audience for these crappy sappy dramas.
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I'll pass.
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sitcom
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"Beulah" was a comedy (the character had been a maid on "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "Julia" was called a half-hour "dramady."
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Sounds thrilling. Buncha sad sacks whining about how they're really so much smarter than the doctors, and they care so much more about the patients. Tune in next week when Hawthorne deals with a shortage of bedpans AND has to deal with a surly underling who refuses to administer a sponge bath.
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It always felt like it was on the verge of real tragedy. Poor Tom Everett Scott. Seems like he is always just tickling the cunthairs of superstardom, but has yet to really sink the pink. Oh, well. He's pretty good in all the random stuff he turns up in.
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