Customer Reviews

Royal Pains [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of course, this review is from the perspective of only having seen the pilot so far, but this show was well acted, well thought out, and interesting.

Our hero is an emergency room doctor who was fired after a bum rap where he had two heart patients under treatment, and one (a rich patron of the hospital) died while he attended the second.

In an attempt to cheer him up, his brother takes him to the Hamptons for a party weekend. Accidental patients pop up despite his resistance to become involved as a 'private physician to the rich', and finally he gives in and agrees to stay in the area. He winds up agreeing partly because his other job opportunities appear to be blocked off for the time being, and because a local hospital administrator convinces him that he can help take some of the pressure from the local hospital staff, who are often beset by minor problems from rich and demanding people.

The show was amusing, sexy, and seemingly well informed. I don't know what the market really is for private physicians, but whether or not it exists, this show sold the possible concept acceptably.

Of course, the success of the show in the long term will depend on their ability to come up with a couple of medical problems per show that aren't repetitive or trite, or making the Doc look like too much of an unbelievable miracle worker at a house call. This will be a more challenging writing puzzle than a hospital based medical show, or the standard murder mystery fair that USA has also been quite successful with.

I'll be interested to see if they can pull this off show after show.

Overall it was much better than I thought it would be. Interesting characters, good writing, some very funny dialogue, and a good solid foundation to build a good series, which is going well so far.
The show, Season 1, which originally aired on USA network on June 4, 2009, features an E.R. Doctor, Hank, who gets fired from his job at the hospital, and finds himself offered the much coveted concierge Doctor in the Hampton's taking care of the rich and richer, for the summer, and despite some reservations takes the job. So each episode features some new client who he helps (or in some cases, saves). It reminded me a little of David Duchovny's character from the movie 'Playing God' due to Hank's sometimes 'outside the box' medical solutions.
I'll admit, when I saw the previews for this show they kept running on TV trying to drum up interest before the first air date on USA network, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was going to be very dumb.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. I've seen the actor playing Hank in other movies and tv shows (played a lawyer in West Wing, and the boyfriend/fiance of Toni Collette in the movie 'In Her Shoes'), and have enjoyed him as a performer. Well, he's really good in this series as well because you believe in him as the character Hank, and you want to see what he's going to do with the twists of each show. Plus he's surrounded by his team, a spunky female Physician's Assistant and Hank's brother the Accountant, which provide for another layer of entertainment and subplots that help fill out 'Hank Med'. And then of course there's the variety of Hampton hob-nobs with their issues as well that sort of round out the fun for each episode.
While I prefer some episodes to others (though that can be said of almost every series), I'm enjoying the added new addition to the somewhat 'Been-There-Done-That' that I've seen of television series.

Royal Pains is an hour show that I swear feels like 30 minutes. I am an RN and I have never been drawn to the ho hum medical/hospital shows except for Dr. G, Mystery Diagnosis and the fictional Royal Pains. Royal Pains takes you from the regular ho hum and unfortunate medical world and it's politics to the fairy tale concierge Dr. role in a cushy setting. You get to peek in on how the "rich" lives. A lot of these people are spoiled, eccentric, and may be from royal lines. But mainly they are spoiled, self-involved rich people who use money to get their way. They ARE Royal Pains.

The Dr. who is "Hank", is who I call the medical MacGyver. He has to use whatever is around him to treat the pt. It may be as simple as making up an IV bag of medication and hanging the IV on a lamp or using a mirror and cross matching blood. He used a sterilized drill bit to drill open a hole to drain a hematoma on the brain of an old man who took a double dose of his blood thinner Coumadin that day and then later fell and had a brain bleed. But he does have the modern day conveniences of certain equipment that he, his Physician Assistant, and brother-CPA, CFO of Hankmed, have acquired in their vehicle. They may have to borrow the MRI truck from the local hospital on occasion. Hank's girlfriend is an administrator of the local hospital. This is the best dramatic medical show that I have seen. As long as Royal Pains keeps doing what they are doing it will be a good show and a great hit.

This show is promising. In its present rendition, it comes in more like 3.5 stars but with some added punch and oomph to its storyline, it could climb to 4 stars.

The premise is that Hank, an excellent emergency room doctor, ends up employed as a concierge doctor in the Hamptons. He pays house calls in emergency situations, usually to people who do not want the publicity of checking into a hospital.

Hank's brother, an accountant, manages him. His brother is far more into the Hampton's lifestyle than Hank himself is. He is more comic than Hank because he is always sticking his foot into it.

The most interesting aspect of the show so far is the medical one. Each week some new case presents itself and Hank must fix the patient under less than ideal circumstances. It is interesting to me that some people are more interested in how they might appear in gossip columns than in saving their lives in emergency situations.

So far this show is still developing itself and which characters to keep. The only two keepers so far are Hank and his brother.