I tend to like USA Network shows, so I decided to give Royal Pains a try since regular TV fare is still on hiatus. I’m at about the halfway point of the first season now, and although the show is decent enough, I don’t think there’s enough there to keep me going into Season 2 (unless something drastic happens soon).
The show kind of reminds me of House in a way, since half the time Hank doesn’t know exactly what’s wrong with the patient and has to adjust his diagnosis as more information is uncovered. But Hank is nowhere near as interesting a protagonist as House, which brings me to the main reason I’m not totally attached to this show. Hank is so normal and vanilla and boring. He’s a nice guy with no glaringly awful flaws thus far (besides “letting” the major hospital donor die in order to save the younger patient in the pilot).
And that’s a problem. Whatever happened to the “Characters Welcome” slogan?? The three other USA shows that I’ve watched all had main characters that were different and interesting. Adrian Monk with his OCD and Sherlock Holmes-like detective abilities, Shawn Spencer with his acute observational skills and fake psychic routine, and Michael Westen with his super-spy capabilities are FUN to watch. Hank from Royal Pains? Meh. I can take him or leave him.
Plus, I’m not sure how I feel about the supporting cast yet. Divya is probably my favorite. She hasn’t really done anything to stand out yet, but she’s far better than the ultra-annoying Evan or boring Jill. And Campbell Scott isn’t around enough to make a difference either way.
Well, I’ll watch till the end of Season 1 here. The fact that RP is now in its 4th season has to mean something is going right. Right?!
Im traveling abroad and with only 1 channel with American tv (universal) I’m stuck with what ever is on. Thought the show was awful, you can see through the phony and bad acting, this makes the characters unlikeable. It’s just a rip off of house, with a Jewish superhero who saves the day and in the end he gets the gentile girl, usually a blond.yes that cast seems to have the “nose” of Hollywood, but poor scrips and bad acting will be the demise of this garbage.