Hawthorne

Over the years there have been a number of hospital shows whose basic premise goes something like this: Hospitals have very strict rules and protocols about who may do what. These rules and protocols generally make sick people sicker. But once in a while some really daring hospital employee, a renegade doctor, a nurse fresh out of school, breaks the rules and saves people's lives, but he or she has an uphill fight to do it, because the hospital administrator, the chief of surgery, the ethics committee, the mayor, or whoever, does everything to prevent it, even knowing (and not caring) that lives are at stake. I for one don't buy that premise. I have been a hospital patient several times, and real hospitals do a very good job by following their rules and protocols. This is just one more show of the type I described. And to make matters worse, it's just bogged down in the personal lives of the characters. I like a good hospital show, but this is not one.

I just begin this series today, I have passed it by for years, because I thought it would be boring, imo, it's a great show Jada is fabulous and believable, however the character as her daughter to me, is a good actor just not believable as her daughter, she definitely doesn't look like a teen in high school, a college freshmen, yes, but that's why I gave 7 stars for that reason, Jada is intelligent, a great mom, empathetic, sympathetic, kind, and a great friend, in this role, she's also ruff and tuff when she has to be but still professional. I also feel the rest of the cast work well together in this series, I wish I would of watched in 2009 when it began.

I gave this 2 stars because I think the basic premise is admirable - a show about the contribution and perspective of nurses. But that is unfortunately not what this program delivers.

I love Will Smith, but I believe it is his clout that created this show for Jada - and it is his clout that just got the thing renewed for another season. I like Jada, but she is a one-dimensional actress: beautiful, feisty, independent woman who gets things done. You can't build an interesting drama when that is the gist of every episode.

I had a bad feeling from the previews, this feeling was supported by the weak pilot, and the fact that I haven't made it through another episode has solidified it.

Though I now watch more cable programs than network, I have never been taken by The Closer or Saving Grace. I'm sorry, but southern accents radiate up and down my spine like Styrofoam on a chalk board. But those programs utilize interesting supporting casts and story lines in such a way that the lead character seems truly involved in an event. With Hawthorne, everything seems plotted to give the title character a chance to flex her muscle and sainthood.

If they insist on keeping this show on, I would suggest an overhaul. Send daughter off to college and lets see her once or twice a season. More about the other nurses and their job performances. Maybe a nurse with a suspected drug problem. A nurse in crisis because they may have made the wrong career choice (can't handle the death aspect of the job). Is there a thin blue line among nurses like there is with cops? Between doctors and nurses? Between or amongst hospitals? How about an impostor nurse snatching some baby out of NICU on her watch and the political fallout from that; etc.

There is just so much that could be done to EDUCATE people about the impact those types of events on our nursing staff and to let their story stand apart from the group dynamic of the "medical community".

This review is longer than anticipated, but yeah-as it stands, I recommend passing this show right on by.

Christina Hawthorne is the most selfish, manipulative, condescending main character I have ever seen! The way she thinks she's always right and won't ever take no for an answer, and the way she constantly breaks rules because SHE thinks the rules are stupid... Just... UGH! I can't stand her. I added an extra star for Bobby and Kelly. Oh, and the show itself is uninteresting at best.

A decent hospital drama for the first 2 seasons, giving the viewer what you expect from hospital drama....a variety of medical situations with a reasonable dose of ensemble character development and interaction intertwined with the medicine.

Then, S3 goes off the rails, heavily concentrating the show's minutes on various romances of sub characters topped off with the weirdest dive into the mental psychoses of Jada Pinckett's character only to be outdone by her romance/cheating with the strange-looking, pained acting of Marc Anthony's un-engaging cop character.

My advice....watch S1 and S2 if you like medical drama, but do not waste your time on S3 unless you are a glutton for terrible tv watching.