Royal Pains

I have now watched every episode of this series. That in itself says something about its entertainment value. But I think it's safe to say this show is not for everyone.

"Royal Pains" has been compared to "MacGyver", because it concerns a concierge doctor (Dr. Hank Lawson played by Mark Feuerstein) who practices in the Hamptons, and he has the uncanny ability to construct whatever medical device he needs from articles at hand. His brother, Evan (Paulo Costanzo), handles the business and financial sides of the operation. Divya (Reshma Shetty) and Jeremiah (Ben Shenkman) are the medical assistant and associate doctor who round out the practice.

The show focuses on their personal lives, too. Their lives provide plenty of drama and comedy. Henry Winkler plays the father who has never reliably been there for the boys.

Two others really deserve mention: Campbell Scott, who plays Boris, Hank's benefactor and most demanding patient, and Brooke D'Orsay, who plays Paige, Evan's beautiful girlfriend.

Production values are spectacular. It doesn't hurt that the show is filmed in the Hamptons and on some foreign locations.

Though Boris provides some intrigue, don't expect gun battles or car chases. This is a show about nice people who really care for others.

Evan is just pain irritating. Kill him off and you have got a good show.

This is a very charming series unfortunately without much depth of plot or character development. Anyone stepping onto a ladder will inevitably fall and lapse into a seizure requiring complex emergency medical treatment. Once a character has been stabilized, they will subsequently be diagnosed with a rare disease and will eventually be cured after suffering numerous heart attacks, more seizures, various bacterial infections and so on. Almost no one dies.

The show is mostly ruined by Paulo Costanzo as "Evan". I don't know if Castanzo's mother is the producer, but the show gave him way to many scenes in exchange for his contribution to the series, which is a minus nothing. Constanzo "infects" mostly every scene with his distracting lack of talent.

Costanzo's "humor" is a hybrid mix of Seinfeld and Pee-wee Herman, both of which Costanzo channels in virtually every scene. Costanzo's delivery and timing are predictably predictable and downright annoying. Just as Evan annoys the characters in the show, similarly he annoys the audience with his predictable, unfunny antics, stupid facial expressions, using too many words, and childish Pee-wee manic behavior.

Here is my prescription. To enjoy the show you need to edit out Evan. When you see Evan entering a scene in one of his little pastel suits, and silly hat du jour, together with his little, puffy pee-we pout -- quickly FAST FORWARD through the entire scene until he is gone. Trust me, you will have missed nothing.

I LOVE this show!! I was looking forward to this as a summer series when my other favorite shows ended for the season. I love doctor/lawyer/medical/murder/investigation/puzzle type shows, and this show totally hooked me by the first commercial break in the pilot! This is the first original show on USA that I've seen, because my life is so busy that I just don't watch that much TV, but I have made room in my schedule for Hank. I love the fact that Hank isn't just treating the ultra-rich, but also people who need him and can't possibly pay. I also love the fact that the series started with interesting and complicated characters and I am really looking forward to learning more about Jill, Divya and Boris. Some of the personality types that Hank has come across are not just limited to the ultra rich, I've seen people who are obsessed with WebMD and pro-biotic yogurt as well as people who try to stay out of the limelight but at the same time know everything that's going on with everybody. I can't wait to see what happens next! ROCK ON USA!!

With the dearth of scripted shows on the 4 major networks these days, I've been forced to check out the series on USA, TNT, etc. "Royal Pains" is a delight! I'm sorry the first season is over already. The HD is brilliant, the scenery around the Hamptons is glorious.....a great back drop for a really good series, full of humor and drama and just a mix of "MacGyver" thrown in. It's important to me in a series that the supporting cast is just as strong as the lead character, and here we have an eclectic group who complement each other, and their interaction seems effortless. I do agree with another comment that the chemistry between Hank and Jill needs to be tweaked in some way, but aside from that I do look forward to many more years of "HankMed" and I will be one of the first to by the DVD.