Royal Pains

I give this show 10 stars for handling patient-doctor confidentiality a little bit more seriously. And having great storylines. But I'm going to have to give it 4 stars for the highly annoying brother.

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 ignored this for a long time, finally I watched out of desperation. I loved it. Could have done without Evan. But, I am now hopelessly in love with Scott Campbell.

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.