Flawless

James Poniewozik, who is fast becoming my favorite reviewer, is brutal with the new series "HawthoRNe." Read:

Many reviews of Jada Pinkett Smith's nurse drama Hawthorne, debuting tonight on TNT, mention that it's difficult not to compare it, unfavorably, with Showtime's Nurse Jackie. This is understandable, but it is unfair to this new series. Hawthorne would be terrible if Nurse Jackie never existed. It would be awful entirely on its own. Give it some credit, please.

After watching HawthoRNe previews, I had a feeling it would a cornball show about a selfless nurse in an unjust hospital system. And what do you know, I was right. According to Poniewozik, Jada Pinkett Smith's HawthoRNe is as flawless as a diamond. Flawless characters are the first step along the path to a shitty show. House could be a really boring show, I mean just dreadful. What saves it is the character of House, who is always more interesting than the case he's working on in whatever episode. House has numerous deep seeded flaws, which make him interesting.

I think what happened with HawthoRNe is that TNT hit two homeruns with The Closer and Saving Grace. These two shows happen to be about strong a woman. TNT saw HawthoRNe and said "another strong female drama?! It's a guaranteed hit!" Well, no, it doesn't work that way. A female, whether strong or weak, requires the same thing that male characters require to be interesting: flaws. Say what you will about Saving Grace or The Closer, but their main characters have that all important ingredient. If HawthoRNe fails, as I suspect it will, it will deserve it.