No "Recovery" for THE NIGHT SHIFT

Article first published as THE NIGHT SHIFT Review Season 2 Episode 1 Recovery on Seat42F.

Last summer, NBC aired a drama series called THE NIGHT SHIFT. This week, The Night Shift begins its second year in the regular television season, an upgrade few summer shows get. Has the show, which I labeled “pretty much a waste of time for all but the most bored summer viewers” in my pilot review on this very web site, improved enough to justify such a promotion? In a word, no.

For those who are fans, though, and I know that everyone has their own preferences, so there have to be some people out there that like THE NIGHT SHIFT, a sizeable enough number to convince NBC that moving it was a good idea, I will strive to give you a tantalizing preview into this new season.

When last we left the cast, much turmoil was rolling through the hospital. TC (Eoin Macken) was having trouble concentrating on his job, having flashbacks to past trauma. Jordan (Jill Flint) disobeys orders, putting in jeopardy her position of power. And the relationship between Jordan and Scott (Scott Wolf) is falling apart.

As the season premiere, “Recovery,” begins, much of that has played out further. Jordan is no longer the head of the staff. Jordan and Scott are no longer together. And TC is suspended, not allowed to do his job. These are all natural progressions from the season finale, and should come as no surprise to anyone.

The love triangle between Jordan, Scott, and TC, is a key component of The Night Shift, and “Recovery” has fun with this. Just because TC is suspended doesn’t mean he isn’t around, and while Scott remains a recurring player, not a member of the main cast, both find their way into the hospital with Jordan in the premiere hour. Their dynamic is fundamentally shifted by the close of the episode.

More surprising, to me anyway, is that one of the main characters quits their job. I do not think this signals an end to this person’s tenure on THE NIGHT SHIFT, as an intriguing new opportunity presents itself, and the show will surely follow them down that road, too. But in a charged scene that I enjoy very much, perhaps mostly because it involves guest star Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager), this person is fed up and does not go quietly into the night.

There are also two major medical emergencies to keep the story moving. One is in the hospital itself and is due to equipment malfunction. The other is in a more exotic locale, providing the action-packed cold opening. Because there is little emotional investment in these incidents, since they are not happening to major characters, they’re more set dressing than plot. But the latter is definitely something that will hook in fans wondering if they should return.

There’s also a very sweet moment in which a doctor makes a very large personal sacrifice for the sake of a patient. It’s the kind of decision no doctor could possibly routinely make and keep their sanity and even a middle class lifestyle. However, the believability is not as key here as making one of the players look like a hero, which happens all the time in primetime scripted dramas.

And, just to lighten the mood, a prank war breaks out in the hospital, which is as fun as it is hokey.

Only one main player from season, Dr. Landry de la Cruz (Daniella Alonso), is not back, and no new players have been added to the core group. The show continues to star, besides those listed above, Freddy Rodriguez, Ken Leung, Robert Bailey Jr., Brendan Fehr, Jeanne Goossen, and JR Lemon.

The inherent flaw with THE NIGHT SHIFT is that it’s covering well-trod ground such giants as ER and Grey’s Anatomy have already done better, with little original to justify its contribution. That trend continues in “Recovery.” Had I never seen another primetime medical drama, I might be vaguely interested in the tension between co-workers and the unusual medical cases. But with so many better options readily available, it seems pointless to set a season pass for a series that barely rates that low level of interest.

THE NIGHT SHIFT airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

THE GOOD WIFE Sees "Red"

Article first published as THE GOOD WIFE Review Season 6 Episode 8 The Red Zone on Seat42F.



Numerous players on CBS’s THE GOOD WIFE go into “The Red Zone” this week. Alicia (Julianna Margulies) tries to do what she thinks is right and good, but quickly learns that, like Games of Thrones’ Jon Snow, she knows nothing (about campaigning or how things she does will play to the public). Cary (Matt Czuchry) considers testifying on his own behalf, since any witnesses that can help him are dead, but prep for said testifying goes horribly wrong. Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) is caught between the woman she loves, the man she loves, and a cold-hearted murderer. So, it’s just a typical day at Florrick / Agos / Lockhart.

First, let’s talk Alicia. She is still living her life like she’s not looking for votes. She takes on a new client (Californication’s Madeleine Martin) just as she’s supposed to be pulling back just because her brother (Dallas Roberts) asks her to. Then, she accompanies Finn (Matthew Goode) to a soup kitchen because she genuinely feels the need to give back, but unconcerned about appearance, the trip backfires when skewed pics are taken and posted online. Alicia protests that it goes against common sense to avoid these things, but Eli (Alan Cumming) basically tells her to get over it.

Candidate Alicia is going to be different than Lawyer Alicia. Now that she’s made the decision to run, she’s also made the decision to change, to become a politician. She resists, of course, but she does want the office, so she can’t help but make allowances. “The Red Zone” finds her listening to Eli and Johnny (Steven Pasquale) and the focus group they conduct. She may not like it, but she is coming around to how the game is played.

Can Alicia do this and still hold onto herself? I think so. Her case against Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox), which she wins be default, proves that. It’s a way to show her keeping a grip on the woman she’s become, the woman worthy of the office.

The question is, though, how far will she go? When her opponent is Castro, one could see her making quite a few sacrifices because he’s an evil bastard and needs to go down. Now that she’s up against a much more upstanding citizen, she may be tempted to hold back. Alicia hates Prady, who did trick her, but she has to admit he’ll do a much better job as State’s Attorney than Castro, so that might give her pause at a key moment.

Cary needs a pause in “The Red Zone.” With trial fast approaching and no one left to help him, he takes Kalinda’s advice to testify for himself. But angry that Kalinda is lying to him, sleeping with her old flame, Lana (Jill Flint), Cary gets emotional when Viola Walsh (Rita Wilson) and Diane (Christine Baranski) attempt to prep him. This Cary seems entitled and arrogant, and while we the viewers who know and love him can understand his frustration and rage, a jury will not. It takes Alicia in a moment of brutal honesty to make him pull back and find his center.

I’m really worried about Cary. He is drowning. He reaches out to Kalinda for an emotional life raft, and she snatches it away. Whether because she doesn’t feel the same way or because she’s trying to protect him, the reason doesn’t matter. Cary is alone with this and things are not looking good, even once he gets his head on straight.

Funnily enough, it is Kalinda that can save him. Kalinda is also backed into a corner, being intimidated by Lemond Bishop (Mike Colter), who doesn’t like her sleeping with a fed. Kalinda knows how dangerous Lemond is, how he’s killed those that inconvenience him. Kalinda alone at the law firm could come forward to testify against Lemond and stop him once and for all. It’s losing a valuable client, whom they’ve at least temporarily lost anyway, but it’s the right thing to do, if she can manage to stay alive while doing it.

I’m not sure if Kalinda is at that point yet, but she should be. By choosing not to stick a card in Lana’s wallet, Kalinda has marked both herself and her girlfriend for death or further threat. This is the time Kalinda needs to come clean to Lana or other law enforcement officials and go into witness protection. Though, knowing Kalinda, should she decided to go on the take-Lemond-down path, she’ll want to gather more evidence first or wear a wire, which could end tragically. Panjabi is slated to depart at the end of this season of THE GOOD WIFE anyway; might the show make her exit a little sooner and a little more permanent?

“The Red Zone” is another outstanding installment of THE GOOD WIFE, jam-packed with gripping story and numerous, great, recurring guest stars. The stakes seem high, the drama feels real, and no one is in a great position, making fans drool with anticipation for the next episode. I’m impressed the show has kept this up at such a high level for over a year now, and hope it continues indefinitely.

THE GOOD WIFE airs Sundays at 9-ish ET, depending on football, on CBS.

THE GOOD WIFE Remains "Shiny"

Article first published as THE GOOD WIFE Review Season 6 Episode 5 Shiny Objects on Seat42F.

CBS’s THE GOOD WIFE has a very intriguing recurring character in Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), one they cannot resist bringing out on a fairly regular basis, thankfully. This week’s episode gives us a peek at the genius who is easily distracted by “Shiny Objects,” letting her take the opening of the hour, and showing glimpses of the way her brain works throughout. It is a fascinating.

Unfortunately, Elsbeth is not the focus of most of the hour. Don’t get me wrong; I really like “Shiny Objects” as an episode. It has some wonderful moments, exciting legal battles, and the type of compelling drama that THE GOOD WIFE is known for. The story is interesting and the characters are well-developed. It’s just, with the Elsbeth-centric opening, I was looking forward to more of the quirky lawyer, and am disappointed she is only in a few scenes, in a relatively minor capacity. Even her love interest, Josh (Kyle MacLachlan), showing up is barely a quick blip. She should get more.

It’s hard to point to one main plot for this week’s episode because there are several. Obviously, there’s the case where Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and Dean (Taye Diggs) face Elsbeth in court is important. Then, there’s Kalinda’s (Archie Panjabi) reunion with Lana (Jill Flint), an FBI agent, which is connected to the tale of the law firm’s computer data being held for ransom and the search for the blackmailer. This also leads to Diane (Christine Baranski) having to face David Lee (Zach Grenier). And Alicia has to plan the important announcement of her candidacy. It’s a pretty full hour.

If pressed to pick a favorite subplot of “Shiny Objects,” other than the Elsbeth stuff, I’d have to go with the Diane vs. David Lee showdown. David Lee has an email that Diane needs. Diane still controls the lease for the office space David Lee uses. In recent struggles, Diane has been losing, but now she has a much bigger hand to play. She finally gets one over on him, getting him to give up the email in exchange for her consideration of transferring the lease, not a promise to do so, proving how much more important the lease is than the email. That should wipe the smirk of his smarmy face for an afternoon.

I have to say, though, I’ll be disappointed if Florrick, Agos, & Lockhart moves right back into the old Lockhart/Gardner building. Admittedly, the new space has plenty of flaws, but it’s been nice to get some fresh sets. I assume the former place would undergo some kind of makeover, if for no other reason than to provide three main spaces for the three named partners. But part of THE GOOD WIFE’s strength is that it keeps moving forward, and returning to Lockhart/Gardner would an uncharacteristic step back.

One thing that is not a step back, though it some ways it may appear to be, is the recreation of that famous Alicia / Peter (Chris Noth) press photo on stage. Now, it’s Alicia running for office and Peter supporting her, rather than The Good Wife standing by her cheating man. It’s not repetitive because the power dynamic has shifted so much, even though Peter still needs her more than she needs him, and Alicia has come quite far. It highlights Alicia’s arc and growth more than anything.

Unfortunately, this may also be the end of Alicia and Peter as a couple. They’ve never been all that solid, throughout the course of THE GOOD WIFE, but after Will’s death last year, things have been even more tense between them. When Alicia refuses to give in to Peter’s demand that Finn (Matthew Goode) not introduce her, it almost ends their arrangement, Peter being furious and not used to having to give in to Alicia. It shows us just how far apart the two have become, and makes any type of reconciliation, which is a long-shot before this anyway, totally unrealistic. I hope there are no shippers for the two of them left.

Speaking of shippers, Kalinda / Cary fans will be let down when Kalinda falls back into bed with Lana in “Shiny Objects.” Kalinda definitely cares much more for Cary and sees Lana as a tool she needs to use, and yes, sex is part of that. But I doubt Cary will understand if he confirms what he already suspects about the girls. And any hope that Kalinda could just pick up with Lana after losing Cary disappears when Kalinda finally feels something for Lana, but for the wrong reasons, driving Lana away.

Kalinda has, arguably, the messiest love life of any character on THE GOOD WIFE. Cary is her chance at stability, but (SPOILER ALERT!) since the actress is leaving the series at the end of the year, there’s virtually no chance of them ending up together. I feel like Kalinda only seems put together, and knows what she wants least of anyone. I’m rooting for her to find meaning by the time of her departure, as she deserves it.

“Shiny Objects” is not a “big event” episode (we’ll probably get one of those soon for November sweeps), but it is a fine hour of television, something THE GOOD WIFE manages to pull off most weeks, one of the few broadcast shows to do so. As long as they keep up this level of quality, I’ll watch them forever.

THE GOOD WIFE airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. (or so, depending on football run-overs) on CBS.

Feel Free to Sleep Through THE NIGHT SHIFT

Article originally published as THE NIGHT SHIFT Review on Seat42F.

NBC’s new medical drama, THE NIGHT SHIFT, will feel awfully familiar to regular TV viewers, and not just because one of its stars has already been a main character in a medical show. It’s just like ER and Grey’s Anatomy, albeit not nearly as well written and with much weaker characters. When a series is popular, studios will strive to copy it to capture that popularity. But this series proves just how hard it is for lightning to strike multiple times in the same vein, making it pretty much a waste of time for all but the most bored summer viewers, a descriptor which should apply to no one, given the plethora of excellent options on cable and streaming.

THE NIGHT SHIFT has a large ensemble of varying characters that are familiar types. TC (Eoin Macken, Merlin) is a brilliant surgeon struggling with inner demons that make him a man hard to get along with. His ex-girlfriend, Jordan (Jill Flint, Royal Pains), is now his boss, and is the only one with the slightest chance of controlling him. There’s a money-obsessed administrator, Ragosa (Freddy Rodriguez, Six Feet Under), and a couple of fresh, new interns, Paul (Robert Bailey Jr., The Happening) and Krista (Jeananne Goossen, Alcatraz). In short, there’s no one original in this group.

The intern angle is one that is not going away any time soon in such shows. After all, they are a part of the staff, just as surgeons and nurses are, and so will be seen over and over. But can we not have a scene of them being pranked and another scene of one of them green enough to be shocked by a common malady? These are overused tropes, and we already inherently understand this is part of the job without having to be shown it so blatantly.

The administrative side is one not brought up in every hospital-based series, but it’s common enough that it isn’t new. I guess the writers have an opinion they’d like to express about how medical care is more important that paying bills, with the money guy demonized. But what discerning viewers should know is that the world is more complicated than that, and a sympathetic accountant who tries to find a balance would make a much more welcome, interesting part than a cold villain. Sadly, THE NIGHT SHIFT chooses to cast the latter.

Of course THE NIGHT SHIFT has a TC. It has to have a flawed leading man; that’s practically a required rule for all new shows at this point. But does his ex-lover, who clearly still cares about him, have to interact with him constantly, too? Does THE NIGHT SHIFT have to check off every single conceit of the genre, leaving no stereotype alone? The pilot is downright painful for these reasons.

One of the other main characters, not mentioned above, is secretly gay, something that comes out late in the pilot. THE NIGHT SHIFT makes a big deal of this, like it could hurt the guy’s standing if he admitted to being homosexual, even if those closest to him don’t care. Admittedly, this character, like many in the show, are military, and he’s in a particular part of the armed forces that hasn’t really integrated much at all yet. But still, this is 2014, where acceptable is becoming the norm and the issue seems tired, so while there is still discrimination that should be fought in the real world, it seems ridiculous to be played up this way on a TV show, something we’ve already seen before many times over. At last take a new angle on it, taking into account society as it currently is, not as it was a few years ago.

There are quite a few elements in THE NIGHT SHIFT that are tired. Jordan wants everyone to switch over the tablet computer records, which is played up like an innovative fresh concept. Grey’s Anatomy already did that over a year ago. A patient in the first episode has an unborn twin living inside of her, a case so rare, she’s going to get a free surgery to remove it. Except, that’s already happened on other medical shows, too, so how rare can it be? Either the gluttony of such dramas has reached a point where there is nothing new to say, unlikely, given how Grey’s and Nurse Jackie continue to impress week after week, or THE NIGHT SHIFT is just too lazy to find untouched ground, making its existence completely unnecessary.

There’s also a sense of forced urgency. Jordan tries to protect TC by saying he’s not replaceable. Really? They can’t find any other good doctors in the entire world that can do what TC does, yet he’s in a little place, barely acknowledged for his skills except by his co-workers? And when arguing about keeping the hospital running, it is claimed there’s not another center in ten counties to help out the population. Yet, the show is set in San Antonio, which has lots of different hospitals. It’s a major city, for goodness sakes! This just doesn’t make sense.

I do like the cast, which also includes Ken Leung (Lost), Daniella Alonso (Revolution), JR Lemon (Shadow Love), and Brendan Fehr (Bones, Roswell), but anyone can put together a decent ensemble at this point. What’s more impressive is using them well, which THE NIGHT SHIFT fails to do. Were this summer 2006 and the warm months were filled with reruns and reality shtick, this series might work. In the modern age, there are just too many better choices around.

THE NIGHT SHIFT premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.