"Royal Pains" premier 6/4/09

crazyjoe - My understanding of concierge medicine is that you pay a flat annual rate, and then bill them for our subsequent service. You limit the number of patients you see and make yourself available for same-day service and personal attention, rather than the patient waiting three weeks for an appointment and being seen by a nurse or PA for 5 minutes and leaving clutching a script and having never actually seen a person who went to medical school.

StG

I liked it well enough to watch some more episodes this summer. If my tivo starts getting full though it’s not at the top of my list. I found myself wondering why the Hampstons hospital administrator, after heaping all that “you got screwed” speech, didn’t offer him a job. I also wonder what he will do after all his clients leave the Hampstons in the fall.

She’s a hospital adminsitrator…maybe she knows there aren’t any open positions right now? Maybe she knows also that she would have to answer to the board for hiring someone who was blacklisted, and she doesn’t need that kind of pressure right now.

As for what he’ll do in the fall, he just got handed a $350,000 bar of gold, so I think he’ll do fine. One thing they have not mentioned is malpractice insurance…one of those rich dudes decides to sue him, and he’s pretty much toast, since I think he’s got no insurance for that sort of thing.

Presumably the accountant brother will take care of administrative stuff like that.

At this point, I think Hank makes so much money that he can probably get away with just paying out of pocket if he has a “mistake” although he seems like an incredibly capable doctor so I don’t think that’s likely.

fyi, there’s a *very * detailed interview with Reshma Shetty on Daemon’s TV

Sure, it’s a little cliche’, but you have to have a conflict. More people would rather watch this than a show about a doctor who gets fired and decides to chuck it all and move to the Hamptons. The reason he got fired is the reason he didn’t want to work in the hamptons. He’s a doctor for the “right” reasons. Not only that but they set up a ton of conflicts for him to deal with throughout the season. There’s the doctor he replaced. There’s the rich home owner who’s letting him stay in his house. He has the built in conflict that got him fired in the first place. A hospital with ‘poor’ patients who will need him when a rich one needs him too. There’s the PA that’s hiding something.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, and I look forward to future episodes.

The character Divya strikes me as being a very intelligent, ambitious person. Of course, you immediately assume the actor is the same way… So I’m always a little disappointed when an actor who plays a very intelligent role turns out to be ditzy. Here’s a quote from that article:

“And so I was doing pilot auditions, and then I saw this, and I was kind of like, “Oh my god. It’s perfect. It’s perfect.” And I did the audition. Because we’re in New York and it was all L.A., we had to tape. And taping is always difficult. You know, you just want to reach out and be like, “I’m really funny, but I can’t tell you. I can’t show you.” So then I did the thing, and I didn’t hear for two weeks, I think it was. And every Indian actress knows every other Indian actress, so I’m getting on the Internet going “Who was it? Who was it?” And I see nothing. And then I get this random call, and it was like, “Jace is in town and he wants to meet you.” And I was like, “Meet me for–?” “To read, Resh. To read again.” And I was like, “Oh my god.” And so I went, and he was so awesome.”

I suppose it is a tribute to the actor’s skill that she can pull off the role. But I find myself wishing I hadn’t read the interview…

J.