Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Life savers
Doctors may have the power to save lives, but they can also use that power to cover up their mistakes. Medicine isn’t practiced by saints — it’s a business, after all, and that reality can have some dramatic repercussions. See its effects on new doctors in “The Resident,” which premieres Sunday, Jan. 21, on Fox.
The network’s newest drama examines the good, the bad and the ugly behind the blue curtain of modern-day medicine. Doctors — especially new doctors — struggle with the realization that they can’t fix an institution that’s more focused on money than on saving people’s lives.
Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry) is more frustrated than anybody by this fact, as he tells Dr. Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal) on the latter’s first day of his residency. Pravesh is the first-year resident that Hawkins socializes to the hospital. Young and ambitious, he wants to be an outstanding doctor — one of the only things the two can find common ground on — but Pravesh realizes that his indoctrination will be nothing as he expected. In the first 10 minutes, Hawkins informs him that everything he’s learned about medicine is wrong, and to take off his tie because he’s “not at Harvard anymore.” When Pravesh asks for a new supervisor (he maintains that Dr. Hawkins is a psychopath), a nurse tells him to watch and learn.
Considering the success of both “Scrubs” and “House,” the medical field basis for the series seems to be a good sign for its longevity. Plus, Czuchry has his acting chops. He made his big debut in the big-screen horror-comedy “Eight Legged Freaks” (2002), but he’s probably best known for his role as Logan Huntzberger in “Gilmore Girls” and as an alumnus of “The Good Wife.”
Dr. Hawkins has the same level of brilliance as Dr. House, but with better social skills. Kind of. He has the whip-smart comebacks that resembles Dr. Cox from “Scrubs,” and in one scene he tells the junior residents to “try and not kill anyone” while he’s on another floor.
Dayal is best known for his starring role in “The HundredFoot Journey” (2014) and “Viceroy’s House” (2017), but fans may also recognize him from his role as Vijay Nadeer in “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Melina Kanakaredes plays Dr. Lane Hunter, an oncologist who tells Dr. Hawkins that they can’t save everyone — of course, he replies with a cocky “says who?” Kanakaredes is no amateur when it comes to television, either. Her early television credits include a recurring role in “NYPD Blue,” and she also guest-starred in “The Practice,” “Oz,” and starred for five seasons as Dr. Sydney Hansen in NBC’s critically acclaimed series “Providence.” After a brief hiatus from television for a role in “Cabaret” on Broadway, she returned in 2004 for a role in “CSI: NY” and appeared opposite movie legend Robert De Niro in “15 Minutes” (2001).
Emily VanCamp (“Revenge”) plays Nicolette, the nurse who tells Dr. Pravesh to listen and