Pilot Review: Hart of Dixie

Hart of Dixie (CW)
Premiered September 26 at 9pm

Something what you see is exactly what you get. After spending four years providing comic relief and general silliness in a supporting role on “The O.C.,” Rachel Bilson returns to TV full-time following brief but memorable gigs on “Chuck” and “How I Met Your Mother” to play…a budding cardio-thoracic surgeon. If the thought of Bilson playing an environmental hippie at Brown in the last season of “The O.C.” didn’t quite ring true, then the notion of Bilson as a doctor, especially a highly competitive and intelligent one, definitely won’t be believable. Having her accept a job from a man she met once in Alabama without realizing that she’ll be living in Alabama is beyond far-fetched, and that’s how the show starts. Once she’s down there, it’s exactly what you might expect from a fish-out-of-water story, with all the predictable twists and turns. Scott Porter is her all-too-perfect dream man, Jaime King is the town bitch who just happens to be engaged to him, and Cress Williams is the football star who happens to be the mayor of the town, creating an ensemble that’s peculiar and uneven at best. The show alternates between hokey and deeply scientific, which detracts from its credibility because, again, it’s hard to buy Bilson as a doctor. She’s charming enough, but her appeal here quickly becomes grating, and so does the show. It’s not as if this premise – or this star – could really have been expected to produce better, but it’s still a rather boring and unbearable hour.

How will it work as a series? Now that Bilson’s Zoe knows that the doctor who left her the practice was her father, she’s likely going to take it to heart (sorry) that this is something she should give a chance. That’s not going to make acclimating to life in Alabama any easier, so she’s sure to continue with her pratfalls and missteps in between amazing chance life-saving feats.
How long will it last? Not last. The ratings were low, but CW shows always are, and it was pretty much on par with “Gossip Girl,” so that’s good enough news. The CW may well cancel this show soon, but in the absence of other programming, I think they could give it a shot for the rest of the season.

Pilot grade: D