Pilot Review: Rush

Rush (USA)
Premiered July 17 at 9pm

One of USA’s big successes has been “Royal Pains,” its show about a doctor fired from a top New York City hospital for choosing morality over money who becomes a concierge doctor in the Hamptons. Clearly the network likes this brand, as it has engineered a show that is similar in premise but slightly different in execution. Substitute getting fired because of a drug addiction and swap in Los Angeles for the Hamptons, and you have this show. Tom Ellis’ Dr. William Rush is no Hank Lawson. He’s far from a nice guy, and doing the right thing for him means teaching an abusive athlete not to hit women by bashing his hand in with a baseball bat. While it’s certainly more serious than the Hamptons-set show sometimes tends to be, it isn’t necessarily any more compelling. We’ve seen enough flawed doctors on television for a lifetime, and I think a drug addiction hardly makes Rush stand out from the crowd. Odette Annable’s Sarah does help to humanize him, as does his loyal assistant Eve, but otherwise, he’s in over his head way too much, enlisting henchmen to collect bills when he knows that he’ll be forever indebted to them for their service. I’m also not sure that Rush is a character worthy of this network, since he doesn’t have the charisma the show seems to think he does, charming enough but not able to deliver as much on the promise of his disarming demeanor. He’s a mediocre character on a show that too is pretty mediocre.

How will it work as a series? With a premise like this, there’s ample opportunity for drama, both comedic and heavier in nature, with the revolving door of clients who might call upon Rush for medical attention and also call upon him for steeper favors. We’ve seen this before, which suggests that it will be entertaining but hardly original.
How long will it last? Maybe not so long. The ratings for the pilot didn’t impress all that much, and I think that the show doesn’t seem unique enough to draw an audience all its own. The summer is the perfect launching pad, and so if the ratings haven’t improved by the end of the show’s first season in early September, I think that will be it.

Pilot grade: C