Sat 20 Feb 2021
TV Episode Review: DO NO HARM “Pilot†(2013).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Horror[6] Comments
DO NO HARM. “Pilot.†NBC, 31 January 2013. Steven Pasquale as Dr. Jason Cole (chief of neurosurgery at Independence Memorial Hospital) and as Ian Price, his alternate personality; Alana de la Garza as Dr. Lena Solis, a neurologist at IMH and Dr. Cole’s love interest; Ruta Gedmintas as Olivia Flynn, Dr. Cole’s estranged former fiancé; Phylicia Rashad, as Dr. Vanessa Young, chief of surgery at IMH; Lin-Manuel Miranda as Dr. Ruben Marcado, a clinical pharmacologist at IMH and Dr. Cole’s friend. Directed by Michael Mayer. Can be purchased for streaming at Vudu. This first episode can be seen on YouTube here.
Thanks once again to Wikipedia for providing not only the list of cast members, but who they are on this short-lived series. And by short-lived, I mean it. It lasted for all of two episodes before being yanked from NBC’s 2012-2013 mid-season schedule. (The remaining eleven episodes were burned off later that summer when no one’s watching anyway.)
But, hey, this the pilot episode is not all that bad. It’s good enough to see why it was picked up as a series in the first place. It was obviously way ahead of its time. (An excuse you’ve probably heard before, I’m sure, and in this case it may even be true.)
What it is, as you may have deduced from the credits above, if you looked closely enough, is yet another takeoff of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, variations of which will run from now to eternity, each one with a new creative twist. In this case the focus is on a Dr. Jason Cole, an extremely talented neurosurgeon who has a problem. At night, every night, he shares his body with his evil side, who takes over for exactly twelve hours.
He’s been controlling the damage his other half can do, but the medication is starting to lose its effectiveness, and his alternate personality is starting to cause all kinds of problems, including the would-be new woman in his life, Dr. Lena Solis. She may, in fact, never speak to him again, while on another front his career is starting to hang by a thread.
Well, what do you think? Is this the basis for a long-running TV series or not? It’s well-directed, and the acting, dialogue and photography are all fine. It must be the premise. From what I’ve told you, and from watching the trailer, can you be the judge? (I’m assuming that nobody reading this has ever seen the show, since by all accounts, no one did.)
February 20th, 2021 at 11:06 pm
Lin-Manuel Miranda scored big time on Broadway in Hambone, Ham & Eggs, or Hamilton a few years ago. Nice to see his name out there.
February 20th, 2021 at 11:10 pm
Miranda is obviously the most interesting thing here. The plot here sounds suspiciously like the British series JEKYLL.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:17 am
I don’t know why, since I’ve seen only this first episode, but Miranda is listed only as a recurring character in the Wikipedia write-up, not a main one. He had a big part in the pilot, but perhaps his role got smaller as time went on. Too bad, if so.
February 21st, 2021 at 8:54 am
I was surprised that we didn’t watch it (it does sound vaguely familiar), since Jackie is a big fan of medical shows and would give most of them at least a try. Pasquale has done a number of Broadway musicals, and might be most well known as the dumb firefighter Sean in RESCUE ME.
Then I saw the date, January 31, 2013. We were at the hotel in Florida and probably weren’t even aware that it was on. Sounds like I would have hated it, frankly, despite the cast.
February 21st, 2021 at 10:26 am
A good portion of this first episode was straightforward medical drama, but obviously that’s not what got the show on the air. I’m tempted to watch more, but the $19.95 price tag to rent the whole season is just too high to take a gamble like that.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:43 pm
Stevenson’s original novella “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” is terrific. One can see why it is famous.
Buit I’ve never seen a film or TV version that was worth a darn. Have no idea why. Yes, I have seen the versions with Barrymore, March and Tracy. Even the Carol Burnett spoof is dull.
This is the worst case of “the book is better than the movie” I’ve ever seen.
Despite this, I might check out this pilot on YouTube. Want to see Miranda, too.