I love a good medical drama. From ER to Grey’s Anatomy, I have been watching these types of shows for over a decade and when they are good, you can make an instant fan out of me. So, when I heard that TNT was going to be offering a new medical drama, with the highly talented (and often underrated) Jada Pinkett Smith, I couldn’t wait to see it. The result of the show is Hawthorne, and it’s set to be one of the most popular shows of the summer without a doubt!

In the first minutes of the show we are introduced to Christina Hawthorne, the Chief Nursing Officer at Trinity Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. She is headstrong and opinionated, but you would be hard-pressed to find a better nurse, and that is obvious from the minute the show begins. Hawthorne is a widow that lost her husband to cancer, one year from the day that the show begins. She is the mother to a headstrong teenage girl and she is a nurse that cares about everyone that comes into her hospital, no matter how big or small they are.

In each episode, like in other medical dramas, you will come in contact with a variety of patients and people in the hospital. The staff and supporting cast that you will see on a regular basis include Dr. Tom Wakefield (Michael Vartan), Nurse Ray Stein (David Julian Hirsh), Nurse Candy Sullivan (Christina Moore), and Nurse (and Hawthorne’s best friend) Bobby Jackson (Suleka Mathew). You will also get to know Camille (Hannah Hodson), Hawthorne’s daughter and her mother in law, Amanda (Joanna Cassidy).

Airing on Tuesdays at 9 PM Eastern (8 Central) on TNT, this hour long drama is on a network with good company. Also premiering this month are other TNT programs such as Saving Grace, Wedding Day, Raising the Bar, and The Closer just to name a few.

Prior to receiving the press kit for these new shows, I didn’t watch TNT all that much. Truth be known, one of my favorite networks is FX, followed by CW, and then the more common networks. However, after seeing Hawthorne and the other new and continuing shows that TNT has to offer, it’s safe to say that the network that knows drama just made a fan out of me.

In the first episode, Hawthorne is shown a surprise by the local homeless woman, Isabelle, who hangs around the hospital. The surprise, a baby, is a shock to Hawthorne who wants to check the baby immediately. With her help, Moses ends up on the road to recovery, despite his touch and go beginning on this planet. While working (even though it’s supposed to be her day off), Hawthorne has to go down to her daughters school who is having a sit down strike, while handcuffing herself to a vending machine to stop them from removing it from the school. And that’s just the beginning!

Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss everything else that happens. Hawthorne is on Tuesday nights at 9 PM Eastern. If the first episode is any indication of what to expect this season, it’s going to be a hot summer on TNT!

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