Royal Pains is a USA Network television series that premiered on June 4, 2009, starring Mark
Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint, Reshma Shetty, Brooke D'Orsay, Ben Shenkman, and
Campbell Scott.
The series is based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors
and companies.
On September 25, 2012, Royal Pains was renewed for its fifth and sixth seasons.
Series synopsis The series follows Hank Lawson, a young emergency
room doctor, who after being wrongly blamed for an important patient's death, moves to
the Hamptons and becomes a reluctant "doctor for hire" to the rich and famous.
When the administrator of the local hospital asks him to treat the town's less fortunate,
he finds himself walking the line between doing well for himself and doing good for
others.
Cast and characters
Main characters Mark Feuerstein as Dr. Henry "Hank" Lawson:
Formerly a successful New York E.R.
doctor, he was dismissed from his job after a wealthy hospital benefactor died in his
care.
When he saves someone's life during a trip to The Hamptons, he accepts an offer from
Boris, a German nobleman, to remain as a "concierge doctor" in the resort community.
He usually attends to wealthy clientele, but also others in need of care and often without
the means to pay.
According to the episode "Keeping the Faith", he and his brother are Jewish.
Paulo Costanzo as Evan Roth Lawson: Hank's younger brother.
He is an accountant and self-appointed CFO of HankMed.
Evan's job is to promote the HankMed business, at times using strategies that Hank finds
inappropriate or too commercial.
At the end of Season 4, he gets married to Paige, the adopted daughter of a wealthy,
conservative military man who is running for Congress.
Jill Flint as Jill Casey: Hank's on again/off again girlfriend and an administrator at Hamptons
Heritage, the local hospital.
Jill works with Hank to open a small clinic while running the local community hospital.
In the fourth season she leaves the Hamptons to do relief work in Africa.
Reshma Shetty as Divya Katdare: Hank's physician assistant.
She joins the team early and is invaluable to Hank.
She initially has to keep her medical career a secret from her parents.
Forced by her parents into an arranged betrothal to a childhood friend, she has finally broken
free of their control and is living on her own.
As of season 5 Divya has a daughter named Sashy
Brooke D'Orsay as Paige Collins: Evan's wife.
Paige is the daughter of a wealthy, conservative former military officer with political aspirations
who does not think Evan is good enough for his daughter.
Paige and Evan meet when she hires him to play her pretend boyfriend, but their pretend
relationship soon blossoms into a real one.
In the Season 4 episode "Who's Your Daddy?", it is revealed that she is adopted, and in
the season 4 finale/special "Off-Season Greetings", she and Evan marry.
Campbell Scott as Boris Kuester von Jurgens-Ratenicz: A wealthy and titled German businessman who
offers Hank and Evan his guest house, and is Hank's first client.
Boris has a genetic disease he is determined will die with him, and which he fights with
equal determination, often by seeking rare or risky treatments.
Used to getting what he wants, Boris has a rigid code of conduct, which can at times
put him at odds with Hank.
Ben Shenkman as Dr. Jeremiah Sacani: Hired by Evan to be Hank's replacement during Evan
and Hank's temporary halt to their business partnership, Sacani stayed on when Hank and
Evan made peace.
He is an accomplished researcher and excellent at his work although he has an awkward bedside
manner because his limited social skills.
Sacani is an heir to a vast fortune.
Recurring characters Henry Winkler as Eddie R. Lawson: Hank and
Evan's loving, ne'er-do-well father who left the boys when they were young.
Accused of embezzlement, Eddie served a short term in prison and is now on parole, and has
begun to rebuild his relationship with his sons.
Anastasia Griffith as Dr. Emily Peck: A self-assured rival doctor who works with Hank.
Emily is hired to substitute for Hank while Hank makes an extended visit to Cuba with
Boris, and soon comes into conflict with Divya because of her confidence and her detached
approach to her patients.
Tom Cavanagh as Jack O'Malley: A pro golfer who was featured in the Season 2 episode "Mulligan"
and later became a recurring character in Season 3, as his friendship with Hank became
more pronounced.
Jack died in the Season 3 episode "Hank and the Deep Blue Sea" which caused Hank to develop
emotional trauma.
Kyle Howard as Dr. Paul Van Dyke: A staff doctor at Hampton's Heritage, Divya first
meets him while moonlighting at the hospital.
After a brief flirtation between him and Divya, Evan hires him as one of Hank's replacements
during the temporary halt to the business partnership between Hank and Evan. Van Dyke's
personality is very energetic and impulsive which has gotten him into awkward situations
professionally and socially.
Van Dyke would later join the new Hankmed.
He had a pet rabbit of which he was very fond.
Anna George as Rubina Katdare: Divya's reserved and loyal mother.
She follows the traditions of a traditional Indian housewife, a sympathetic ear to Divya's
frustrations and a bridge to Divya's father.
When Divya's father disowns her, Rubina secretly keeps a relationship with Divya.
She is eventually inspired by Divya to follow her heart, which causes her to leave her husband
and travel the world.
Ajay Mehta as Devesh Katdare: Divya's strict and straight laced father.
He disowns Divya when she cancels her wedding with Raj.
Episodes
Location Principal production of the show's pilot occurred
in the Hamptons.
However, other locations throughout Long Island were used, with Oheka Castle being the most
prominent.
Although actually located 60 miles to the west, in Huntington, Oheka served as the Hamptons
home of Boris, the German nobleman who offers his guest house to Hank and Evan.
In later episodes, exterior and aerial shots of Oheka are used to introduce scenes in the
guest house.
In one episode, a Long Beach drive-through convenience store, Dairy Barn, was used as
a fictional hot dog stand; a sign can be seen in the opening of that scene.
Also, several scenes were shot on the bay side of Point Lookout.
Other places used as fictional Hamptons locations include Northport Village in the Town of Huntington,
Old Westbury Gardens, Freeport's Nautical Mile, which served as the exterior and parking
lot of Hampton Heritage Hospital Caumsett State Historic Park and Oyster Bay Town Hall,
which was transformed into the entrance of the Hamptons Heritage Hospital emergency room.
Catalina Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, New York was transformed for the pilot episode
into the fictional Hampt Inn, the hotel Hank and Evan stayed in upon their arrival in the
Hamptons.
Downtown Locust Valley, another haunt of the wealthy on Long Island's Gold Coast, plays
downtown East Hampton in at least one episode, with interior shots in a store as well as
street scenes.
For several beach scenes, West Neck Beach was used and a food shopping scene was filmed
in Southdown Market in Huntington.
Huntington Hospital is now used for Hamptons Heritage Hospital.
Two episodes of the second season take place in Cuba, but were filmed in Puerto Rico.
Development and production The pilot was filmed on location on Long Island,
New York in the spring and fall of 2008.
The pilot was directed by Jace Alexander, who also filmed the pilot of Burn Notice,
another USA Network show, which airs in the hour before Royal Pains.
Andrew Lenchewski wrote the pilot and Rich and Paul Frank executive produced the project,
with Lenchewski co-executive producing and John P. Rogers producing.
The series was then picked up for a 12-episode season.
On February 24, 2011, the show completed its second season.
The show was renewed for a sixth season Season 6 was filmed in New York and premiered on
June 10th, 2014.
Reception Royal Pains has become one of the highest
rated shows on cable.
The series premiere was watched by 5.57 million viewers, the highest series premiere for the
USA Network since Psych in 2006.
With episodes two and three watched by 5.59 million viewers and 6.5 million, respectively,
it was the first show in five years to have viewership increase from week two to week
three.
Ratings DVD releases
Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first season of Royal Pains in Region
1 on May 25, 2010, and released it in Region 4 on August 25, 2010.
Season Two was released in Region 1 on May 17, 2011.
A DVD was released on January 3, 2012 containing the first 10 episodes of the third season.
Episodes are also available on iTunes and seasons 1-5 are now available on Netflix.com
through their streaming service.
Novel series Beginning in 2011, D.P.
Lyle began publishing a book series based on the television series, under Signet Books'
Obsidian imprint.
International distribution Legal issues
On July 6, 2010, actor Hayden Christensen and his older brother Tove filed a lawsuit
against the USA Network in a Manhattan Federal Court.
In the suit, the brothers claimed to have pitched to the USA Network an idea for a new
television series, called Housecall, which involved a concierge doctor who made house
calls to the rich and famous.
The two brothers also claimed that a USA Network executive told them that, "prior to learning
about Housecall, he was unaware of concierge doctors and that he thought it was a fascinating
idea."
A USA Network spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
On May 10, 2011, a Manhattan judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to justify a
breach-of-contract claim because the claim concerns "materials that are not copyrightable,
such as ideas."
The decision was reversed on appeal in June 2012, the court holding that Christensens'
claims were not pre-empted by copyright law.
The opinion stated, "There are several qualitative differences between such a contract claim
and a copyright violation claim," and added that sister appellate circuits recently had
come to this same conclusion.
References
External links Official website
Royal Pains at the Internet Movie Database