Jada Pinkett-Smith has returned to scripted TV for the first time in 15 years by playing a nurse on the new TNT drama "Hawthorne," debuting Tuesday night at 9 p.m.
For her, it’s partly to honor her mom, who is a registered nurse herself. But of course, as most actors say, she loved the script.
“And I just loved the opportunity that I saw in this world,” she said in a phone interview late last month. “It’s a great opportunity to get into the grind of television and intensity of television and exercise my producer’s skills and learn more about the mechanics of storytelling.”
I asked why she used the word “grind”? “Intensity. It’s like, in three months time on a movie, you’ll shoot 115 to 120 pages of dialogue. In three months of ‘Hawthorne,’ we will shoot 600 pages of dialogue.”
She acknowledged that there's a sudden influx of nurse shows, including Showtime's much edgier "Nurse Jackie," which stars Edie Falco and was renewed after just one episode, and an NBC show this fall called "Mercy." "They take it from different vantage points," she said. "It's a rich world. You can tell a lot of stories in many ways."
Why do doctors get all the glory on TV (and probably in real life)? “They’re the ones seen as heroes,” she said. “They’re the ones attacking the actual ailments. The nurse though spends the most time with the patients. The nurses act as mentors, psychologists. you name it. I really feel like nurses the human soul while the doctors heal the body.”
She plays Christina Hawthorne, head nurse at a Richmond, Va. hospital who is still suffering from her husband dying of cancer a year earlier. Like many similar characters on other shows, she’s a tough-as-nails workaholic who deep down, has a heart of gold and fights for her nurses against the arrogant doctors.
The first episode also features a scene where a fellow nurse helps out a patient and military vet in a rather, um, pleasurable fashion. I asked if I saw what I thought I was seeing: “You are seeing what you are seeing,” Pinkett-Smith said with a chuckle. “It was hilarious… she feels like serving her countrymen.”
She appreciates how TNT has embraced strong female characters, including those on “Saving Grace” and “The Closer.” “They’re such great people to work with and they understand what it takes to make a colorful female character, a complete coman. You’ll see women with angel wings and halos but also pitchforks when on some networks, it’s one or the other. I love that.”
Scarily, this is one of only a handful of one-hour dramas led by a black female. The L.A. Times cites Jill Scott in the current HBO series "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" and the '70s action series "Get Christie Love" starring Teresa Graves.
She had joked to other media outlets that she loves Michelle Obama and would love to play her but she realizes she's way too short for the role. "How about 12-inch heels?" I asked facetiously. She laughed. "That won't work at all!"
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