Heather Wines/CBSThere is always room for hot doctors on television. So Patrick Wilson...come on down!
Wilson, who will surely be your new favorite leading man after this show premieres, stars as Dr. Michael Holt, a talented but self-absorbed surgeon who starts seeing the spirit of his dead ex-wife. She wants him to change his ways, and he's trying to deal with his high-profile cases and family issues, all while questioning his sanity.
We know. The show already has a lot going on. Before we saw the pilot, we wondered what exactly the show was trying to be. A medical mystery of the week? A supernatural thriller? Or a haunted love story? Well, it turns out...
…it's all of these things. And more.
A Gifted Man (CBS)
Premieres: Friday, Sept. 23, 8:00 p.m.
Time-Slot Competition:Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC), Nikita (CW), Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), Chuck (NBC)
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Ehle, Julie Benz, Liam Aiken, Margo Martindale, Pablo Schreiber, Rachelle Lefevre
Status: We've seen the pilot episode
For the first half of the pilot, we get to know Dr. Holt, who is handsome, rich, successful and very good at his job. Oh, and he's handsome. Right off the bat you know you're supposed to dislike this guy and really hope that he changes his life, but Wilson plays him so perfectly, you love him anyway. (Hotness apparently goes a long way in our book.) Sure, we're probably headed for the whole "my dead ex-wife is showing me the error of my ways and I will make it right," but Michael is so charming and multidimensional that you're honestly OK if he stays exactly the same.
None of the pilot's medical cases are mysterious like on House, but the people involved with the patients and the stories surrounding them make them interesting. For example, a young tennis star is pressured by her dad to stay out of the hospital so she can keep winning championships. In the middle of all this, while also butting heads with his sassy secretary (Martindale) and trying to take care of his downtrodden sister (Benz) and troubled nephew, his ex-wife Anne (Ehle) appears. After having a pleasant but tension-filled night catching up, Michael shockingly learns that Anne has actually been dead for a couple weeks. Is he seeing…ghosts?
Anne, who was also a doctor at a free clinic in the rough part of town, is clearly having way too much fun freaking out Michael, but her reasons for appearing to him are important ones. Michael changes his ways a bit, but not enough to think he's a completely reformed man. Plus, we're left wondering if it's only Anne's ghost we will be seeing.
We're left wondering about a lot of stuff, actually. We're not sure how to describe the show, and it doesn't seem to know either. But it's OK, because Wilson is endearing and wonderful to watch, and his scenes with Ehele are both entertaining and full of emotional weight. So despite the fact we don't know how this show will play out each week, we're more than happy to watch it and find out. The show isn't reinventing anything plot-wise, but like we said, Wilson & Co. handle their characters so well that it's still very freshn.
Verdict: Watch. A Gifted Man has enough mystery to keep you coming back each week, and the cast makes this a must-see. Unless you're a Chuck fan, and then we're pretty sure you know how to operate your DVR.