USA's new hit show, Royal Pains, is more than filling the void of the usual summertime lull, but now we hear we might be heading for twice the fun with a possible crossover with fellow network show Burn Notice.
We decided to call upon concierge doctor Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein), while shooting in the Hamptons, to get the dirt on what's in store for his practice, HankMed, for Hank's relationship with Jill (Jill Flint) and for getting the gorgeous Jeffrey Donovan to the Hamptons pronto.
What initially attracted you to Royal Pains?
Imagine you're me, an actor who's been in and out of TV shows and movies for 10 or more years and someone comes to you with a script and says you can play a comedic and dramatic lead in a series on the most successful network on cable right now, and every day you'll go to work in the most beautiful location on the East Coast, if not in the country, and every day you'll be surrounded by awesome, beautiful, cool people. What are you going to say? Are you going to say no? You're going to say yes! It's the dream job.
We see Royal Pains as a summer show taking place in the Hamptons. What will happen if you are picked up for a second season? Does Hank leave the Hamptons for the winter?
So in the episode that we're shooting, I'm going to give you a slightly sneak peek at one thing that happens. There will be some rocky roads ahead for Jill and Hank as a couple. In that dialogue I do say something to her like, "When I met you, I had a job that I loved and a woman that I thought I loved, and if you told me then that I'd be here now doing this, I would say you're crazy." And then I say to her, "I cannot tell you where I'll be after Labor Day." So the line, "I cannot tell you where I'll be after Labor Day," is a good indication that not only does Hank not know what's going to happen to him next, but neither do I. Does Hank set up permanent shop in the Hamptons? Does he go to Bora Bora next? It's all up to the brilliant writing staff that we have. I think what will happen if we come back for a second season is our show would take place the following summer. I just think the show is a blue sky show set in a blue sky world of the Hamptons and nobody really wants to see a Royal Pains set in the miserable, cold, dank, dark winter of the Hamptons.
Has there been talk of a second-season pickup?
That is a very good question. You hit me where I live. Once again let's pretend that I'm a cool guy who doesn't really care about a pickup for a second season. No big deal, man. I just live it one day at a time. Bulls--t. I am hanging on the edge of my seat by the telephone, waiting for that moment when we get the call from the network, from our executive producers, from my manager...whoever the hell finds out first. At the risk of being immodest, we got a number for our third week on the air that is literally the top three ratings numbers in the history of USA for a new series. So right now, without jinxing us, I have reason to believe that we have the right to good news somewhere down the road.
So you said there would be a rocky road ahead for Jill and Hank, what can we expect?
You can expect moments of happiness interspersed with tempestuous fights that are filled with the sexual tension that we have, which leads to either our complete and total demise or our hot and heavy desire to continue that is challenged by lots of different circumstances.
The real relationship fans love is between Hank and his brother, Evan (Paulo Costanzo). How is that going to evolve this season?
You find out that our father lost a lot of his money in the stock market. That our father has kind of abandoned us. You find out something about our mother—it has to do with her health and her getting sick. That has something to do with why I became a doctor. And the fact that our father has been kind of sketchy with money has something to do with our different opinions about money and the rich and the whole life in the Hamptons that we're now living.
Now that Hank is gaining notoriety in the Hamptons, will he be hired by a hospital?
It's actually a very brilliant question you've asked, and if you watch the first scene of not this week, but next week's episode, you will see that you're not just good at asking people questions, but you're a fortune teller of pretense visionary who has predicted a certain piece of information that comes out in the first scene of our fifth episode. I do get an offer to work at a hospital, the one Jill works at. She offers me a job in the beginning of episode five.
A lot of fans have been wondering if there will be a crossover with Burn Notice. Maybe have Boris (Campbell Scott) stir up some trouble in Miami?
That's funny. We've actually spoken with the USA creative people about a crossover episode, and they were open to the idea, and they do brilliant promotion crossover with me and Michael Westen. I thought it was just genius to take the success of one show and try to translate it to the success of another, which clearly, keeping our fingers crossed, has worked. I would love to see that happen. I think Jeffrey Donovan is an excellent actor, so I'd love to take him downtown to Chinatown.
What can you tease for the readers?
This is going off of your intrigue of the character of Boris, which you sort of mentioned in your Burn Notice question. Boris hasn't just hired me as an accessory or as way of getting information about other people in the Hamptons. Up until episode seven, that's all you might believe. Boris has hired me for some reason pertaining to him and his particular needs that will be revealed over time in the final moment of episode seven. But suffice to say, all is not well in Boris-land. It's a tease, baby, and that's all I'm gonna give you.
Thank you so much for chatting. Really looking forward to the rest of the first season of Royal Pains.
My narcissistic self has to point it out to you: I'm seeing my face on the back of the bus on 51st and 3rd, and it's just an appropriate bookend to this lovely interview.
Who's dying to see Michael Westen meet Hank Lawson? Hit the comments with your pleas for the crossover.