quote:

But what hindered the true potential of this season was the illogical writing treatment of Jackie's secrets. If she's worked at the same hospital for 15 years, someone had to have noticed that she was pregnant twice (unless she adopted those children, and the show's never hinted at that).

Something they need to address is the time thing. The creators have in interviews -- ER nurses apparently bounce around all the time, so Jackie's only been there for a few years -- but they haven't yet established that in-show, and its clearly hurting more than they think to not make that obvious.

I can't decide if leaving all those strings still dangling at the end of the season was brilliant or a letdown. Though I do agree that we needed to know more about O'Hara and her mother. Did Eddie tell Kevin? Is Jackie in trouble for taking the drugs she can't account for? I'm dying for more.

The NYPost had a review today slamming the show. The reviewer didn't like the root they took with all men fighting over Jackie; especially Coop root.

I almost feel the writers thought the show would be 1 season thing and had to change it at the end

Well, the first season of Nurse Jackie is over and Edie Falco has proven once again why she is such a formidable actress. The season finale was slightly tamer than I predicted, but it still showcased a strong performance from Falco, who with the season finale has several good tapes to choose from next year.

It will be interesting to see why Jackie has kept so much of herself private and whether or not she can keep Kevin out of the loop about Eddie and her drug addiction. Anna Deveare Smith was pretty good all season and her being stuck in the elevator was good comic relief, as was Merritt Wever’s Zoey, who should earn a supporting nod next year. Eve Best was great as well, and she could definitely be on the list of supporting actress as well.

It’s a foregone conclusion that Falco will provide still competitoin for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series next year. She infused so much comedy, drama, sarcasm-range any actor would dream of. The should could get writing and directing nods for the Pilot episode, because the pilot at least does a great job at setting up who Jackie is all about and people will be shocked to see she has a family at the end of the episode. Hopefully, next year, we can get a better understanding of Jackie’s motives and certain aspects of her family’s life, especially her children, as Atypical alluded to. Regardless, it’s sad the season is already over and I can’t wait until next year.

“Health Care and Cinema”: B+
Nurse Jackie Season One: A-

Someone said the show had yet to find its footing. I 100% agree but thanks to Edie Falco "NJ" remained compelling albeit highly uneven. I do like that the threads from this season were left dangling but I hope the writing will be more focused in season 2 and leave some of the quirkiness to the imagination.

I agree that there need to be a lot of loose ends tied up but I love the quirkiness of the show and I really hope they don't tone that down.

A pretty great season I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed this show and I expect(Falco) and hope for(Wever) this show to be competative at next year's Emmys.

"Damn it, Zoey! Change your scrubs!"

I thought the season finale was merely ok, but I like how they left the viewers wanting more. I agree that some loose ends should've been tied up, but I have a feeling NJ is only going to get better next season. The potential is certainly there. Their debut season had its uneven moments, but overall I think this show's first season was remarkably solid. I'll be back for the second season.

And yes, this supporting cast is excellent. I hope the writers give them more to do next season. And Falco should start picking out dresses for the Globes, SAGs and Emmys next year. I hate to sound like a Falco fanboy, but she's dynamite in this...funny, sad, cool, dramatic, sexy, charismatic...NJ is a dream role for any actor.

quote:

Originally posted by jdb1131978:
Merritt Weaver is great, but I really enjoy Eve Best...I think she's perfect as Dr. O'Hara.

I still have 2 episodes to go in the season, but yeah, Eve Best is the MVP of this show for me. I was on the fence about her character after a couple episodes, but she's developed into an absolutely hilarious character. She's icy but not the stereotypical "bitch". She's just a ton of fun and makes no apologies for herself. Emmy nod please.

Just finished the season. It's a solid show, but not a spectacular one. I'm not CLAWING to see season 2, but I'll probably tune in to see it. This isn't a show I'd allot time for on a weekly basis, but to watch all 12 episodes in less than a week's time was definitely the way to view the show.

The show does have tone issues. I thought the show really found its footing in the last few episodes as it let things get more zany and relaxed. In the previous episodes, I just found things too dark and the tone shifted too wildly between very dramatic stuff to cartoonish-like comedy (Ackletis shocking herself with the stun gun). Plus I still haven't figured out if I like/care about the character of Jackie, but I found in the last few episodes there wasn't as much focused on her which made it easier to enjoy.
I agree that the logistics of Jackie hiding these secrets for this long is ridiculous. Her "lives" would have crossed at some point. PLus it never really went into what Jackie and Eddie's relationship really was. Were they simply f*** buds or did they actually hang out outside the hospital? They seemed to hint in an early episode that she would go to his place sometimes in the scene where he invited her over...but we never did see them in any other place other than sneaking around the hospital...which seems odd that Eddie, in a year's time, would never question why they had to keep the relationship such a secret.

Falco was very good here. I wouldn't hand her an Emmy, but definitely a nomination. She plays this role very well. There's just better comedic performances on tv right now.
The supporting cast was solid, but I agree they could be better used. Anna Devere Smith was a ton of fun and really solid her goofy material extremely well. Merrit Wever was a ton of fun too. I have a massive crush on Haaz Slaiman, and hopefully he'll get more to do in season 2.
I said it in an earlier post, but Eve Best was the MVP for me of the show. She freakin nailed this role. This could have been a cliched icy/bitchy queen role, but she played it with such energy and pure fun that you couldn't help but like her.
B+

Showtime has announced that Season 2 will premiere on Monday, March 22 (along with United States of Tara).

quote:

Originally posted by Bazookka Joe:
Showtime has announced that Season 2 will premiere on Monday, March 22 (along with United States of Tara).

That sounds like an excellent pairing!

quote:

Originally posted by Bazookka Joe:
Showtime has announced that Season 2 will premiere on Monday, March 22 (along with United States of Tara).

Why would they do that to Nurse Jackie, they are basically screwing them out of another set of Emmy nods for on of the seasons.

That's a season's worth of submissions wasted for "Nurse Jackie." Sigh.

Well, hopefully the new episodes will actually be worth submitting.

That is very bad timing on Showtime's part. What exactly are the rules for eligibility for submissions? It would seem as if SHO would at least start airing the new episodes in June as far as Nurse Jackie goes. United States of Tara's new episodes airing earlier makes sense, though. That would mean Falco would not even be eligible for Emmy consideration until her third season's batch of episodes.

Wow they totally screwed the show's Emmy chances especially for Edie Falco.

I guess that Showtime won't really dominate the category especially since the Laura Linney one hasn't started yet.

quote:

Originally posted by rrussaw:
That is very bad timing on Showtime's part. What exactly are the rules for eligibility for submissions? It would seem as if SHO would at least start airing the new episodes in June as far as Nurse Jackie goes. United States of Tara's new episodes airing earlier makes sense, though. That would mean Falco would not even be eligible for Emmy consideration until her third season's batch of episodes.

Well no, she will be able to submit an episode either from Season One or Two, but it just seems dumb not to have Season Two start until after June so that she could have been nominated for both Seasons.

They did the same thing last season with "Secret Diary of a Call Girl". And if I'm correct HBO also did the same thing with first and second season of "SFU". I'm okey with that because it means the show has more tapes to choose from.

On one hand, I'm happy I don't have to wait too long for season 2 to begin. Pairing it with Tara is a nice move on Showtime's part.

On the other hand, I do hope this doesn't negatively affect the shows Emmy chances. If it does mean the show has more tapes to choose from, then that's great news.

Yeah, they'll just have two seasons worth of episodes to choose from.

Showtime really has nothing of note airing for several months after Dexter finishes its current season. Their movie inventory (which was already much weaker than HBO's, Starz's and Cinemax's), is especially bad right now because of the output deal with Paramount that they chose not to renew. And none of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Tracy Ullman's State of the Union, or The United States of Tara have really been ratings successes. Nurse Jackie, however, was. They were smart to renew it quickly and get Season 2 into production quickly so they could bring it back this soon.