'Heartland' treks through life and death
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
| |||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
||
Lives teeter delicately in "Heartland," the new cable drama series.
Some end; then others are saved. This is the world of an organ-transplant wing.
"David Hollander (the show's creator) really explores the emotional realities," says Kari Matchett, who co-stars.
She plays Kate Armstrong, who arranges organ donations. Treat Williams plays her ex-husband, Dr. Nathaniel Grant, a transplant surgeon.
They see other people's lives change instantly. Meanwhile, they are still trying to make their own lives work.
That's especially true of Dr. Grant. "He's someone who is not a social animal," Williams says. "He's a loner."
He has a hesitant relationship with his ex-wife, his teen daughter and his girlfriend.
The girlfriend (played by Brazilian native Morena Baccarin) is a nurse; most of his contacts are at the hospital.
"He's primarily a worker," Williams says. "That's the one place where he's comfortable."
Yes, that sounds familiar. When "Everwood" started, Williams' character (Dr. Andy Brown) was just like that.
There are two key differences this time, though:
Hourlong dramas can overwhelm their lead actors.
"Basically, you have 12- to 18-hour work days," Williams says. "It's unhealthy."
The difference is that "Heartland" is in the new world of short-order cable series.
Most network dramas want at least 22 episodes a year with eight or more filming days on each. The pace can be fierce.
Cable doesn't need that. It stuffs its line-ups with reruns and movies; the new shows are there to get attention, often with shorter, summertime runs.
For example, tonight, TNT starts the third summer of its acclaimed "The Closer" at 8 p.m. The show has a 15-episode run. Star Kyra Sedgwick spends half of each year in Connecticut with her husband (Kevin Bacon) and their two kids.
"Heartland," which premieres at 9 p.m. right after "Closer," has a tidy, nine-episode run for its first season. Williams has a short work year. Fortunately for him, he's also a pilot who flies home each weekend to be with his wife (Pam Van Sant) and their two sons in Park City, Utah.
For Williams, 55, a nine-episode season is fine. He's been busy for decades, ever since he was a song-and-dance guy, starring in Broadway's "Grease" and then the 1979 movie "Hair."
And Matchett? At 36, she may be the busiest actress on TV; she starred in "Invasion" last season and has been a regular in three shows this season.
That includes "24" (as Lisa Miller, the vice-president's chief of staff), with its end-of-the-world melodrama. And "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (as Mary Tate), with the rich dialogue of writer-producer Aaron Sorkin. "There's a musicality to his writing that I love," she says.
