Royal Pains

This is a very charming series unfortunately without much depth of plot or character development. Anyone stepping onto a ladder will inevitably fall and lapse into a seizure requiring complex emergency medical treatment. Once a character has been stabilized, they will subsequently be diagnosed with a rare disease and will eventually be cured after suffering numerous heart attacks, more seizures, various bacterial infections and so on. Almost no one dies.

The show is mostly ruined by Paulo Costanzo as "Evan". I don't know if Castanzo's mother is the producer, but the show gave him way to many scenes in exchange for his contribution to the series, which is a minus nothing. Constanzo "infects" mostly every scene with his distracting lack of talent.

Costanzo's "humor" is a hybrid mix of Seinfeld and Pee-wee Herman, both of which Costanzo channels in virtually every scene. Costanzo's delivery and timing are predictably predictable and downright annoying. Just as Evan annoys the characters in the show, similarly he annoys the audience with his predictable, unfunny antics, stupid facial expressions, using too many words, and childish Pee-wee manic behavior.

Here is my prescription. To enjoy the show you need to edit out Evan. When you see Evan entering a scene in one of his little pastel suits, and silly hat du jour, together with his little, puffy pee-we pout -- quickly FAST FORWARD through the entire scene until he is gone. Trust me, you will have missed nothing.