TV PREVIEW
“Complications,” 9 p.m. Thursdays (premieres June 18), USA
On the surface, USA’s Atlanta-based drama “Complications” is about the travails of an ER doctor. But it’s nothing like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “House” or “ER.”
Rather, it’s more like a tense action thriller with elements of “24” and “The Wire” thrown in for good measure.
Jason O’Mara stars as Dr. John Ellison, still mourning the death of his daughter to leukemia. A year has passed. He happens to see a drive-by shooting and, as a doctor, runs to the child to save him. But the gang bangers who tried to kill the boy return. He grabs a gun and shoots. He strikes a gang member dead, instantly becoming a vigilante hero. The father of the boy happens to be a rival gang leader who wants Dr. Ellison to protect his recuperating child.
“The decisions he makes in order to protect this boy lead him down a dark path,” said O’Mara, who has starred in high-concept shows such as Fox’s “Terra Nova” and ABC’s “Life on Mars” that didn’t make it to season two. “He’s a fish out of water in this gang world. He’s an ordinary man being asked to do extraordinary things.”
Ellison resists getting sucked into this messy world but can’t escape. It seems every time he tries to do something right, something else goes wrong. Fortunately, he teams up with an unpredictable but well-meaning nurse, Gretchen (Jessica Szohr), who helps him navigate tricky, often morally questionable waters inside and outside the hospital.
“We’re kind of like Batman and Robin,” Szohr said. “My character is super tough. I surprise him at times with the choices I make. I am sort of a loose cannon.”
At the same time, he tries to hide his gang-connected actions from his grieving wife, Samantha (Beth Riesgraf), who has her fair share of secrets. “She’s a frustrated, lonely woman,” Riesgraf said. “Her husband has shut her out.”
Matt Nix, who created the much lighter-hearted USA hit show “Burn Notice,” used a personal experience as a touching-off point for “Complications.”
Ten years ago, Nix lived in a gentrifying neighborhood where he ran into a boy meaning to rob him in his own home. He spoke briefly with the teen, who then left. Nix impulsively followed him and wrote down the license plate of the car the kid had stolen. He reported the stolen car to the police, who warned him that a gang leader’s home was down the block, that he should watch his back. Nix learned about the boy’s background from neighbors and his connections to the gang. But ultimately, nothing bad happened to Nix.
He later wondered if his actions could have led to something far worse: “This could have changed my life in a way I was totally unprepared for.”
This premise led to the show “Complications.”
He said Atlanta, in all its diversity, worked well for “Complications.” Over the episodes, you’ll hear references to Kirkwood, Marietta Street, Candler Park, Morningside and Clark Atlanta University.
O’Mara hopes “Complications” can be that elusive hit he’s been waiting for. “The idea of doing multiple seasons is so alien to me,” he said. “I don’t even know what that would feel like!”
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