November 07, 2024
Review

‘Saved,’ 10 p.m. TNT

What do the following cable-TV characters have in common: Tony Soprano, Vic Mackey, Christian Troy, Tommy Gavin? Now let’s add to this list Wyatt Cole.

Can you say conflicted anti-hero?

Actually, Cole, at the center of the new TNT drama “Saved,” is really anti-hero lite. As played by Tom Everett Scott (“That Thing You Do”), he’s a rebellious medical school dropout, the son of a renowned physician, who works as a Portland, Ore., paramedic largely for the rush. He’s a gambling addict in debt to loan sharks. He still has feelings for his ex-lover, now conveniently an E.R. doc he sees daily.

Of course, “Saved” has the requisite, energizing medical scenes. An interesting approach is a quick-cutting montage of the patient’s life, showing how he or she ended up in need of help.

But what “Saved” strives to be, like the show it follows, “The Closer,” is a character study. But its biggest problem is that, unlike that show, it lacks characters.

Cole’s partner Sack (Omari Hardwick) is a former deadbeat dad who’s trying to reconnect with his son. His former lover Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) just wants the safety of a relationship with a reliable man. Other characters are even less developed.

It’s tough to root for a directionless bored rich boy who’s constantly looking for thrills while slumming. Surely, some of his patients can tell him what a hand-to-mouth existence is like.

“Saved” is one of those doughnut series. There’s a big hole at its center.


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