Royal Pains


Royal Pains is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series was based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies. The cast of the show included Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint, Reshma Shetty, Brooke D'Orsay, Ben Shenkman, and Campbell Scott.

Series synopsis

The series follows Hank Lawson, a young emergency room doctor, who after being wrongly blamed for an important patient's death, moves to the Hamptons and becomes a reluctant "doctor for hire" to the rich and famous. When the administrator of the local hospital asks him to treat the town's less fortunate, he finds himself walking the line between doing well for himself and doing good for others.

Cast and characters

Main characters

Location

Principal production of the show's pilot occurred in the Hamptons. However, other locations throughout Long Island were used, with Oheka Castle being the most prominent. Although actually located 60 miles to the west, in Huntington, Oheka served as the Hamptons home of Boris, the German nobleman who offers his guest house to Hank and Evan. In later episodes, exterior and aerial shots of Oheka are used to introduce scenes in the guest house.
In one episode, a Long Beach drive-through convenience store, Dairy Barn, was used as a fictional hot dog stand; a sign can be seen in the opening of that scene. Also, several scenes were shot on the bay side of Point Lookout. Other places used as fictional Hamptons locations include Northport Village in the Town of Huntington, Old Westbury Gardens, Freeport's Nautical Mile, which served as the exterior and parking lot of Hampton Heritage Hospital Caumsett State Historic Park and Oyster Bay Town Hall, which was transformed into the entrance of the Hamptons Heritage Hospital emergency room. Catalina Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, New York was transformed for the pilot episode into the fictional Hampt Inn, the hotel Hank and Evan stayed in upon their arrival in the Hamptons. Downtown Locust Valley, another haunt of the wealthy on Long Island's Gold Coast, plays downtown East Hampton in at least one episode, with interior shots in a store as well as street scenes. Other areas of filming include Roslyn, New York and Manhasset, New York, where the North Hempstead, New York Town Hall was used as a police station.
For several beach scenes, West Neck Beach was used and a food shopping scene was filmed in Southdown Market in Huntington. Huntington Hospital was used for Hamptons Heritage Hospital.
Two episodes of the second season take place in Cuba, but were filmed in Puerto Rico.

Development and production

The pilot was filmed on location on Long Island, New York in the spring and fall of 2008. The pilot was directed by Jace Alexander, who also filmed the pilot of Burn Notice, another USA Network show, which aired in the hour before Royal Pains. Andrew Lenchewski wrote the pilot and Rich and Paul Frank executive-produced the project, with Lenchewski co-executive producing and John P. Rogers producing. The series was then picked up for a 12-episode season. On February 24, 2011, the show completed its second season. The show was renewed for a sixth season which was filmed in New York and premiered on June 10, 2014.

Awards and nominations

Reception

Royal Pains has become one of the highest-rated shows on cable. The series premiere was watched by 5.57 million viewers, the highest series premiere for the USA Network since Psych in 2006. With episodes two and three watched by 5.59 million and 6.5 million viewers, respectively, it was the first show in five years to have viewership increase from week two to week three.

Ratings

Home media

released the first season of Royal Pains in Region 1 on May 25, 2010, and released it in Region 4 on August 25, 2010. Season 2 was released in Region 1 on May 17, 2011. A DVD released on January 3, 2012, contained the first 10 episodes of the third season. Episodes are also available on iTunes.
The complete series is scheduled to be released on DVD by Mill Creek Entertainment on September 22, 2020.
TitleRegion 1Region 2Region 4Bonus Features
Season 1May 25, 2010July 26, 2010August 25, 2010Deleted Scenes; Gag Reel; Commentary; Paulo's Video Blogs; Dr. Irv Danesh: The Real Doctor of Royal Pains; "High Top Fade Out"
Season 2May 17, 2011August 12, 2013March 28, 2012Deleted Scenes; Gag Reel; Commentary; Guest Starring; Location, Location, Location
Season 3January 3, 2012
August 5, 2013
Season 4May 7, 2014July 6, 2015
Season 5September 23, 2014July 6, 2015
Season 6April 28, 2015
Season 7April 26, 2016
Season 8July 19, 2016

Books

From 2011 to 2012, D.P. Lyle published two novels based on the television series, under Signet Books' Obsidian imprint.
TitleAuthorISBNPublication date
First, Do No HarmD.P. Lyle, M.D.June 7, 2011
Sick RichD.P. Lyle, M.D.January 3, 2012

Legal issues

On July 6, 2010, actor Hayden Christensen and his older brother Tove filed a lawsuit against USA Network in a Manhattan Federal Court. In the suit, the brothers claimed to have pitched USA Network an idea for a new television series, called Housecall, which involved a concierge doctor who made house calls to the rich and famous. The two brothers also claimed that a USA Network executive told them, "prior to learning about Housecall, he was unaware of concierge doctors and that he thought it was a fascinating idea." A USA Network spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit. On May 10, 2011, a Manhattan judge ruled not enough evidence was available to justify a breach-of-contract claim because the claim concerns "materials that are not copyrightable, such as ideas." The decision was reversed on appeal in June 2012, the court holding that Christensens' claims were not pre-empted by copyright law. The opinion stated, "There are several qualitative differences between such a contract claim and a copyright violation claim," and added that sister appellate circuits recently had come to this same conclusion. The case was settled in May 2013, with no details made public.