Frankly, NURSE JACKIE shouldn’t work.
The new Showtime series is, on paper, little more than a collection of cliches. The drugged-out nurse who knows more than the uncaring doctors she works with. The gay best friend. The annoying chatterbox of a nursing student. The opening and closing voiceovers.
Despite — or perhaps, in some weird way, because of — this seemingly flawed foundation, NURSE JACKIE proves to be yet another feather in Showtime’s almost tackily-over-ornamented cap. Like THE TUDORS, DEXTER and WEEDS, this is another show built around a wildly dysfunctional central character, yet never fear, as she is completely original thanks in equal parts to brilliant writing and a “give-her-the-Emmy-now-and-stop-wasting-everyone’s-time” performance from Edie Falco.
Carmela who?