The Netflix Medical Procedural Perfect For Binging

Royal Pains is a unique medical dramedy that doesn’t take place in your typical hospital setting. Instead, it follows Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein), who moves to the Hamptons to work as a concierge doctor. While this job typically requires him to cater to the rich and elite, he also offers care to patients who don’t have the same level of means.

Along with Mark Feuerstein, Royal Pains features a likable ensemble cast that includes Paulo Costanzo, Reshma Shetty, Brooke D’Orsay, Ben Shenkman, Jill Flint, and Campbell Scott. As you might expect from a “Blue Sky” era dramedy, the show is easy to binge, has characters you get attached to, and doles out comedy and drama in nearly equal measure. It’s the same formula from a bygone era of network television that has made Suits surge in popularity recently. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the “Blue Sky” era, it refers to the highly successful string of shows released in the early 2000s and early 2010s by USA Network. Also referred to as the “Characters Welcome” era, it featured mostly scripted, character-driven dramedies with a quirky tone in a variety of genres. The era was kicked off by the popular detective series Monk, which was followed by shows like Suits, Royal Pains, Psych, Burn Notice, and White Collar.

It seems like streaming subscribers are craving that kind of show again, as Suits broke numerous viewership records after appearing on Netflix. Royal Pains ran for eight seasons and became one of the highest-rated shows on cable, so it’s sure to bring in some major streaming numbers as well. This recent surge in popularity is likely why NBCUniversal announced that it plans on launching new original scripted content on USA network by 2025. 

While this might not seem like a huge announcement, it’s pretty surprising with the current landscape of original content mostly ending up on streaming services. USA Network dedicating significant financial resources to bringing back “Blue Sky” era television signals how significant the stemming numbers have been for shows like Suits and Royal Pains. Also, USA Network currently only has one scripted series, Chucky, which it shares with SYFY Network.

The “Blue Sky” era was truly a high watermark for USA Network, as it helped it become the #1-ranked cable network for 14 years in a row. It’s no wonder that it’s trying to recapture that success. And although shows like Royal Pains have over 100 episodes, Netflix subscribers have been happily burning through them.

It’ll be interesting to see if USA Network’s experiment with new original scripted content will work out for the cable TV channel. If not, we’ll always be able to stream those “Blue Sky” era shows ad nauseam on services like Hulu and Netflix. Make sure to binge Royal Pains on Netflix if you haven’t already.