Cheers & Jeers: Nurse Jackie — Just What the Doctor Ordered
Edie Falco
Cheers to Nurse Jackie for recuperating from its creative ills in Season 4.
Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!
After spending much of its past two seasons repeating itself, Showtime's hospital dramedy has shown vital new signs of life. Jackie's cleaned up its act by sending Edie Falco's drug-addicted caregiver into rehab and forcing her to face the consequences of her actions, including her affair with Eddie (Paul Schulze). Husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) kicked her out and is now threatening to take away her daughters — and we don't blame him.
An infusion of fresh new blood to the cast, including Bobby Cannavale (as the hospital's cheerfully heartless new boss) and real-life son Jake Cannavale (as one of Jackie's fellow rehab patients), has helped reinvigorate the show. Also keeping up the pulse: an eclectic array of guest stars, like Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, the New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony and Rosie Perez, who was terrific in this week's episode as a terminally ill woman with tumors that made her appear pregnant.
Too bad, then, that executive producers Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem are leaving Jackie after this season. The show they cocreated may have endured the terrible twos (and threes), but they've pulled off a miracle cure.
What do you think of Nurse Jackie this season?
Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!