Do No Harm

HANDICAPPING THE NEW NBC MIDSEASON SERIES

Described as House meets Dexter, a successful neurosurgeon (Steven Pasquale) struggles to keep his alter ego under control. Every night at the same hour, something inside Jason changes, turning him into a seductive, devious, borderline sociopathic. De La Garza, Samm Levine, Lin-Mauel Miranda and Phylicia Rashad round off the cast.

-Time Period: Thursday 10 p.m.
-Lead-in: 1600 Penn
-Competition: Scandal (ABC), Elementary (CBS)

-The Scoop:
Executive producer David Schulner on the concept of the split personality type of drama and why Do No Harm has the goods to succeed:

“I think that ultimately you can only write the show you want to watch, and this was a show that I just wanted to see on TV. I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be thrilling. I wanted it to be a roller coaster ride. And I wanted it to have stakes. So it wasn’t enough just to be fun. I wanted the love story between Steven’s character and Alana’s character to be the center of this. I wanted it to be dangerous and sexy. So hopefully those ingredients will make it different than what’s come before.”

-The Reality:
The potentially positive news from the outset is the low benchmark. Do No Harm is replacing newsmagazine Rock Center With Brian Williams (which is shifting to Fridays at 10 p.m. out of Dateline). So, there is every reason to believe the time period ratings will increase. But given the recent poor track record in the hour for new scripted dramas (similar appeal Awake, The Firm and Prime Suspect in just the last year), and the lack of proven lead-in support from new sitcom 1600 Penn, Do No Harm is a definite long-shot.

-Odds of Survival for Do No Harm (Based on 1-1 to 10-1 odds): 8-1