By Curt Schleier

HEARTLAND, the new TNT series (Mondays at 10 p.m.) is a fine — though hardly spectacular — series.  And, if you think that’s damning it with faint praise, well, you’re right.

At its heart is Dr. Nathanial Grant (Treat Williams), who is gruff and rough, though certainly not heartless. He’s passionate about his work, but has little time for anything that resembles a relationship. How do we all know this? For one thing, he smokes. How much more rough and gruff can you be?

For another, he apparently can’t be bothered to learn his associate’s name. Instead, he calls Dr. Simon Griffith (Chris William Martin) by his birthplace — Vancouver — rather than his name. (It could have been worse. He could have been from Cucamonga.)

Grant is divorced, but all his ex-wife, Kate (Kari Matchett), has to do is show up at his bachelor pad and they’re doing the dirty — even though his girlfriend will catch them in the sack. This, of course, prompts Kate to say, “I’ll take my heart elsewhere,” which is the best line in the show.

Dr. Grant takes the cases of other doctors more interested in their survival statistics than in saving lives. He also accepts less-than-perfect organs other doctors turn down, figuring that for his patients, half a chance is better than none.

The problem is that creator/writer/producer David Hollander apparently worked from the outside in. It is as though he assigned the idiosyncrasies first and then came up with a character, rather than vice versa. Dr. Grant is flawed in a TV sort of way — but he’s designed like that. Ideally, you create a show’s protagonist first and allow his (or her) eccentricities to develop as a natural outgrowth of his behavior. So, in the end, Grant is less a character than a caricature; a black and white stereotype, rather than a person who has subtlety and shades of gray.

Worse still, the show is predictable. There is nothing edgy or new here. It is the kind of drama you see with rare exceptions on broadcast television. And, if you think that’s damning with faint praise — well, you’re right. Broadcast TV has to appeal to the broadest possible audience, and, as a result, usually programs for the lowest common denominator. Even advertising-sponsored cable networks like TNT can aim a little higher — and usually do. There’s nothing edgy here — down to the music selection. The show signs off with Elton John singing “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”

Still, HEARTLAND deserves a second viewing. The actors are appealing, particularly Matchett, who was all over the TV screen last season (24, STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP). Perhaps sensing something not quite right in the pilot, a new character joins the show next week. Perhaps he will add a little spice to the mix.
   
Will you watch it again?  Come on, have a heart.