TNT looks to continue its string of popular female-centered dramas with HawthoRNe (Tuesdays, 9:00 PM Eastern), starring Jada Pinkett Smith as Chief Nursing Officer at Richmond Trinity Hospital. Christina Hawthorne seems aware of everything that goes on at the hospital and, like a long line of medical heroes, she’s willing to go to any lengths in the name of a patient’s best interest.

In tonight’s episode “The Sense of Belonging”, Hawthorne learns a young heart patient is slated for surgery with a popular doctor who has nonetheless never performed the particular operation before. Against orders from higher up, she sends the patient’s information to a more renowned doctor at Johns Hopkins.

Created by John Masius (St. Elsewhere, Providence), HawthoRNe is unique for its focus on nurses, not doctors. To its credit, the show juggles many subplots featuring various members of the hospital staff. I thought the pace of last night’s episode was perhaps too fast, but I still prefer this to spotlighting a central protagonist.

While HawthoRNe is cut from the same cloth as The Closer and Saving Grace, it’s also different enough tp be worth viewers’ time. A marathon of the five episodes aired to date begins Saturday, July 18 at 4:00 PM Eastern.