Poor acting on “A Gifted Man” negates interesting plot line

 By: Sanah Faroke/Columnist

Supernatural Drama: “A Gifted Man”

CBS, Fridays

8 p.m.

 

Director Jonathan Demme and creator Susannah Grant did a great job assembling a cast that has either been featured in notable films, such as Jennifer Ehle in “The King’s Speech,” Emmy winner Margo Martindale and one of the most watched actors on television, Patrick Wilson.

Regardless, you would think that, with such a cast, the acting wouldn’t be totally atrocious; I was wrong before I came to that assumption — my first mistake was feeding this show to my DVR.

“A Gifted Man” has the premise of an ingenious, arrogant doctor named Michael Holt (Wilson) who is accustomed to his upscale lifestyle. He gets an unexpected visit from his dead ex-wife, Anna Paul, who he claims to still love — you don’t see that very often.

Anna lives in the in-between zone because she has “unfinished business.” She melts Michael’s heart of stone and twists his arm to be more humanitarian toward the less wealthy and to tend to the free clinic she left behind by hiring Dr. Kate Sykora, played by Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight saga).

This show seems like it would be amazing, but there are too many sappy one-liners that make me question why I began watching the show in the first place.

The acting, regardless of renowned prestige, is not genuine and comes off as a melodrama that needs to be put to rest — hey Dr. Holt, you can handle that, right? I’ve been looking for a glimpse of hope for the show and, although it is impressive what Dr. Holt can do when his patients can’t afford to live without his help, I can definitely live without watching the show.

In the last episode, viewers were shocked when Michael encounters a man in need of surgery, but comes to find that this man could have been behind Anna’s hit-and-run.

Although we realize that this patient was not the murderer, I wish he was because it would have been the answer to Anna’s questionable killing and it would have also been the highlight of the show.

Producers definitely left room for chemistry between Dr. Holt and Dr. Sykora and this would really encourage more viewers to tune in.

I’d like to see the grinch of a doctor with a heart two sizes too small grow a little as a person without the help of his dead ex-wife and explore a life outside the doctor scene; it’s just what a show like this needs.

I advise producers not to follow the steps taken by “Hart of Dixie.” Rachel Bilson as a doctor would probably look for cancer, get distracted and pull out something else — maybe another cheesy line.

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