Lifetime (an ER spin-off)

[factsoflife]

"Lifetime" is a daring new spin-off of NBC's acclaimed medical classic "ER" starring Maura Tierny as Dr. Abigail "Abby" Lockhart who is now newly divorced and has moved to Boston, Massachusetts to except a position as Attending Physican at Massachusetts East Valley Hospital as an administrator. In Massachusetts, Abby encounters a whole new life, having to be a single mother to Joe who is about to turn 3 and dealing with the complications of being the boss and dealing with all new interns, residents and patients that demand her time and energy. She also has to deal with dating and finding out who she is.

Along for the ride are Abby's new co-workers and friends. She immeditely must deal with her supervisior, Dr. Troy Mather, a man of expierance in every possible way. Divorced three times with four kids of his own Dr. Mather is a certified ladies man with a pennance for quick rolls in the hay and a habit of not taking responsbility for his actions. He's spent the last five years as the head administrator of the hospital and has clearly been letting a lot of things slide and has allowed the hospital to fall into shambles. Upon coming to work Abby discovers that the nurses don't have proper training and many can't even insert an IV, the interns wander around aimlessly without supervision and the Attendings and Residents pass their work onto the interns. She also discovers that the departments do not communicate with one another and the people in the surrounding towns view the hospital as a joke. Aside from dealing with Dr. Mather in a professional setting Abby is horrofied to learn he is also her landlord and owner of the apartment building in which she has taken up residence. Despite glarring professional differences Abby wonders if she may be able to fall for Dr. Mather who has a very charming exterior about him.

Claire Williams is the head of neruology at the hospital with twenty-nine years of expierance but her time as the best may be coming to an end soon when she learns a startling truth about her own health. Things heat up between her and Abby when Abby finds her asleep on the operating table while she has a patients head open.

Florence Gates is the hospitals head nurse who believes that things need to change at the hospital and that the administration needs to take descisive action.

Dr. Margo Waters is an arrogant, selfish jerk who has no desire to learn from anyone and who is defensive and rude to everyone. She calls interns "Scabs" and tells them they are not permitted to speak to her or make eye contact with her. She is also Abby's next door neighboor and the ex-wife of Dr. Mather (his second ex-wife and mother of two of his four kids).
Mark Tesser, Andy Reid and Stacey Harrell are the hospital's newset interns and are wandering around hopless without guidance from anyone and without a clear definition of what their jobs are. They each come with baggage; Andy wants to learn so bad and makes it his job to tell everyone; the problem is he's a bit nervous and tends to freeze up during surgery. Stacey Harrell is an overprivledged know-it-all who wants everyone to know how smart she is, but even her ivy league education hasn't made her aware of common sense, such as it's not okay to sleep with your boss; in her case Dr. Harold Walker, a known cad who has made her regret that decision by labeling her the hospital's tramp and making her life impossible. and poor Mark Tesser, he's been assigned erronously to the ER when his true assignment was supposed be dermotology, he doesn't know what to do since noboby seems able to find his assignment papers and is unable to assist him in his dermotology rotation. Abby believes he could be a good ER doctor if given the proper guidance, the problem is convincing him of that.

"Charmed" star Holly Marie Combs co-stars as Janelle Wexler a tough as nails social worker who has been running interference for the hospital for sometime now and whose life is about to change as Abby puts this buttinsky in her place and reminds her that as a social worker her job is to do what's best for the patients (the children) and that she has no say whatsoever in hospital policy.

Goran Visjinc returns sporadically as Dr. Luka Kovach Abby's ex-husband and father of Joe who turns up in Abby's life from time to time to offer sage advice and remind Abby why she loves being a doctor so much.

Starring:

Maura Tierny as Dr. Abigail "Abby" Lockhart
Paul Johansson as Chief Administrtor Troy Mather
Mark Valley as Dr. Harold Walker
Meredith Baxter as Dr. Claire Williams
Christine Elise as Dr. Margo Waters
Kathy Baker as Florence Gates
James Lafferty as Mark Tesser
Kerr Smith as Andy Reid
Emily Van Camp as Stacey Harrell
Holly Marie Combs as Janelle Wexler
featuring... Goran Visjinc as Dr. Luka Kovach (recurring)