Working the Night Shift at General Hospital

It premiered Thursday night and is being rebroadcast several times over the weekend. SOAPNET's spin off of General Hospital, Nightshift, promises to be a new view of some old characters while introducing a few new staffers as well.

It opens the only way it really could open, with a shower sex scene and an explosion. In that explosion Dr. Patrick Drake is blown back and his recently slippery when wet partner Dr. Robin Scorpio rips into worst-case scenario mode. Five minutes after, when Patrick is telling her in very specific medical terms what tests she should administer, she is telling him how he just almost died right in front of her and ignoring everyone in the ER. Quite in contrast to her goody two shoes, do everything for everyone, attitude that landed them on the night shift as punishment in the first place.

Of course because it is a soap opera and the impossible is always possible Jason Morgan just happens to be in the parking lot as the ambulance blows up. Why is he in the parking lot when he has been in jail for the last few weeks on the daytime show? Well I guess it's because the wayward computer hacker, Spinelli, who has taken up residence in his penthouse, has just shot himself in the foot. I guess there is a furlough program for kindhearted hit men who provide shelter and jobs securing illegal operations to young Bill Gates wannabes. It is no surprise that with all the doctors and nurses standing around Jason is the one who jumps into the fray and pulls the flaming patient out of the ambulance and attempts to save her.

Then there is Billy Dee Williams as the janitor. That's right Lando Calrissian is mopping floors and smiling about it. Granted they are giving him that air of having life experience and a world of wisdom that will undoubtedly change everyone he comes in contact with but at this point the only prowess he's shown is knowing the exact way to push an elevator button. Maybe next week he's going to give us tips on getting fake blood out of white sheets. Perhaps his life altering contribution to the staff will be a unique sweeping technique that allows them to pick up even the most static laden plastic bandage wrapper from the linoleum. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Tossed back into the Drake-Scorpio fiasco we get to watch as the months of Patrick working to convince Robin she is the only one for him and that his love for her makes him a better man comes undone in two seconds as he, in his nearly died five minutes ago state, flirts with a nurse. I guess they are really going for the difference between night and day because this is a total 180-degree spin from what they have been trying to establish on General Hospital.

Not to be overlooked is the promise of more sexual content because they are after all on cable after dark. To this end we get our first seriously shocking sex scene when the despised hospital administrator opens the supply closet to find Maxie Jones with her kidnapper turned cop boyfriend. Taking her already promiscuous vamp character to new heights we and the administrator are balled over at the sight of her tattooed ankles around Coop's naked back and her hands suspended from the shelves above her head by his handcuffs. Naturally before they could extricate themselves from the situation Mack came down the hall to find his darling daughter and his newest and most promising recruit in a still compromising situation.

Will it be a hit? If it sticks with the things it's got going for it I don't see how it can miss. What are those things? Fantasy and familiarity, women (and from what I understand some men) will tune in to see their favorite characters in the same rehashed story lines they've been watching since they were kids and love every minute of it.