Entertainment, TV, Television - Marine Corps Times

Treat Williams pilots new organ donor drama

Lives teeter delicately in “Heartland,” the new cable drama series.

Some end; then others are saved. This is the world of an organ-transplant wing.

“David Hollander [the show’s creator] really explores the emotional realities,” says Kari Matchett, who co-stars.

She plays Kate Armstrong, who arranges organ donations. Treat Williams plays her ex-husband, Dr. Nathaniel Grant, a transplant surgeon.

They see other people’s lives change instantly. Meanwhile, they are still trying to make their own lives work.

That’s especially true of Dr. Grant. “He’s someone who is not a social animal,” Williams says. “He’s a loner.”

He has a hesitant relationship with his ex-wife, his teen daughter and his girlfriend.

The girlfriend (played by Brazilian native Morena Baccarin) is a nurse; most of his contacts are at the hospital.

“He’s primarily a worker,” Williams says. “That’s the one place where he’s comfortable.”

Yes, that sounds familiar. When “Everwood” started, Williams’ character (Dr. Andy Brown) was just like that.

There are two key differences this time, though:

— Dr. Brown had an instant transformation after his wife died. For Dr. Grant, any changes will be slower.

— In “Heartland,” Williams only has to play a guy who is consumed by work. He doesn’t have to become one.

Hourlong dramas can overwhelm their lead actors.

“Basically, you have 12- to 18-hour work days,” Williams says. “It’s unhealthy.”

The difference is that “Heartland” is in the new world of short-order cable series.

Most network dramas want at least 22 episodes a year with eight or more filming days on each. The pace can be fierce.

Cable doesn’t need that. It stuffs its line-ups with reruns and movies; the new shows are there to get attention, often with shorter, summertime runs.

For example, on June 18, TNT starts the third summer of its acclaimed “The Closer” at 9 p.m. The show has a 15-episode run. Star Kyra Sedgwick spends half of each year in Connecticut with her husband, Kevin Bacon, and their two kids.

“Heartland,” which premieres at 10 p.m. the same day, has a tidy, nine-episode run for its first season. Williams has a short work year. Fortunately for him, he’s also a pilot who flies home each weekend to be with his wife, Pam Van Sant, and their two sons in Park City, Utah.

For Williams, 55, a nine-episode season is fine. He’s been busy for decades, ever since he was a song-and-dance guy, starring in Broadway’s “Grease” and then the 1979 movie “Hair.”

And Matchett? At 36, she may be the busiest actress on TV; she starred in “Invasion” last season and has been a regular in three shows this season.

That includes “24” (as Lisa Miller, the vice-president’s chief of staff), with its end-of-the-world melodrama. And “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (as Mary Tate), with the rich dialogue of writer-producer Aaron Sorkin. “There’s a musicality to his writing that I love,” she says.

There’s also a lot of memorizing. “Not only is it very wordy, but Aaron wants you to do the precise words.”

Now there’s “Heartland.” There are fewer words, more pauses, deep emotions.

And when the short-run filming is done she might actually find some free time.

Matchett is from western Canada — born in Saskatchewan and reared in Alberta. She found the equivalent in the Los Angeles area.

“I live near the water,” she says. “I go to the ocean every day.”

That’s like the open-air world she grew up in. And it’s nothing like the teetering, life-and-death world of “Heartland.”

On the tube:

— What: “Heartland”

— When: 10 p.m. Mondays, beginning June 18, after “The Closer”

— Where: TNT

— Did you know? Treat Williams has been a pilot of private planes and commercial airliners. He sees piloting as similar to the transplant surgeon he plays now. “They go through a check list, because it’s very mechanical. ... They each have a shutdown and a startup.”