“Mom, I moved to Alabama. Mom…are you there?” That’s Zoe Hart (Rachel Bilson) breaking the news on the phone to her mother (JoBeth Williams) back in New York that she’s uprooted her life and moved to a small Southern town called Bluebell in The CW’s Hart of Dixie episode one.
After losing her fellowship and being dumped by her boyfriend for being too self-absorbed with her own medical career, Zoe falls back on a job offer she received from Bluebell’s main local physician years earlier. Upon arriving in the little Southern town, she learns that the doctor who was so impressed with her and kept sending her postcards hoping she would change her mind has passed away and left her his half of the practice. This immediately puts her at odds with his partner Dr. Brick (Tim Matheson) who is determined to keep the medical business of Bluebell to himself.
To make matters even more complicated for poor Zoe, she starts to have an almost instant crush on the local lawyer, George (Scott Porter), who’s engaged to Lemon (Jaime King), Brick’s daughter and the southern belle of the town. She also has an encounter with ‘Burt Reynolds’, the Mayor’s pet alligator. Complications aside, Zoe – who has no career back in New York and still hopes to help the decent people of Bluebell – wants to try to make the best of it and prove to the townspeople, her parents, and herself that she has what it takes to make a good doctor.
Hart of Dixie is a silly, contrived, fish-out-of-water, light-hearted drama with an interesting cast and a ridiculous plot. Rachel Bilson, while being an extremely attractive young woman, has never given an impressive performance in her career on film or television. Her performance as Zoe Hart is no exception.
Not once is Bilson believable as a New Yorker, let alone a smart, talented young doctor. Looking more like someone who’s just left a Beverly Hills beauty salon and wondering where to get a flavored latte, Bilson delivers what should be considered her worst performance to date. The talented character actor Tim Matheson, whose credits include the classic comedy Animal House and hit television series such as The West Wing and Burn Notice, is completely wasted playing the boring, one note villain of the show who doesn’t seem to be liked by anyone in the town except by his daughter.
Jaime King is adequate but unimpressive as Lemon the spoiled, mean, and not-too-smart Southern princess of the town who’s used to getting her way unless her father says otherwise.
The series creators and writers should be ashamed and embarrassed for not only stealing a cute and at times amusing premise when it was first used in the Michael J. Fox 1991 romantic comedy Doc Hollywood but for also the abysmal dialogue and the horrid, insulting representation of life down in the South. Having created one of the worst series to hit the small screen in years, here’s hoping The CW realizes its mistake and gives itself an enema to flush Hart of Dixie off the air.
GRADE: F
Hart of Dixie debuted on The CW on September 26, 2011.
