Nurse Jackie

Development and production

Nurse Jackie was created by Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem, and Evan Dunsky. Brixius and Wallem served as showrunners for the first four seasons and shared executive producer duties with Caryn Mandabach and John Melfi. Showtime ordered an initial 12 episodes. Before the premiere, Brixius told the New York Daily News that "Guys' stories tend to be about conquests – getting the job, winning the Olympics, whatever. Women['s] stories aren't as immediately climactic so they need to play out over the course of three months ... And every medical show out there has been about doctors. Doctors are absolutely unable to do what they have to do without nurses. We want to tell those stories."

The June 8, 2009, series premiere was Showtime's most successful ever, with 1 million viewers for the premiere and over 350,000 for the repeat broadcast. Showtime immediately picked up the series for a second season. Season Three premiered on Showtime on March 28, 2011. On May 23, 2011, Showtime ordered a fourth season. A fifth season was ordered on May 31, 2012, and production began in late 2012. The season 4 finale aired on June 17, 2012. Season 5 premiered on April 14, 2013, with new showrunner and executive producer Clyde Phillips. On June 6, 2013, Showtime renewed the show for a sixth season, which premiered on April 13, 2014.

On March 31, 2014, Showtime renewed Nurse Jackie for a seventh season, which was announced the following September as being the show's final season. It premiered April 12, 2015.

Cast and characters

Main character Jackie Peyton was described by Showtime as a "strong-willed, iconoclastic New York City nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life," noting that the character had "an occasional weakness for Vicodin, Percocet, and Xanax to get her through the days." The main characters included Dr. Eleanor O'Hara (Eve Best), a British doctor and Jackie's best friend at work; Zoey Barkow (Merritt Wever), a spunky, but inexperienced, nursing student from a community college, who "is the perfect foil for Jackie's sharp angles"; Dr. Fitch Cooper (Peter Facinelli), "a likable 'golden boy' whose calm façade hides a nervous disposition"; and Eddie Walzer (Paul Schulze), a pharmacist with whom Jackie was having an affair at the beginning of the series.

Other characters included the officious hospital administrator Mrs. Gloria Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith), Jackie's bar owner husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa), their daughters Grace (Ruby Jerins) and Fiona (Daisy Tahan season 1 — Mackenzie Aladjem seasons 2 through 7), and Thor (Stephen Wallem), Jackie's kindhearted confidant and the real-life brother of show creator/executive producer Linda Wallem.

Main cast and characters

Recurring cast

Critical reception

The premiere of Nurse Jackie was met with generally positive reviews from critics, and received a Metacritic rating of 76 out of 100. Entertainment Weekly gave the first episode a B+, stating "Edie Falco brings a genial forcefulness to Nurse Jackie." New York magazine called the Showtime series "smart, acrid, alternately sharp and sentimental" and "the best series yet in the cable channel's ongoing meditation on the nature of addiction ... and the setting for a truly breakthrough female character." James Poniewozik from Time magazine ranked Nurse Jackie's episode "Tiny Bubbles" (106) as 5th on his Top 10 Episodes of 2009 list. Variety and Salon struck the primary sour notes, with Variety noting, "The series increasingly feels like all style and limited substance – a star showcase that's less 'triumphant return' than 'Nice to have you back, but...'"

Reviews of subsequent seasons varied. The second season achieved a Metacritic rating of 75 out of 100 from 16 critics, the third season received 79 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, the fourth received 83 out of 100 out of 9 reviews, the fifth season received a 66 out of 100 based on 10 reviews, and the sixth season received a rating of 64 out of 100 based on 4 reviews. The seventh and final season did not receive enough ratings to warrant a score.

Controversy

Soon after Nurse Jackie premiered, the New York State Nurses Association decried the unethical behavior of the title character, and the detrimental impression regarding nurses that such a portrayal could have on the public, stating, "In the first episode, Nurse Jackie is introduced as a substance abuser who trades sex with a pharmacist for prescription drugs ... She has no qualms about repeatedly violating the nursing Code of Ethics."

Genre

On August 29, 2010, at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, in her acceptance speech for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Falco exclaimed "I'm not funny!" Later, while speaking to the press, she expanded upon her statement and said that she felt her performance was dramatic. Several articles have since been written addressing this question, with some writers even calling for an overhaul of the Emmy categorization process as well as a "Comedy-Drama/Dramedy" category for the awards.

Awards and nominations

Golden Globe Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

Foreign versions