DOCTOR'S ORDERS

In Fox's new dramedy, a quirky town-and Josh Charles as a prickly M.D.-are a winning prescription

- DAMIAN HOLBROOK

As brash Dr. Best, Charles returns to his childhood haven-can he win people over?

Best Medicine Tuesday, 8/7c, Fox

If cozy with a shot of cranky is your prescription for feelgood TV, then Fox's latest dramedy may be right up your alley. Based on Doc Martin, the U.K. hit about a churlish London medic (Martin Clunes) dealing with the quaint residents of his new seaside practice, Best Medicine was championed here in the U.S. by producer Ben Silverman (The Office, Ugly Betty). The show is an instantly likable fish-out-of-water tale, brimming with snarky humor and 100 cc of sentiment. Think more Northern Exposure and Ed than House or Fox's other medical series, Doc, starring Molly Parker.

“That kind of tone is a really tricky balance,” says Josh Charles, an Emmy nominee for The Good Wife, who affably grouses into the leading-man department as Martin Best. He’s a prickly Boston surgeon who finds himself surrounded by overly friendly small-town types. After a childhood trauma resurfaces to emotionally derail his ability to operate, the buttoned-up Best hits reset by moving to the coastal hamlet of Port Wenn, Maine, where he reluctantly reconnects with his beloved and sassy Aunt Sarah (Annie Potts), whom he hasn’t seen since med school.

“He used to spend his summers with me,” the eternally breezy