''Necessary Roughness'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series starring

Callie Thorne Callie Thorne is an American actress known for her role as Dr. Dani Santino on the USA Network series '' Necessary Roughness''. She is also known for past work such as her roles on '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' as Detective Laura Ballard, a ...

and Scott Cohen that aired from June 29, 2011, to August 21, 2013. The second season premiered on June 6, 2012. The one-hour drama series was picked up for 12 episodes on January 19, 2011. On January 7, 2013, USA Network announced the series was renewed for a 10-episode third season, which began on June 12, 2013. On November 19, 2013, USA canceled the series after three seasons.

Cast and characters

Main

as Dr. Danielle "Dani" Santino (née Romano): The protagonist. Dr. Dani Santino is a tough divorcée who, to make ends meet, becomes the therapist for a professional football team and quickly becomes sought after by other athletes, musicians, politicians and those living in the spotlight. Starting season three she works for V3, a major talent agency in NYC, after being fired by the new GM/head coach of the New York Hawks. *

Marc Blucas Marcus Paul Blucas (; born January 11, 1972) is an American actor. Prior to his acting career, he played college basketball with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He had his first starring role as soldier and love interest Riley Finn on the WB su ...

as Matthew "Matt" Donnally (seasons 1–2): The New York Hawks' athletic trainer, and later general manager, to whom Dani was attracted. * Scott Cohen as Dominic Eugene "Nico" Careles: A former

Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...

from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, head of security and "fixer" for first the Hawks and then V3. * Hannah Marks as Lindsay Santino (seasons 1–2, guest season 3): Dani's rebellious teenage daughter. * Patrick Johnson as Ray "Ray Jay" Santino Jr. (seasons 1–2): Dani's teenage son who is an avid fan of T.K., often using him to get things from the Hawks' team that regular fans could not. * Mehcad Brooks as Terrence "T.K." King: The New Jersey Bobcats' star player, formerly the New York Hawks' star player and Dani's main focus when she was originally hired by the NY Hawks football team. * Karissa Lee Staples as Paloma Madsen (season 3): Dani's ambitious new assistant. *

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the ...

as Connor McClane (season 3): the founder of a sports and entertainment management empire named V3, who employs Dani.

Recurring

* Gregory Alan Williams as Coach Pat Purnell: The former head coach of the New York Hawks, now again TK's coach with the New Jersey Bobcats. *

Andrea Anders Andrea Anders (born May 10, 1975) is an American actress. She is best known for her work on television, notably through her main roles on five short-lived sitcoms, '' Joey'', '' The Class'', '' Better Off Ted'', '' Mr. Sunshine'' and '' Mr. Mom'' ...

as Laura Radcliffe: A high-powered publicist hired by the Hawks to improve T.K.'s public image. She has also had a previous relationship with Matt Donnally. *

Amanda Detmer Amanda Detmer (born 1971/1972) is an American actress. She made her big screen debut playing Miss Minneapolis in 1999 comedy film ''Drop Dead Gorgeous (film), Drop Dead Gorgeous'', and later had a supporting role in ''Final Destination (film), F ...

as Jeanette Fiero: Dani's best friend. * Jason Gedrick as Dr. J. D. Aldridge: Dani's former grad school professor. *

Evan Handler Evan Handler (born January 10, 1961) is an American actor who is best known for playing Harry Goldenblatt, a divorce attorney and later husband of Charlotte York, on '' Sex and the City'' (2002–2004) and its revival series '' And Just Like That ...

as Marshall Pittman: Deceased former owner of the New York Hawks. * Jaime Lee Kirchner as Vivica Stevens: A reporter who T.K. begins dating, but who later is dumped by T.K. after he is shot. *

Concetta Tomei Concetta Tomei (born December 30, 1945) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Major Lila Garreau on the ABC drama series ''China Beach'' (1988–1991) and as Lynda Hansen on the NBC medical drama series '' Providence'' (1999–20 ...

as Angela: Dani's mother, and a gambler. *

Gaius Charles Gaius Charles (born May 2, 1983) is an American actor known for his portrayal of Brian "Smash" Williams in the television drama, ''Friday Night Lights''. He also played Dr. Shane Ross on the ABC medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy'' and a rec ...

as Damon Razor/Bryce Abbot: An academic football player with a shady past who comes in as a runner-up for T.K. after he is shot. *

Rob Estes Rob Estes (born July 22, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Harry Wilson on the teen drama series '' 90210'', as Sgt. Chris Lorenzo on the crime drama series ''Silk Stalkings'', and as Kyle McBride on the primetime soap ...

as Rob Maroney: T.K.'s agent who helped T.K. on his downward spiral after dealing with being shot. * Michaela McManus as Noelle Saris: A reporter in behind Terrence King and Damon Razor, searching for Razor's past and threatening a sexual harassment suit on the team and T.K. * Michael O'Neill as Hank Hooper: A friend of Coach Purnell, who was appointed by the league to be the Interim GM until the "Pittman situation" was resolved. *

Danielle Panabaker Danielle Nicole Panabaker (born September 19, 1987) is an American actress. She began acting as a teenager and came to prominence for her roles in the The Walt Disney Company, Disney films ''Stuck in the Suburbs'' (2004), ''Sky High (2005 film), ...

as Juliette Pittman: Daughter of Marshall Pittman, briefly owner of the Hawks. * Travis Smith as Rex Evans: A gay player for the Hawks and Dani's patient, who became friends with T.K. when the star quarterback helped him come out to the team and to the rest of the world. * David Andrews as Coach Tom Wizinski: The new head coach and GM for the Hawks. *

David Anders David Anders Holt (born March 11, 1981), known professionally as David Anders, is an American television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Julian Sark on '' Alias'', as Adam Monroe on '' Heroes'', as John Gilbert in the TV serie ...

as Troy Cutler: Connor's second-in-command at V3. * Kate Miner as Sheera Kane, a top model who was dating T.K., looking to start a lingerie line with him, and was briefly engaged to him. * Nicholas X. Parsons as Stanzi Palmer, a computer hacker hired by V3 to assist Nico in collecting intelligence. *

Autumn Reeser Autumn Reeser (born September 21, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Taylor Townsend on the Fox series '' The O.C.'', Lizzie Grant on HBO's '' Entourage'', Katie Andrews on ABC's '' No Ordinary Family'', and Leslie Be ...

as Abby Bruce, girlfriend of Connor. * Mario Cimarro as Augusto, Spanish chef who returns incognito to help Dr. Dani surprise Jeanette. * Ben Winchell as Eric

Episodes

Development and production

The series is based on the true story of a female psychologist Dr. Donna Dannenfelser who worked for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. Initially titled ''Dr. Donna'', the show first appeared on the USA Network's development slate in December 2009. In May 2010, the network placed a cast-contingent pilot order under the new name ''Necessary Roughness''. Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro wrote the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

script, and Kevin Dowling was set to direct the pilot. Casting announcements began in mid-September. First to be cast was Callie Thorne, who plays the lead role as Danielle "Dani" Santino. Next to join the project was Marc Blucas, who was cast as the football team's athletic trainer and a romantic interest for Danielle. Scott Cohen and Mehcad Brooks came on board in October. Cohen portrays a football team colleague of Dani's, and Brooks is one of her clients. Cast as guest stars were Amanda Detmer, as Dani's best friend, Jeanette, and Concetta Tomei, who portrays Dani's mother. In early November, Craig Bierko was added to the cast as Dani's estranged husband. The pilot episode was filmed in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in November and December 2010, with the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a Stadium#Types, domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown Atlanta, downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of th ...

being used for exterior and some interior shots of game day scenes. The network greenlighted the series on January 19, 2011. The series was renewed for a second season by USA Network on September 15, 2011. The series was renewed for a third 10-episode season by USA Networks on January 7, 2013 On June 19, 2013, USA Network announced it will debut a

webisode A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cab ...

series, called ''TK Gets Real'', that will feature Terrance "TK" King ( Mehcad Brooks) as he seeks to become a reality star. The web series will last six weeks. ''

The Real Housewives of Atlanta ''The Real Housewives of Atlanta'', abbreviated ''RHOA'', is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on October 7, 2008. Developed as the third installment of '' The Real Housewives'' franchise, it has aired sixteen season ...

'' star Shereé Whitfield will appear in the web series alongside Brooks and new cast member Karissa Lee Staples.

Home media

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

released all 3 seasons on DVD in Region 1 between 2012-2014. On July 1, 2016, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment has acquired the rights to the series in Region 1 and rereleased all 3 seasons on September 6.'The Complete Series' of the 2011 USA Network Show Starring Callie Thorne

Awards and accolades

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Necessary Roughness (Tv Series) 2010s American drama television series 2011 American television series debuts 2013 American television series endings American English-language television shows Psychological television series Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Universal Cable Productions Television shows filmed in Atlanta Television shows set in Georgia (U.S. state) Television shows set in New York (state) USA Network original programming