NECESSARY ROUGHNESS -- "Pilot" -- Pictured: (left) Callie Thorne as Danielle Santino -- Photo by: Quantrell Colbert/USA Network
The new series Necessary Roughness goes deep into the troubles of professional athletes, political figures and performers in an entertaining way thanks to the supervising producer, Dr. Donna Dannenfelser – the psychologist who the show is based on.
Dannenfelser has been therapist to the New York Jets and though there are liberties taken for the sake of art, she tells us it is a good take on the life of a shrink.
“It’s not a documentary and I do want to put it out there…I did not sleep my way into the NFL,” she jokes. “My husband did not have 10 girlfriends. We were separated for two years and that’s why I actually got this idea. Fortunately, we didn’t do anything to each other in that two years that made it difficult to come back together. I’m actually still with him.”
The doctor has three children instead of the two featured in the series and despite the flashy backdrop, Necessary Roughness is still about her career path – sort of.
“It’s inspired by my emotional journey, yet it’s a manufactured world,” she says, then adds, “I’ll tell you when I watched the pilot, the pilot is probably the closest thing to my life and I think it took my breath away for a little bit. But, then I can tell you that even though there is truth behind a lot of it there is creative license. The writers created a world.”
Necessary Roughness airs Wednesdays, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network.