A former army nurse brings her brand of no-nonsense care to a New Jersey hospital in NBC's Mercy. In the pilot, Veronica Flanagan Callahan (Taylor Schilling, Atlas Shrugged: Part 1) and her contractor-turned-bar owner husband, Mike (Diego Klattenhoff, The Dark Knight Rises), get back together, though she still carries a torch for Dr. Chris Sands (Klattenhoff's Men in Trees costar James Tupper), with whom she served in Iraq, while her nursing colleagues include hardened veteran Sonia (Rescue Me's Jaime Lee Kirchner) and wide-eyed newbie Chloe (Gossip Girl's Michelle Trachtenberg).

Creator Liz Heldens cut her teeth on Friday Night Lights, but Mercy doesn't aim for the same kind of documentary realism--location shooting aside--though Ronnie's posttraumatic stress disorder lends her connection to Chris deeper resonance. During the season, she also treats a homeless man (Kevin Corrigan), who suffers from the same affliction. And if Dr. Harris (James LeGros) starts out as a stock villain, his sympathetic side emerges following a personal setback, after which Dr. Briggs (James Van Der Beek) arrives to irritate everyone. The medical cases don't make as much of an impression, but they cover most conditions, from cancer (guest star Elisabeth Moss) to Alzheimer's disease (Peter Gerety, who plays Ronnie's father).

With few exceptions, the characters are as morally compromised as the ones who populate Grey's Anatomy, to which Mercy serves as a blue-collar answer, right down to the will-they-or-won't-they dance between Ronnie and Chris, which stalls when he dates another doctor (Tupper later segued to the ABC series). Unfortunately, NBC passed on a second season, despite a stellar supporting cast, including Guillermo Díaz and Kate Mulgrew, who enliven the proceedings every time they appear on screen. This boxed set comes complete with interviews, two cast and crew commentaries, and a gag reel. --Kathleen C. Fennessy