Two long-haired, wet suited surfers, silently bob up and down in the Pacific ocean off the North Shore of Oahu near Pupukea. Seemingly from out of nowhere, “the “ wave arrives. They paddle furiously with their arms and jump to their feet. They begin an incredible ride as Pipeline swells on the soundtrack. We cut to a surfer’s eye view of the pipe. It is slow motion, dream-like. Then, the dream comes to a crashing end. Still from the surfers POV we see the board go flying from below his feet and he is engulfed in a swirling confusion of water and sand. A hand reaches into the surf and pulls the gasping boarder to his feet.
Cut to the beach where a group of surfers, including Jack St. John, a private detective, age 30, Andy Marcinko, age 28, an heir to a coffee fortune, Tony Zule, 29, Jack’s private eye partner, Danny Kaukaua, 27, a descendent of Hawaiian Royalty, who’s family owns a big chunk of the land in Hawaii, and Kurt Mayr, from Cologne, Germany, who’s visiting his brother a doctor who works at Haliewa Medical Center, and wants to stay in Hawaii, 24, have gathered to watch the ultimate ride followed by, even by their high standards, one of the worst wipeouts they have ever seen. They help pull the bloodied and dazed surfer to safety of dry land.
(Tim Lansing, a doctor at Haliewa Medical Center, age 30.) one of the surfers, Tim: “ You all right?” (Chris Dooley, age 28, the owner of Dooley’s Bar & Hula Stand, which he inherited from his grandfather, the injured surfer) Dooley :“Yeah, I think so. “ He begins to cough. He yells in pain. Tim, “ You may have broken a rib. Come on, I’m taking you to the hospital.” Dooley: “Why? So they can tell me that there is nothing they can do for a cracked rib and that I should take it easy?” Tim: “No, so they can sew up that arm.” Dooley looks down at his arm a sees that his left arm has a three-inch gash in it, which is bleeding, “ Shit!”.
“Here Dooley”, Jack St. John, hands him a towel. ”Christ, Andy was taking bets that you got killed.” Dooley glances over to a sullen surfer, and then looks back at Jack. Dooley “ Fuck Andy. He’s got way more mouth than guts”. Andy: “Screw you Dooley”, and stomps off.
Cut To: Dooley, the towel wrapped around his arm, is leaning against an old Rolls Royce as Tim finishes attaching their boards to the roof rack. Dooley: “It’s just a scratch. “ Tim: “Get in…and try not to bleed on the upholstery.”
Cut to: A busy emergency room at HALIEWA MEDICAL CENTER. In a wide shot, we see Tim, still in his wet suit, talking to an on call doctor, Gary Sakamoto. (Japanese-American, age 33.) Tim nods his head and the doctor walks away. Tim turns and looks round the emergency room.
He sees a man in his 60’s arguing with a Nurse, (Pat Caytaeno, the head nurse, mid-40s) who was walking by and stopped by the man. Man: “ I’ve been here for over almost two hours, three people that came in after me have already gone in.” Nurse: “I’m sorry sir, this isn’t a restaurant, and patients are seen in order of importance, not first come first serve.” Man: “How do you know I’m not dying here, no one has even looked at me yet,” Nurse: “ All I have to do is listen to you to know you won’t be kicking off any time soon.” She turns and walks away.
Tim appears next to the man. Tim: “ What are you in for.” Man: “ Life, apparently.” Tim, noticing the mans swollen foot. “What’s with the foot?” Man: “Gout, and waiting here isn’t doing my blood pressure any good either.” Tim; “What are you taking for the blood pressure.” The man holds up his pills. Tim, “ You shouldn’t be taking those if you have gout.” Man: “If you don’t mind Sonny, I’ll wait for the doctor.” Tim laughs, “Probably a good idea.” Tim turns and walks to Nurse Caytaeno. He says something to her. She walks over to the curmudgeonly man. Nurse: “ The doctor will see you now.” Man: Who was that kid?” Nurse: “That’s Dr. Timothy Lansing. He’s the Chief of Staff here. The man is dumbfounded.
Tim has paged Dr. Wolfgang Mayr, mid-30s, an orthopedic surgeon and asked him to look at Dooley’s rib, and his knee which began bothering him on the way to the hospital. Wolf as he’s called, checked out Dooley and gave him a clean bill of health except for a cracked rib, bruised left knee, and his bleeding arm. He jokingly acts annoyed that he won’t get to cut Dooley, just tape up his ribs, put the knee in a cup to keep it steady, and bandage the arm. Wolf “Chris, you look like hell. No real serious damage, but I’m sure you’ll milk it for all the sympathy you can get. Do you need a pain killer? Dooley “No thanks Doc, I’ll just grit my teeth and sip on a glass of Chivas Regal.”
In another ER room, Dr. Lamya Kameko, late-20s, is treating a patient. As Tim walks by, he waves to her, she waves back.
Timothy Lansing, at 31 years old, is the youngest hospital Chief of staff in the United States. The hospital, Haleiwa Medical Center is a small, forty bed hospital in the small town of Haliewa. They get most of their business from surfing and other accidents. The hospital is located about 3 miles from the “pipeline” near Pupukea. A distinction that not everyone is happy about. Most notably, Dr Dodd, mid-60s. Dodd is a hard-nosed old-timer who was forced out of the job, mainly due to his losing personality. A series of unexplained incidents has been plaguing the hospital. Files are lost. Medications mixed up. A motorcycle accident victim is brought in on a gurney sans his head. The trauma team including Tim being summoned to the ER at 4 AM, without being told the victim had been decapitated. A pissed off Tim decides to go surfing. A young hospital attendant Dirk Smith, mid 20s, goes with him., The next morning the head is found in the trash. Much to the horror of the hospital janitor.
Tim’s competency is called into question by Dr. Dodd, who insists that a meeting be held of all medical staff along with admnistration and food services to get to the bottom of the problem. Dodd has also been complaining to the board of directors of the hospital about Tim’s job performance, and Tim has to meet with the board shortly.
Tim turns to his friend Dooley for advice. Dooley is the resident ex-windsurfing champion, bar owner and sage. He’s also Tim’s best friend. Chris Dooley owns a bar right on the beach near “Pipeline”, which he got the old fashioned way, inheriting it from his grandfather, “Big” Jim Dooley who was something of a surfing legend. The bar was called “Big Jims Beach Bar & Lei Stand.” Dooley changed the name, and business has boomed. He loves windsurfing, and is a past world champion. He has been listening to Tim’s hospital problems, and suggests that Tim have Jack and Tony, their private eye buddies, investigate.
CUT TO: Small office on the 2nd floor of a strip mall in Waikiki. Jack and Tony are talking to Tim.
FADE OUT: Episode one.
