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2 • Terre Haute Tribune-Star • January 2 - 8, 2022 For Sophia Bush, "Good Sam" is a good reason to get back into series television. The "One Tree Hill" and "Chicago P.D." alum is both the title star and an executive producer of the CBS medical drama premiering Wednesday, Jan. 5. She plays heart surgeon Sam Griffith, who succeeds her no-nonsense father (Jason Isaacs) as their hospital's chief of surgery after a shooting incident leaves him comatose. When he revives several months later and wants his job back, the relatives have intensified conflicts that her mother and his ex-wife (Wendy Crewson) – the site's chief medical officer – tries to mediate. "Over the last couple of years, it's been really interesting to work more on developing pilots and other content," Bush reflects, "and also, to be honest, to give myself the first break in my adult life from network TV. Really, it was when I had my first meeting with ('Good Sam' creator) Katie Wech about a couple of scripts that she put the bug in my ear about this show ... and as soon as I read the pilot, I knew this was it for me." Bush maintains she had no qualms about tackling a medical series when there have been, and are, many others: "I realized that the world of a hospital allows us to explore family – whether it's our parents, our partners, our children, our siblings – and it's also about our health. It's a literal container of life-or death experiences, and we show up and we want to help. I think that's why so many of us are drawn to the medical genre. "One of the things that makes this show so different to me," adds Bush, "is that the heart of it is this generational seesaw between a father and a daughter. There are these Shakespearean moments, yet there's such humor, and I love being able to laugh with a show that can also make me cry. And both (co-stars) Wendy and Jason are so prolific and smart; their chemistry is off the charts." The new year is starting for Bush after a very eventful 2021: Not only did she begin production on "Good Sam," she got engaged (to entrepreneur Grant Hughes), and she found podcast success by reuniting with "One Tree Hill" colleagues Hilarie Burton Morgan and Bethany Joy Lenz on "Drama Queens." However, she says "Good Sam" occupies a special space for her now. "The background of COVID-19, and watching what has happened to our health-care workers and our first responders, makes us all feel even more deeply honored to be representing them to the best of our ability on our show," Bush notes. "We're taking their jobs very, very seriously." Sophia Bush is 'Good Sam' in new CBS medical drama Jason Isaacs and Sophia Bush star in "Good Sam," premiering Wednesday on CBS. BY JAY BOBBIN