I liked 2000 Malibu Road. As @tommie said, it’s fun and juicy and I think it’s very much in the vein of 90’s soap as we know it. Hyperion Bay didn’t grab me, even at a time when I’d watch any old soap. There were behind the scenes wranglings about the show’s direction and you can see this onscreen from what I can recall. I look forward to your thoughts on both of them when you do get around to watching.
I first saw a few episodes of this one on YouTube although WB kept getting them taken down. One place on the internet was selling all the episodes on DVD (against Warner's wishes), and even though I shouldn't have, curiosity got the better of me. The picture quality was pretty shaky on the second season episodes, and the sound was occasionally blurred, but it was still a fantastic show. Well written, beautiful period detail, well cast, even though the whole ensemble cast idea went a little off (Tammy Lauren as an extremely ambitious young woman and Kyle Chandler as her on-again, off-again boyfriend quickly became the leads, and one character was killed up even in the first season because the role had been so reduced with the new focus)
It was pulling in around 5m viewers an episode, which was pretty dire for that era. For context, FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle was getting 12m viewers around the same time.
I think I’d given up before she’d arrived but I must go back and rewatch.
Interestingly enough, TNT were airing a drama called Bull at the same time, which was also set in Wall Street and was also pulled before all episodes were aired. Presumably the thinking was that they’d be TV versions of the Wall Street film but it obviously didn’t translate.
Yes, TV Tango has ratings here: http://tvtango.com/series/street_2000/episodes
Yes, these trends are odd as they always come in but I don't think it works for a tv series. In the second episode it just struck me how little I cared about the supposedly intense crash and take-over of a company as the characters stared at their screens and blabbed on the phone. It just doesn't work - I guess my hope for The $treet might've been more along Central Park West: The Gil Edition, but even they gave up early on to show anything about his actual work.
By 00’s standards, that’s DOA.
Yes, there’s certain shows that do the corporate stuff well - Succession, Billions - but that’s because the writing is good and they’re well cast shows. I think the issue with The $treet (from memory) is that it was neither well written or well cast (I’ve mentioned before that I thought there were good actors in the cast but the chemistry wasn’t there) so they couldn’t elevate the content enough to make it interesting.
I remember following the ratings at the time because both Melrose and 90210 had ended and I wanted both Titans and The $treet to work as replacements for those. While Titans kind of debuted "meh", The $treet was absolutely shockingly low that I'm surprised it actually lasted seven episodes on broadcast. They obviously had high hopes for the show after Darren's success on Sex and the City and Central Park West was just a "blip", but yikes. Fox was also about to enter it's reality era, which probably didn't help.
I think the issue is that these characters just doesn't really have the stakes in the business - on Succession, we're following them at the highest level but on The $treet they're just... stockbrockers. The day-to-day job of following a chart essentially and trading; as I said, it's just hard to get engaged. When a character learns about a deal/merger and doesn't tell a co-worker due to ethics it just doesn't feel... urgent. The guy in question could lose his job but... who cares? Why does any of these characters want to be a stockbrocker? There's a receptionist that also wants to be one, but doesn't have the education or something and it's just. Ok, I get people obviously get into this business, but why? Would it be so bad to go and do something else?
They obviously knew what they had in the can needed a lift because the show didn’t premiere until November 1st yet there were reports in mid-August about Jennie coming in as a guest star.
Makes sense - I've watched until the last episode aired (episode 7) and there's a marked difference between the pilot and what's happening now - not saying that it's necessarily good, but it's obvious they felt the show wasn't working as early as episode 3. Gone are the supposed intense "stare at the computer to watch the stock" scenes and in are more board meetings and other more interpersonal stuff. More out of the office things that's not necessarily connected there are happening too.
www.deseret.com
Coming only four years after Central Park West ended, you’d wonder if it was an actual plot that Star had in mind for Carrie.
Thanks for the synopses of what you watched. As I said before, my recollection of the show first time around is that it was boring, but curiosity would’ve drawn me back to rewatch it. I may do at some stage but it’s at the bottom of a very long watchlist now.
I’ve never seen this show but have read about it (I think Jason Gedrick was among the cast?). It’s another one of those shows that seems like an odd fit for CBS at that moment in their history, similar to when they tried to go “hip” a few years later with Central Park West when their bread and butter had been older skewing series like In The Heat of the Night and Murder She Wrote.
