Dirty Sexy Money is practically a lock to get picked up for the fall. Craig Wright of Brothers and Sisters wrote the pilot (it's being directed by Peter Horton) and it's being EP by Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Jack and Bobby, Brothers and Sisters).

The show stars Peter Krause (Casey from Sports Night) along with Donald Sutherland, Seth Gabel (Adrian from Nip/Tuck), Samaire Armstrong (Anna from OC) and Brooke Smith (Dr. Hahn from Greys).

I'm looking forward to the show as Wright wrote some of the best episodes of Brothers and Sisters this season including Mistakes Were Made 1 and I really hope this cast doesn't disappoint.

Oh, the show's about a lawyer who, after his father dies, takes over working for a powerful new york family, dealing with all of their problems and such.

It was already picked up yesterday.

I'm looking forward to this one too. I think it has lots of potential, even as a comedy.

I'm looking forward to seeing Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh on TV so this is a definite show for me.

This was the one show that intrigued me when I was reading up on new shows at Futon Critic. The cast sounds great and I always find myself attracted to dysfunctional family dramedies. Love the title too. Definitely going to be looking out for it.

I saw the pilot for this show a week ago as part of a focus group for ABC. It was really good and I am not suprised it was picked up. There are some really funny moments to it and good cast. When I saw Peter Krause in it in the very first scene of the show I was so excited because I am the biggest Sports Night fan there is. This is a show you will definitely want to watch this fall.

Some thumbnail photography added to ABC Medianet.

DSM will be airing Wens at 10pm.

Original reports indicated it would be airing on Tuesday at 9pm, which would have meant it would be going up against House, so I'm very happy ABC changed it's time slot. The only potential problem is that the show's lead in is Private Practice (the Grey's spin off), which has gotten very mixed reviews and is unlikely to deliver the same sized audience as its flagship.



I loved SN too and it's certainly nice to see Krause getting some work, and I'm hoping it's just that sentiment that draws viewers to this show. I'm happy Krause isn't rocking the same haircut he had in Civil Duty and We Dont Live Here Anymore, this new haircut suits him much better.

Okay, the clip I watched at ABC.com had an awesome deadpan line ("I had oonnnne Scotch") and a vase getting thrown! I may already be in love with this show!



While it will likely not deliver an audience as large as the original, Private Practice has a built-in audience and a curiosity about it. It's a pretty nice lead-in to have. I kinda love the whole ABC Wednesday night line-up, interested in all three shows.

Both those clips are fully awsome, I seriously can't wait for the season to start. It really is nice to see Krause back on the small screen.

Oh, and the show's most likely to be going up against CSI:NY, easily the weakest of the CSI empire.

Count me in on watching this too. Hopefully it won't be too soapy even if that's ABC's thing at the moment.

Definitely in, and hoping for full recap status. Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh and Samaire Armstrong? A decent but not too out there premise? An above average show runner and first class talent offstage?

Yeah, definitely in.

The current main cast list, as per ABC:

Peter Krause (Nick George)
Donald Sutherland (Patrick "Tripp" Darling III)
Jill Clayburgh (Letitia Darling)
William Baldwin (Senator Patrick Darling)
Natalie Zea (Karen Darling)
Glenn Fitzgerald (Reverend Brian Darling)
Seth Gabel (Jeremy Darling)
Samaire Armstrong (Juliet Darling)
Zoe McLellan (Lisa George)
Victoria Pratt (Naomi)
Laz Alonso (Colin)

Going off the footage ABC put up...it looks oddly like MNTV's American Heiress. Only serious.

I've never see "American Heiress" but DSM in anything but serious. Not sure if ABC is promoting this as a drama or not but I thought it was more comedy than drama. It got a lot of laughs in the group I was in. It reminded me of Arrested Development where the Darling family is doing all these crazy things and the Peter Krause charater is the straight man (like Jason Bateman in AD) getting the family out of the comedic situations they get themselves into. There is a mystery type element to the show that will provide some "drama" but I would think ABC would be promoted as a comedy like they have Desperate Housewives.

Okay, serious was the wrong word. More...deadpan, then?

So, I saw the promos on ABC tonight during Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters, and I was a bit disappointed.

Big blocks of text and the cast’s distorted faces on NYC buildings?? I'd think they could do better.
(I mean, seriously, the Christina Applegate promo of the show she couldn't remember "??????" was actually more interesting)

I've only seen the short clips on ABC's website, and they were much more complelling than the commercials tonight. Why couldn't they show those? I’ve heard who is in the cast and I could not recognize anyone from the images that were shown. I hope they come up with something that gives people a better idea of the show and the cast before it airs.

I’m in and planning to watch based on the knowledge that Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh are in the cast (3 of my favorite actors), and that someone from Six Feet Under/Brothers and Sisters is behind the scenes, plus on-line comparisons to Arrested Development (one of my favorite shows).

If I hadn’t been reading this forum (and others) though, nothing about the ABC promo would have pulled me in. It was so generic, and the images shown were so unclear that it made me wonder if they were planning to recast before fall (not a good sign). Oh, and I'm in the target golden demographic, so if they're not aiming for me, I'm not sure who they're marketing to.

Hopefully the promotion gets better before it premieres.

I'm really interested in this show, it doesn't hurt that it's on the one night of the week that I don't even bother to turn on the television. Maybe, this with Peter Krause will be my reason to get obsessive about the 10 o' clock hour on Wednesdays.

Oh, and I do think that if this turns out to be more dramedy than not, I'll be even more enthusiastic.

Peter Krause and "AD" likenings? Sign me up! Just... get rid of Nick's almost mullet, okay? I found it very distracting in the preview clip at Zap2It.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to miss all those new references to PK's square head!

I finally got around to watching the clips, and I'm not sure. The priest (and the actor playing him with central casting looks...not as though priests can't look like that, I guess) seems anomalous but the overall vibe was 'quirky...and not in a good way'. I'll be watching in any case come the fall.

So during the whole Paris Hilton brouhaha (I guess it's still going on?) a couple of news reports mentioned that there was a plane going around Hollywood flying a banner (?) in the sky with something written on it along the lines of: "We support you Paris! Love, the Darlings" and that this was to be a plot point in the upcoming show. Anyone else hear of this or am I just crazy?

I read about that on TMZ this weekend. I don't know if it was ever confirmed that it was by the show or not, though.

An episode having anything to do with Paris Hilton is just a bad idea on principle. I did find the banner amusing, but still, no.

For my money, I'd bet that the show won't use the banner incident in any upcoming plot. I thought it a good way to get some publicity going about the show, nothing more.

You're not crazy, there was also an ad of "We support you Paris! Love, the Darlings" in one of the trades, it made me smile, I hope the show has the same wicked humor.

I remember people (and by people I mean blogs) were also saying it could be from the fiction Darling family from Peter Pan, since Paris' dog is named Tinkerbel.

Regarding a new addition to the cast. I, for one, am excited.

Here's another news report on Blair Underwood's character. I wonder how it will all come together. Hopefully, he'll be a good addition. Like this show's Stan Sitwell.

Dirty Sexy Money shut down for 'fine tuning'

I'm not too concerned; Brothers and Sisters as well as the shows mentioned in the article all underwent changes and turned out fine.

Anyone heard anything about what kind of 'fine tuning' they're doing? I am little nervous...though given the track record of those involved, I probably shouldn't be.

Comcast On Demand has a ~25 minute feature previewing ABC's Wednesday night line up - including Dirty Sexy Money. It gives a summary of the show, and introduces the main characters, plus has some commentary from Entertainment Weekly staff. I mentioned in a previous post that the early ads I saw didn't make the show seem that interesting. This feature was a lot better at selling the show IMO. It had some funny scenes - with Jill Clayburgh snapping, the minister Darling being overthetopdrama queen mean (like Joan Collins from Dynasty, only male and wearing a clerical collar), and Peter Krause exasperated. It also had some scenes that hinted at more complex character-based drama. Then, all of a sudden one of the EW people piped up, out of the blue, "Of course, it's a murder mystery!!!" I have no idea what the main overall tone of the show will be, but I'm looking forward to it.

From the scenes showed, the youngest Darlings (Seth Gabel and Samaire Armstrong's characters, I think) were the Darlings I liked best. On the surface, they seem like simplistic stereotypes, but even in the short preview they conveyed some depth that will be interesting to see as the show develops.

The preview feature itself was a little weird, with the EW people sounding a lot like PR people hyping the shows, and with no commentary from creators/cast that I recall. It did a good job getting my interest going for Pushing Daisies and confirming my interest in DSM, but oddly turned me off a bit from Private Pratice (I had seen the introductory episode last season and was kind of interested, but the preview here left me kind of 'meh'. Come to think of it, it gave me the same feeling I had during the last season of Grey's Anatomy....I was thinking "Hmm, what happened to the show that I've seen before with this same name and these same characters that was so-o-o much better than what's on the screen right now?" But, more on that probably belongs in another forum :-) )

Speaking of EW, here's their preview:

I saw the preview and think it looks worth tuning into; however, the parallels to Six Feet Under are slightly overwhelming: a family tragedy leads to the prodigal son (again, the protagonist of the story) to taking over the family business, a dysfunctional family of quirky characters make the protagonist's life hell, and the show is a drama laced with black humor. Then again, one of the writers worked on Six Feet Under, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this show seems similar. Also, I'm still looking for a quirky show like this to replace Six Feet Under, which I still miss dearly. I'm also glad to see Peter Krause using his acting talents in a suitable genre again (Lost Room? ugh).

What happened to the rest of the DSM thread entries? Some of the episode comments were so good. So sad to see it moved to this thread, but glad that there is something here for a small bit of hope to remain. I still haven't heard "officially" that it's completely gone, but it still doesn't look very promising.

Last I heard they were actually trying to tie up the loose ends by solving Dutch's murder in the final episode, but I've also heard those episodes are unlikely to air.

From 411mania.com

Magsi2 - The old forum is in the archives, here.

Mary Ann Thanks for the info. I knew it went somewhere, but I couldn't find it. I guess we can all just hope that ABC's new spring shows suck (at amazing levels) and they decide they did like DSM after all of this mess.

Works for me!

While that would be great, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. First, because ABC removed the show from the abc.com website which they wouldn't do if they had any plans to bring the show back, and secondly, because of comments like these from ABC's president, when talking about complications with airing the remaining episodes of DSM, PD or ES:



source

The "six dedicated fans" and "turning our air over to whatever" comments just really bug me for some reason. ABC had 6 million+ dedicated fans for DSM, who showed up week after week, even with a weak lead-in, and it had better retention than most 10pm shows. The network just could never figure out a way to build on that (and build on the quality they had the first season).

Comments like that from the network head just make me even less likely to check out any new ABC shows...why tune in if they're just going to be arbitrarily dropped from the schedule anyway without fanfare.

Thinking about the show itself, though, any thoughts on favorite plotline and least favorite plotline?

Here's mine:

Favorite plotline: The outing of Brian as Nick's half-brother. I loved how it was handled..with Tripp getting the news, then Nick and Brian. Brian and Nick's conversation in the church was just amazing. It was interesting to see their relationship shift from what it had been in the pilot. Plus I liked how his relationship with Tripp evolved, even though Tripp knew Brian wasn't his biological son. The dynamics there didn't involve the massive Darling fortune, or big worldly issues...it was just about family and relationships, which in some ways was what was best about this show.
(runners up: The evolution of the Tripp-Nick relationship, and the Brian-Brian Jr relationship. Oddly, Jeremy's amnesia was in the running and may have made the list if we had gotten to see more of it. It was gearing up to be funny, and an interesting mirror into the other characters.)

Least favorite plotline: I'm going to have to go with Karen falling for Simon - it was pointless, it took one smart, savvy, funny character that I loved (Karen) and made her dull, weak and weepy. It took her out of commission and dragged the show down. It put a wedge in her relationship with Tripp...I think it was too soon in the series to do that. If the show had lasted, that would have been an interesting development for a later season. Plus it dragged out the Simon Elder nonsense and gave his evil posturing too much screentime (IMHO)

(The existence of Wrenn and her creepy weird triangle with Nick, Tripp would have been my least favorite if it had lasted longer. And the abrupt terminations of No-Fun, Ellen, Carmelita and the Georges' marriage weren't actually plotlines, but just desperate contrivances, so they didn't make the cut)

Here I am on Saturday night, bored after Serena demolished Safina (didn't watch it live overnight or early this morning) and surfing to find something to watch. And I'm supposed to believe that the strongest schedule that ABC can run is "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and the repeat of Wednesday's "Life on Mars"? Granted there isn't much competition on NBC or CBS, but still. And of course they need to prime the pump for LOM because it wasn't the strongest to begin with and then they chose to put it on 2 month hiatus and came back with a pretty lame, sucky episode. I'm switching over to the British comedies on PBS; maybe I'll even make a donation and send a copy to the ABC brass to illustrate exactly how weak their Saturday night is. I'd rather pay to watch a 35 year old classic that I could just as easily buy at Target rather than watch what ABC can't give away.

Well I loved the first season of this show, but the scandals and twists of season 2 pissed the hell out of me. In season 1 it was about mocking the stereotypes of the filthy rich and their antics, but season 2 was too scandal-centric with nonsensical twists, and the introduction of new characters just doesn't help.

Favorite plot line: How Jeremy wants to turn over a new leaf to and get a job. Makes him a more 3 dimensional character and like him more than just a loser playboy.

Brian and Nick are half-brothers. Also my favorite character dynamic.

Least favorite plot line: Lisa regressing to Jeremy and make out whenever her relationship with Nick falls apart. Ugh, it makes me to hate Lisa as a total hypocrite when she is mad whenever Karen made a move to Nick.

Also, I hate the fact Karen never lets go of Nick. Seriously, bitch really needs to move on.

Right now I'm just waiting for the last episodes to air just for conclusions sake.

Favourite thing about the show: The twin dynamic. Losing her, Jeremy as a character suffered as a result.

Least Favourite thing about the show: Nick becoming a total ass.

I don't actually need to see the episodes. A synopsis would do.

What Would Have Happened...

This is a small blurb from tvguidemagazine.com.

From creator Craig Wright:
In the last episode filmed, Jeremy’s (Seth Gable) relationship with Nola (Lucy Liu) is rocked by a shocking turn which finds him tied to an unsavory lady. Over time, Jeremy would have freed himself from this woman and reunited with Nola. William Devane had just been approached to assume a major blast from the past role – a character whose identity is revealed in the last episode filmed. Returning home after an extended absence, Tripp’s plane would have gone down in the series finale. His death, paralleling Dutch’s death in the very first episode, seals Nick’s position as patriarch of the Darling clan.

If you follow the link you can also find out a little more about the final episodes of Pushing Daises and Eli Stone.

Fitting ending based on what we saw of Nick becoming more a Darling.

Was it revealed whether Dutch was still alive, or if not, who killed him?

I don’t know. (to both Pixels and theponderer)

The original set up of the show was that Nick had divorced himself from his dad and the Darlings, so he was an outsider getting sucked back in (and sometimes fighting against that suckage.)

That set up, to me, gave us the inherent dramatic tension of S1, and allowed Nick to act as an audience proxy as we all peered into the Darlings’ world. The fact that Nick was also, despite what he claimed, drawn to the Darlings as the only family he’d ever known, and drawn to their money and power for its own sake, didn't take away from the set up. In fact it made it a lot more interesting and gave the show a lot more depth.

TPTB decided that in S2, Nick should get dirtier and become more like a Darling. While I could argue that approach might have worked in theory, the way they did it seemed to me like too much, too fast and without much rhyme or reason. So, for the show to end, what, 17 episodes in, with Nick heading up the Darling clan, doesn’t make sense, and takes away one of the main premises which made the show interesting to me. Plus, why kill Tripp? Or make him disappear? We’re talking Donald Sutherland here, one of the people who brought the most to the show. I wonder who thought it was a good idea to kill/disappear some of the most interesting characters on this show? I would love to see some kind of honest behind the scenes "Making of Dirty Sexy Money" video, just to understand the dynamics behind how the show (d)evolved, and to get a sense of who was bringing what to the table, and who was responsible for the good and bad of what we saw. It might be painful, but entertaining...something like Lost in LaMancha maybe, but about a TV series?

Edited Feb 9th to add: after reviewing the PD content in the same article, and reviewing poster responses in the PD thread, I'm starting to wonder about the supposed ending to DSM. I'm wondering if we've been had. The fact that it struck me as wrong compared to the set up we had in the rest of the series, and the fact that regular PD viewers had kind of the same response to the PD "ending" described in the same article makes me wonder how much of these series ending ideas really came from the series creators. Instead of seeming like the final resolution to themes/ideas brought up in these series, these endings seem...I don't know, cheap? sensasional? paradoxical? Well, at the very least, they're not very satifiying, and seem to conflict with the themes raised in both these series during their short lives. I'm withholding judgement until I finally see the ending episodes, or read something from the creators directly.

He really outdid everyone, and with this show, that is a statement. Interestingly, Jeremy seemed to become the unlikely hero.

My .02: I want DSM back! I want Sutherland alternately grand and nefarious. Are you listening, ABC? (OK, didn't think so.)

I'll add mine too. I don't think .04 amounts to enough for them though. I'll also add that I want S1 quality with the return of DSM. This season really missed the mark a lot with playing the beats and hitting all the right spots.

To my surprise I discovered that my local pay channel (in South Africa) appears to be airing all the DSM episodes, we're on 211 now, so I guess I'll be able to let you all know details of how it ends in a few months

I miss this show, even the more heavy-handed S2, and would, if nothing else, appreciate some sort of official written epilogue with a line or two about what happens to each character. It's the least ABC could do since they never really promoted DSM properly. The Dirty Sexy title and the lame promos confused people. Several times I had to explain to friends that it was a cheeky show (moreso in S1), not a superficial one.

It was really quirky and a fun show to watch in the first season, where they basically portray parodies of a rich family. Season 2 turned really superficial and scandal-heavy, and the scandals itself aren't that fun to watch but more so pisses me off.

Anyone here is interested to do a fanfic/speculation of this show?

I wanted to like this, but for some reason they dropped that aspect almost immediately to send him on yet another skirt-chasing plotline. The 'playboy straightens up' aspect wasn't just pulled back in favor of Jeremy's absolutely inane plots to woo Sofia Vergera's character (forgot her name), it was completely ditched.

Most of the stuff in S1 I liked was downplayed or ditched altogether.

Plotlines I hated: Paddy going from someone who loved both Ellen and Carmelita to a pure cheater, every Nola Lyons story from the bizarre idea that Jeremy and Tish dreamt up their "disqualify the prosecutor" plan to the outrageously stupid "Simon Elder: kidnapper" plotline, Wrenn as the Darling outsider - they already had some: Nick and Lisa, Nick and Lisa's reasons for breaking up were much more plot-driven than organic..., Kiki George wants to be a Darling (Kiki 2.0, aka the one who took over from Elle Fanning, didn't exactly act the hell out of it, but it was written badly to begin with. Still, I feel a little bad about harshing on a child actor.) .... I guess I disliked nearly everything about S2. A couple of nice moments here and there were faint echoes of why I even liked the show in the first place, so it wasn't a total loss. In fairness, I should note that the ridiculousness of Simon Elder as ubervillain started early in S1, so it's not like the first season was all peaches and cream.

S2 plotlines I thought had some potential: Paddy exploiting his wife's death to win the Senate, Nick being put into second in command of DE, Brian and Brian Jr.