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Beggars and Choosers [1999-2000]


Sylph

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Wow I totally forgot about this show. I got to tour the set and meet some of the actors and crew (sadly not Tuc) in a Summer pre college program thing in Vancouver--and then I watched for the show, but it didn't air here in Canada until like 5 years back when I'd catch some of it at like 2am on Canada's Bravo. It did seem like it was pretty bad, campy, *fun*... I guess it was an earlier attempt of Showtime to have a big show that didn't catch on like some of their shows immediately after.

Looking at the cast list it's FILLED with soap names--even less common ones like Brian Kerwin, Rudolph Martin from AMC, William DeVry, Serri Saum, etc... The writer names aren't exactly the most prominent (created by Peter Lefcourt and Brandon Tartikoff). There arne't even many clips online http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB4DYf-is4Q (It's kinda too bad some shows missed the TV on DVD boom by a year or two, yet now every crap never took off show seems to get a release)

It did get an Emmy nom though :o (and a GLAD one)

(For some reason I got this mixed up in my head witht he flop Showtime drama Leap Years by the two hacks behind Sisters and the Queer as Folk remake )

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Wasn't this the show created by Claudia Lonow who starred on Knots Landing as Diana Fairgate? I recall reading that one character (whoever was addicted to coke) was based on her. Considering how much I love Knots, I'd love to see this series someday. Lonow is still writing, most recently for Cashmere Mafia.

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No doubt about that...along with Bill Cosby, Tartikoff gets credit for basically saving the entire NBC network in the 1980's after the company nearly imploded in the late 70's and early 80's. He was first president of the network under Grant Tinker (ex-husband of Mary Tyler Moore and co-founder of the legendary MTM Enterprises) and then succeeded Tinker as chairman of NBC. He left NBC in at the end of the decade to become the head of Paramount Pictures, a move that wasn't too successful. BEGGARS & CHOOSERS was his last project before he died of cancer at age 48 in 1997 (he'd been battling cancer on and off throughout most of his adult life).

Mr. Tartikoff was perhaps the last of the great television programming giants. He worked his way up the ladder swiftly thanks to his genuis, hard work, and the fact that he truly loved television.

He appeared in the final episode of GENERATIONS in 1991 in the show's last scene. He played the hotel bellboy who walked in on Doreen Jackson straddling Henry Marshall on the bed following Henry's heart attack in the series cliffhanger.

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WOW! A B&C thread?!?!?!

How did I not know this was here?

LOVED this show... I'm still bitter that I can't find it on DVD. I even trolled message boards for years, looking for someone who had all the episodes on VHS, willing to pay top dollar. I don't understand why Showtime hasn't released it - last I heard, it was something to do with music rights (it always seems to have something to do with music rights). Kerwin, Watkins, Charlotte Ross... God, the cast was great, and so much fun. Yeah, it didn't change the world or anything... but I was GLUED to this the whole time it was on.

I really, REALLY miss this show.

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