What Was CBS Thinking Ordering Double Rush?

[icecream]

Robert Pastorelli is not leading man material. He was decent as a supporting character on Murphy Brown (even there not on the level of the main five at FYI), but that's it. I am not surprised Double Rush failed, concept sounds maybe interesting from my primetime directory, but would have needed a more appealing lead actor to succeed. Ordering a full season of Touched by an Angel would have been a better move against Roseanne, it did better there. But we know Les Moonves hated Touched by an Angel and hated its spin-off Promised Land even more.

[RetroTVNitekatt]

Originally Posted by icecream

Robert Pastorelli is not leading man material. He was decent as a supporting character on Murphy Brown (even there not on the level of the main five at FYI), but that's it. I am not surprised Double Rush failed, concept sounds maybe interesting from my primetime directory, but would have needed a more appealing lead actor to succeed. Ordering a full season of Touched by an Angel would have been a better move against Roseanne, it did better there. But we know Les Moonves hated Touched by an Angel and hated its spin-off Promised Land even more.

Les Moonves is well known for hating Science Fiction and Fantasy (He killed "Star Trek Enterprise" as soon as he could! He oversaw CBS and UPN!) so his feelings on TBAA and PL is not surprising.

Funny thing is, when he was an actor in the 1970's (Yes, he's a failed actor turned studio-network executive - classic story, ain't it) he had a small part in an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man"!

[icecream]

Originally Posted by RetroTVNitekatt

Les Moonves is well known for hating Science Fiction and Fantasy (He killed "Star Trek Enterprise" as soon as he could! He oversaw CBS and UPN!) so his feelings on TBAA and PL is not surprising.

Star Trek: Enterprise sucks though quality wise. It has none of the appeal of the previous Star Trek versions Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation, Jeri Ryan era of Voyager, and TOS.

[TMC]

Short-Lived Sitcom Potpourri (XVI)

Thoughts: In keeping with the Diane English tradition of offering lesser versions of earlier hit templates, this vehicle for Murphy Brown’s Eldin (Robert Pastorelli) casts him as the Sam Malone of a bicycle messenger service — he loves his employees but still harbors dreams of his past as a musician. With a strong cast — an eclectic ensemble where David Arquette, Adam Goldberg, D.L. Hughley, and Phil Leeds are standouts — comparisons were made at the time to both Cheers and even Taxi, another ensemble workplace comedy about a group of loners with dreams outside of their current occupation.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by icecream

Robert Pastorelli is not leading man material. He was decent as a supporting character on Murphy Brown (even there not on the level of the main five at FYI), but that's it. I am not surprised Double Rush failed, concept sounds maybe interesting from my primetime directory, but would have needed a more appealing lead actor to succeed. Ordering a full season of Touched by an Angel would have been a better move against Roseanne, it did better there. But we know Les Moonves hated Touched by an Angel and hated its spin-off Promised Land even more.

ONE SEASON WONDERS: Double Rush

Brief Pilot Review:

This has to be the first and only series ever set at a bicycle delivery service so I have to give it credit for originality in a setting. Pretty much any other workplace, even some odd ones, I can name a couple shows that dabbled there. But I can't think of any other show with this setting. The best thing about this pilot is that I felt like, had it been given time, it could have turned into a very solid workplace comedy. I definitely had vibes of Taxi and Cheers when watching the first episode even though this pilot was not as sure of itself as the pilots of those two classics. The quirky cast of characters set in a high energy location plus a character (Zoe) filling the Diane Chambers role made those comparisons pretty easy and, unlike some complete trash sitcoms, it wasn't completely an unfavorable comparison.

The show had a tremendous cast with a lot of people who had success before or after the show but I wasn't totally sold on Robert Pastorelli as the centerpiece to the company. He wasn't anywhere close to as likable as Ted Danson's Sam Malone or Judd Hirsch's Alex Reiger to continue the Cheers and Taxi comparisons. It was hard to see imagine how lovable a quirky work family could become with him at the center. In general, the cast didn't gel all that well in the pilot though I think a lot of them could have gotten there (though Adam Goldberg's shtick got old even in the pilot. Imagine Eddie on Friends being a series regular because that's what it was. The show had some cool location scenes of the bikes in action and tried to be a little edgy in its shooting style which only worked to moderate success.

What Went Wrong:

Double Rush was launched as part of a new Wednesday comedy block on CBS. It was an unusual scheduling strategy with the two new shows - Rush and last week's One Season Wonder Women of the House - taking the anchor slots. Meanwhile, two struggling veteran shows - Hearts Afire and Love & War - were in the half hour slots. Double Rush came from Diane English, who created Murphy Brown and Love & War and she brought Brown co-star Robert Pastorelli to the lead role. Double Rush received mixed reviews. Deseret News called it "strangely flat and unfunny" while Variety called it "amiable."

The comedy lineup launched in January 1995 with Double Rush airing at 9pm but the ratings for the whole block were bad from the jump. The entire lineup was yanked after just five weeks. While the other three shows were basically done at that point, Double Rush got a second chance. After February Sweeps, it returned to Wednesdays airing at 8:30pm after the new The George Wendt Show. It lasted another six weeks before it was pulled from the lineup with one episode unaired. Many of the stars have continued to have success though Pastorelli tried one more series (Cracker) in 1997 before his death in 2004.