Forgotten soaps of the 00’s

[Carrie Fairchild]

Taking the lead from the Forgotten soaps of the 90’s thread, this is a look back at some of the lesser discussed soaps of 2000 - 2009. It was the decade of the pseudo-soap, with the likes of Desperate Housewives leading the soapy dramedy charge, with very few traditional style sudsters lasting long. Some of the shorter lived soaps like Titans and Dirty Sexy Money do get discussed on here but there’s a raft of others that rarely get a mention, which I’ll start the ball rolling on below.

The $treet: Darren Star’s turn of the millennium Wall Street meets Melrose Place drama, that was one of that season’s highly anticipated shows but crashed and burned quickly on FOX. Despite a decent cast, they never really gelled IMO, and they quickly tried to soap it up further by bringing in Jennie Garth as a troublemaker sibling to one of the brokers. The show was pulled three episodes into her debut (all episodes aired overseas) and I don’t think it’s ever seen the light of day since.

Platinum: this show had really good pedigree. Created by John Ridley (12 Years A Slave) and Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides), and exec produced by Francis Ford Coppola, it followed the tale of two brothers (played by Sticky Fingaz and Jason George) who ran a successful record label in New York. It received good reviews but low ratings and high production costs brought about its early demise. It was mostly forgotten until the launch of Empire in 2015, when various writers referenced Platinum (which coincidentally was originally called Empire) as a precursor to the new FOX hit. I think Platinum is another example of a soap that just ended up on the wrong network. It was being shopped around for three years (with HBO and FOX deals falling through in the interim) before UPN commissioned it. And I think UPN just didn’t have the budget for it to fully flourish.

South Beach: another UPN soap that faltered due to low ratings. Produced by Jennifer Lopez and set around a luxury Miami hotel, it followed various young things as they got into all sorts of scrapes involving business, romance and organised crime. Vanessa Williams headlined as the hotel matriarch Elizabeth, who was fending off Cuban gangster Fuentes (Giancarlo Esposito, later of Breaking Bad) as he tried to take over the hotel. Its cancellation after only 8 episodes was probably a blessing in disguise for Vanessa Williams, as it freed her up to take on her career renaissance role as Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty that Fall.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Mountain: snowy saga from The O.C producers Stephanie Savage and McG, about a prodigal son (Oliver Hudson) coming home to take over the running of the family ski resort following his grandfather’s death. A return which caused much consternation for his hardworking brother (Anson Mount) who had been managing the resort in his absence. Cue the usual soapy shenanigans including love triangles, boardroom battles and avalanches. Barbara Hershey played the matriarch while other familiar faces including Brett Cullen, Mitch Pileggi and a pre-Gossip Girl Penn Badgley popped up in supporting roles. Being scheduled up against ratings heavyweights including CSI, The Bachelor, American Idol and The West Wing, meant the show faced an uphill battle before it even went to air. Poor reviews didn’t help either, and the WB pulled the plug after its initial 13 episode order aired.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Beautiful Life: a sort of Models Inc for the 00’s if you will, based on the experiences of model-turned-writer Adam Giaudrone. Set in New York, it followed the lives of a group of models living together under the guidance of agency boss Claudia (Elle Macpherson). Mischa Barton, in her comeback TV role after her dramatic exit from The O.C a few years prior, played wayward supermodel Sonja, who’d just returned to the city after being MIA for months while Sara Paxton played Raina, the bright young up and comer. Other cast members included High School Musical star Corbin Bleu, future Revenge star Ashley Madekwe and future Younger star Nico Tortella. Ashton Kutcher was a producer while Mike Kelley (Swingtown, Revenge) served as showrunner.

The show was scheduled in a tough timeslot, up against Glee, Modern Family, SVU and Criminal Minds but even by CW standards, its ratings were low. The Beautiful Life only pulled in a fraction of the viewers that all other CW dramas, including shows like Smallville and One Tree Hill that were nearing the end of their runs, were getting. It was cancelled after only two episodes, making it the first casualty of the 2009-2010 season. Producers announced that they would be releasing the remaining produced episodes online on YouTube, in a sponsorship deal with HP, in the hope that online viewership would lead to more episodes being produced. Unfortunately, as this was in the years before the streaming platform boom, the idea never really took off and only five of the six originally produced for TV episodes made it to YouTube, with no further episodes commissioned.

Please feel free to jump in with any memories that you have of these or any of the other shortlived soaps of the era. I’ve watched some but there’s others that I haven’t seen (yet) so I’d be interested to hear what people thought of them.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Cane: not completely forgotten, as it gets a mention on here occasionally, in relation to its creator who would go on to revive/kill (depending on your point of view) Dallas a few years later. Originally titled Los Duques, the script was picked up by CBS before being bundled into a deal that Jimmy Smits had with ABC Studios, to both star in and produce series. Smits played the lead role of Alex, adopted son of Pancho (Hector Elizondo) and Amalia Duque (Rita Moreno) and heir to the family rum and sugar empire. The Duques had three children by birth - Frank (Nestor Carbonell) who was angry that his adoptive brother was getting preference over him, Isabel (Paola Turbay) who in true soap opera fashion, was married to her adoptive brother Alex and then youngest son Henry (Eddie Matos). Rome actress Polly Walker and Dynasty andThe Colbys star Ken Howard played Ellis and Joe Samuels, the daughter/father duo who were the Duque’s main business rivals. I need to watch the show in full but I think it’s probably the closest that any of these forgotten soaps got to replicating the look and feel of the 80’s/90’s primetime sagas. It was straight up soap, unlike some of the quirkier 00’s sudsters, with a hint of crime (much like what we’d see on TNT Dallas).

The series premiered to decent ratings of 11m, the highest CBS viewership for that timeslot since Judging Amy nearly a decade earlier. However, ratings quickly fell to lows of 6m-7m, a big drop off from its lead-in The Unit, which was pulling in 10-12m viewers. It was also being thrashed by its timeslot competitors, Law & Order: SVU (12m viewers) and Boston Legal (9m viewers). Production was paused in early November 2007, due to the writers strike. All 13 produced episodes aired (the final episode in December attracting 7.19m). Cane then went into limbo. In his EmmyTV Legends interview, Hector Elizondo spoke fondly of the show and of his disappointment when it was finally cancelled. By his telling, they were initially told that production would continue when the strike ended but as the weeks passed and the strike dragged on, it proved too expensive to keep the sets up and the cast on hold, so the plug was pulled. The cancellation of Cane was officially announced in May 2008, presumably in time for the upfronts. In addition to low ratings, I think Cane is yet another example of a good show that just aired on the wrong network. The CBS drama slate at that time was almost completely crime procedurals with its only serialised dramas that season - Cane, Moonlight and Swingtown - all failing.

 

[Seaviewer]

I do think Cane deserved to stay on longer. Imagine an alternate universe where Cane was a five-year hit, leaving Cidre too busy to take on Dallas and without the need to superimpose her vision on it. We could have had two great shows . . .

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I do think Cane deserved to stay on longer. Imagine an alternate universe where Cane was a five-year hit, leaving Cidre too busy to take on Dallas and without the need to superimpose her vision on it. We could have had two great shows . . .

From what I can gather, it had all of the elements of a good soap but it wasn’t a good fit for the CBS schedule. Every other CBS drama on the Fall schedule (except Moonlight) was a crime procedural, most of which were getting close to double (or the case of CSI treble) the viewing figures that Cane got.

Even without the writers strike, I think Cane was doomed to fail on CBS but may have prospered elsewhere. ABC might have been a better network for it, as it was the home of soapy dramas in the 00’s, but its schedule was already awash with them in the 2007-08 season (Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Grey’s Anatomy, Dirty Sexy Money, October Road, Cashmere Mafia, Private Practice).

 

[Soaplover]

Hidden Palms (2007) - A short lived CW series that was supposed to have been a 13 episode mid season show, but it got back to airing in the summer of 2007 with a reduced episode order of 8 episodes. It was about a teen (played by Taylor Handley.. known for playing someone unhinged on The OC) who is released from rehab and sent to live with his mom and step dad in Palm Springs. He's still haunted by the suicide of his father that caused his descent into drugs/alcohol. He finds that things aren't much better in a place full of money as he encounters a shady neighbor, the neighbors cougar mom, and the community is still haunted by the death of a teen that is unsolved. So it was part mystery/part soap. A decent cast, including Amber Heard (long before her true colors were revealed to the world) playing the tortured female protagonist.

I recall watching it and not finding it horrible nor good. It just had nothing to set it apart amongst a season of teen soaps and teen mystery/soap hybrids.

Also, the show Cane on CBS had the issue of too many male characters driving the action with little to no female characters that were strong willed and/or drove action. Even the male dominated Dallas had interesting female characters that helped enhance the action (i.e. Pam, Donna, Sue Ellen).

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

the community is still haunted by the death of a teen that is unsolved

I didn’t watch the show but am I right in thinking that this deceased teen appeared in the series as a ghostly figure, kind of similar to the mother in Providence, or am I completely confusing Hidden Palms with another series?

Also, the show Cane on CBS had the issue of too many male characters driving the action with little to no female characters that were strong willed and/or drove action.

Interesting to hear considering they had such strong actresses like Rita Moreno and Polly Walker among the cast.

 

[Soaplover]

I didn’t watch the show but am I right in thinking that this deceased teen appeared in the series as a ghostly figure, kind of similar to the mother in Providence, or am I completely confusing Hidden Palms with another series?

Interesting to hear considering they had such strong actresses like Rita Moreno and Polly Walker among the cast.

RIta Moreno wasn't given much to do, while Polly Walker played the daughter of the families biggest rival. She was more of an anti heroine that was having an affair with one of the sons of Hector Elizondo and Rita Moreno... but she wasn't given too much to do business wise.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

RIta Moreno wasn't given much to do, while Polly Walker played the daughter of the families biggest rival. She was more of an anti heroine that was having an affair with one of the sons of Hector Elizondo and Rita Moreno... but she wasn't given too much to do business wise.

That’s a shame. Moreno would’ve been a great matriarch while I figured they’d try to capitalise on Polly Walker’s Golden Globe nominated turn as the villainous Atia of the Julii in Rome by having her as a main antagonist but obviously not.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Sex, Love & Secrets: in September 2004, it was announced that Denise Richards (Starship Troopers, The World is Not Enough) had signed a talent holding deal with UPN, with a view to her headlining a new sitcom or drama on the network. A few weeks later, UPN signed Jonathan Axelrod and Kelly Edwards to develop an untitled drama following the lives of young people living in LA, which would be shot in an “indie film” style. It wasn’t until late February 2005 that the two signings merged, when Richards signed on to play the lead in what was now being called Wildlife, with the Silver Lake area of LA being confirmed as the setting.

By the upfronts in May, the show was now titled Sex, Lies and Secrets and featured a cast including Eric Balfour (Six Feet Under) as horny hairdresser Charlie, who was having a fling with Gabrielle (Katie Cassidy), who just happened to be his friend Coop’s (Omar Miller) girlfriend. Lauren German (Lucifer) was journalist Rose who was engaged to musician Hank, played by James Stevenson (Passions). Richards played Hank’s publicist Jolene, a vixenish maneater who was positioned as the Amanda Woodward of the show while Tamara Taylor (Bones) played Nina, the sensible one that they all went to for advice. In July, it was announced that the show’s name was to be changed again, in order to be “more reflective of the direction, tone and pacing of the series” and the more softly titled Sex, Love and Secrets finally premiered at end of September 2005.

Reviews varied between some praising its direction and editing, while others dismissed it as badly acted trash. There was nothing varied about the ratings though. They were just downright bad. On a schedule where most of UPN’s scripted programming was attracting 3-4m viewers, Sex, Love and Secrets premiered to a dismal 1.4m. Production was halted days after the first episode aired. Only three more of the eight produced episodes were aired before UPN yanked it from the schedules completely. Sex, Love and Secrets ended up being the lowest rated scripted series of the 2005-06 season and the second lowest rated of all series, finishing 155th out of 156 series (only slightly behind UPN’s other failed soap South Beach - 152nd - and ahead of UPN reality series Get This Party Started). All eight episodes finally aired in the US in 2008 on Universal HD while European viewers got to see it on CBS Drama in the 2010’s.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

North Shore: the show that FOX hoped would become the new Melrose Place to its new 90210 (The O.C). Starting life as The Big Island and then Oahu, the finally retitled North Shore was described as an upstairs downstairs look at life in a luxury hotel in Hawaii. Melrose Place’s Rob Estes was cast as the hotel’s managing partner Vincent Boyd, who oversaw a staff of hot young twentysomethings that included Kristoffer Poloha, Rachel Shelley and future Hollywood megastar Jason Momoa. FOX were so impressed with the show that they gave it a 13 episode order in March 2004, based on a 15-minute presentation reel, with one exec saying that "It felt like a show that delivers on good characters and relationships, along with a huge dose of wish fulfillment”. It was scheduled to premiere that Fall, with some talk of it premiering earlier in the summer, like The O.C had the year prior.

By April, less than three weeks after it was picked up, Rob Estes departed the show for reasons unknown. A day later, it was announced that Rachel Shelley’s role had been recast with Baywatch’s Brooke Burns. By the end of April, it was confirmed that North Shore would premiere in June, with James Remar now playing the role of Vincent. The action would centre around Jason (Poloha), the hotel’s general manager whose ex, Nicole (Burns) turns up as the new guest relations director. Other staff included barman Frankie (Momoa), waitress MJ (Nikki DeLoach) and ex-con turned concierge Tessa (Amanda Righetti).

The show premiered to both lukewarm reviews and ratings but following the announcement in August that Shannen Doherty would be joining the cast, as antagonist Alexandra Hudson, the show got a back nine pickup. Producer Bert Salke stated “We wanted what we sometimes call an ‘engine’ on these shows, to not only give an expected ratings jump and bringing more viewers to a show that has momentum, but also that is something that a story spins off on. She was just the perfect [character] for people to spin around”. Comparisons were made to the arrival of Heather Locklear on Melrose Place and while Doherty had initially signed on for three episodes, she ended up staying for eleven. Unfortunately her arrival didn’t have the “Amanda effect” that had arguably saved Melrose, and North Shore closed for business after its first season.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The $treet: Darren Star’s turn of the millennium Wall Street meets Melrose Place drama, that was one of that season’s highly anticipated shows but crashed and burned quickly on FOX. Despite a decent cast, they never really gelled IMO, and they quickly tried to soap it up further by bringing in Jennie Garth as a troublemaker sibling to one of the brokers. The show was pulled three episodes into her debut (all episodes aired overseas) and I don’t think it’s ever seen the light of day since.

I’ve started watching The $treet, for the first time since I watched it 25 years ago. I’ve never seen it in full as I think Sky One started messing around with the timeslot when it failed in the US and if I remember correctly, it was one of the shows that was pulled from TV briefly in 2001 (when TV3 aired it) after the attacks at the World Trade Centre.

I’ve only watched the first two episodes and based on those, I can see why it failed so badly (it was FOX’s 2nd lowest rating series that season - Freakylinks being the lowest - and came 114th out of 157 series overall). As opposed to it being an out and out soap like Melrose, it reminded me more of something like LA Law (which is a show that I enjoyed) where you’ve a story of the week alongside the various workplace relationships. The main problem is that most of the characters are not likeable. I know that the onscreen representations of Wall Street brokerages are usually machismo filled and this show was probably heavily influenced by the high profile downfall of Jordan Belfort at the end of the 90’s (Tom Everett Scott who plays Jack, also starred in the 1999 film Boiler Room, which covers similar ground). But they’re really not a likeable bunch. The aforementioned Jack, who is arguably the male lead, is a bit of a wet rag. Rick Hoffman’s character Freddie is a vile, misogynist pig, with no evident redeeming qualities. He spends most of the first episode sexually harassing women and ends it by pretending to urinate into a coffee cup on the brokerage floor. In the second episode, he opens a betting pool on how well endowed the new guy (played by Christian Campbell is). Again, this may be a true reflection of what went on at some of these firms but it doesn’t make for good viewing. Particularly when there’s no balance to it. We’re all well used to watching mean spirited characters in our soaps but there’s usually light and shade with them. This just feels like bad taste.

Then there is the show’s episodic action which focuses the business dramas of the firm. In episode one, we follow the precarious case of an Ivy League sperm bank startup going public, which ultimately bags its asshole owners a windfall of $140m. In episode two, Jack fights his conscience over whether to reveal info that his grieving ex-girlfriend inadvertently told him after her father’s death which will make the firm loads of money or keep schtum. When the peril involves characters that you don’t care about, it is hard to get engaged. Particularly when said peril mostly involves characters sat on their asses, watching stock prices go up or down on a screen.

In its defence, the show’s production values are good and there’s some interesting direction. There are a couple of more sympathetic characters like Melissa De Sousa’s Donna but she hasn’t gotten a great deal of screen time so far and I think showcasing the more unlikeable characters in the show’s early episodes is what ultimately killed it.

 

[Toni]

The main problem is that most of the characters are not likeable. I know that the onscreen representations of Wall Street brokerages are usually machismo filled and this show was probably heavily influenced by the high profile downfall of Jordan Belfort at the end of the 90’s (Tom Everett Scott who plays Jack, also starred in the 1999 film Boiler Room, which covers similar ground). But they’re really not a likeable bunch. The aforementioned Jack, who is arguably the male lead, is a bit of a wet rag. Rick Hoffman’s character Freddie is a vile, misogynist pig, with no evident redeeming qualities. He spends most of the first episode sexually harassing women and ends it by pretending to urinate into a coffee cup on the brokerage floor. In the second episode, he opens a betting pool on how well endowed the new guy (played by Christian Campbell is). Again, this may be a true reflection of what went on at some of these firms but it doesn’t make for good viewing. Particularly when there’s no balance to it. We’re all well used to watching mean spirited characters in our soaps but there’s usually light and shade with them. This just feels like bad taste.

This describes my worst workplaces, only that ladies acted that way TOO. But then it was the early 00s...

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Final thoughts on The $treet before I return to looking at the era’s other forgotten soaps. I’ve watched episode three and I can now see what they were supposedly going for. Bridgette Wilson joins the show as high powered Bridget, further upsetting the male dominated equilibrium at Balmont Stevens. Her character, alongside Jennifer Connolly’s big boss Catherine and the previously mentioned Donna, represent the new era of female traders, invading the old boys club, calling them out on their misogynistic BS and competing with them in big business.

The thing is, by episode three, it’s a bit too late for this to click with audiences who’ve probably already departed. I know some shows are nuanced slow burners but this isn’t one of them, so the setup should’ve been established from day one. Also, the misogyny that they are fighting, that is often played for laughs, comes off as so sleazy, that it isn’t comfortable to watch.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Cashmere Mafia / Lipstick Jungle:
Covering these two together, as you can’t really mention one without the other. Back in 2005, Candace Bushnell published her fourth novel Lipstick Jungle, the success of which prompted a bidding war for the TV rights. Bushnell’s friend and previous collaborator Darren Star tried to secure the rights for $200k but was outbid by NBC, who bought them for $500k. In December that same year, Robin Schiff, a frequent Darren Star collaborator, was announced as both writer and exec producer, alongside Bushnell.

Lipstick Jungle would follow “three powerful New York businesswomen who will do anything to get ahead and stay on top”. By early 2006, Gina Gershon (Showgirls) was announced as one of the female leads, with future Glee star Matthew Morrison and Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls) in supporting roles. However, by that March, a revolving door of personnel began. Production was halted when Robin Schiff jumped ship. It was then announced that Melissa George (Alias) would join the show (she’d been handpicked by Bushnell to play Nico). Schiff was briefly replaced by Jill Gordon (My So Called Life) who in turn was replaced by Rand Ravich who came onboard as showrunner in June. Ravich was gone by October, replaced by Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline. By early 2007, the decks were cleared again as Gershon, George, Morrison and Cohen were all no longer involved in the project. Brooke Shields was announced as taking over Gershon’s role of Wendy Healy, while Kim Raver (Third Watch) took on the role of Nico (Melissa George had apparently left to take a role in HBO’s In Treatment).

At the same time that the “new” Lipstick Jungle was taking shape on NBC, another eerily similar drama about four successful female executives, friends since college, who rely on each other as they juggle the demands of career, family, hard choices and high ambitions in New York City, was announced over at ABC, with none other than Darren Star as producer. Reportedly, it was only after Bushnell had contacted Star to tell him that Jungle had been picked up for a pilot by NBC, that he admitted to selling “something similar” to ABC. And thus began a freeze in the pair’s decade long friendship that had seen both of them rise to worldwide success through their TV adaptation of Bushnell’s Sex and the City.

ABC’s drama was Cashmere Mafia, with a cast including Lucy Liu as publisher Mia, Frances O’Connor as financier Zoe, Miranda Otto as hotelier Juliet and Bonnie Somerville as cosmetics exec Caitlin. Despite Lipstick Jungle being in development for over a year longer, it was Cashmere Mafia that made it out the gate first. Originally scheduled to premiere in November 2007, the writers strike saw its launch being pushed back to January 2008, with only seven of its thirteen ordered episodes being produced. Not that an earlier start or a full 13-episode run would have made much odds. Reviewers slated it for being dull and trying unsuccessfully to borrow too much from SATC (which it drew a lot of inspiration from). Launching in a special, post Desperate Housewives timeslot, it pulled in 10m viewers before moving to its regular home of 10pm Wednesday, where ratings halved to 4-5m up against CSI: NY and Law & Order.

After various recasts of husbands and supporting players, Lipstick Jungle was finally confirmed to launch in January 2008, with ex-90210 star Lindsay Price rounding out the lead trio. However, the show suffered yet another setback when writers/showrunners Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline were let go and production was halted until November 2007. When production resumed, Oliver Goldstick (Ugly Betty) was in situ as the new showrunner (the fifth person to take up the position) and February 2008 would be the new premiere date. Similar to Mafia, the show had originally gotten a 13-episode order which was cut to seven due to the strike. When Lipstick Jungle did finally arrive, it must have given some comfort to Bushnell that reviewers regarded it as the superior of that season’s two Sex and the City clones. It was faint praise though, as Jungle also received criticism for being a poor clone of SATC. It must’ve also given her some comfort when NBC announced in April that they were renewing the show for a second season of 13 episodes, while ABC announced in May that the ratings deficient Cashmere Mafia had been cancelled (its lead Lucy Liu, being transferred to ABC’s other struggling sudser, Dirty Sexy Money).

Lipstick Jungle’s second season premiered in September 2008, but ratings struggles saw it moved around three different timeslots in its 13 weeks on air, before its “season” finale aired in early January 2009. Not yet officially cancelled, there was talk of it getting a third season up until the last minute, only for it to be quietly cancelled, with the news being confirmed by Brooke Shields. Both shows were among the many highly stylised, Desperate Housewives / Sex and the City knockoffs of the 00’s. Unfortunately, while they may have shared the fashions of the shows that they were emulating, they unfortunately didn’t share the writing or the ratings.

 

[Soaplover]

My late mom watched both of those shows (Lipstick Jungle & Cashmere Mafia), and she said of the two.. she liked Lipstick Jungle better.

Skin (2003) was a short-lived soap that was way ahead of its time. It was an updated Romeo & Juliet Story with the 'Juliet' being the daughter of a Jewish porn/adult movie maker and the 'Romeo' being the half-latino/half-Irish Catholic son of the district attorney out to catch the movie maker, while he's carrying on an affair with an associate of his (played by Laura Leighton of Melrose Place fame).

Only 3 episodes aired before it got pulled, but the remaining episodes were burned off on SoapNet.. and it looked as though there were some resolutions to the plotlines (including one involving real life adult movie actress Ginger Lynn Allen playing an adult movie actress).