Review: "Central Park West" (1995-96)

Of all the classic TV shows set in NYC, Central Park West is ... not one of them!

But it's an interesting, if not a good, show to remember nonetheless.

A lil' context: Central Park West, branded CPW (because, you know, that made it sound "hipper") premiered in the fall of 1995. Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place were on FOX and very hot at the time. In fact, they were easily the biggest nighttime soap operas on TV, the 1990s successors to shows like Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, etc. CBS was doing lousy in the ratings and was desperate to attract younger viewers and recapture some of its glory. So they hired Darren Star, creator of those aforementioned shows on FOX, to come over to CBS and work his nighttime soapy magic there.

It didn't work. CPW failed -- big time. The show got lots of promotion but audiences didn't care. CBS even tried re-tooling the show, firing some people, bringing in new ones -- and it still tanked. 

CPW on CBS was DOA.

The show was meant to be a comeback vehicle of sorts for Mariel Hemingway. She had broken out in Woody Allen's Manhattan in 1979, then made some movies that weren't very successful, so CPW seemed destined to start the next chapter of her career. Didn't happen. She was fired in the middle of the season and replaced by, naturally, of all people, Gerald McRaney. Yes, the producers of CPW believed the way to save the show was to Send the Marines! Specifically, a fictional TV Marine. 

Still didn't work. Hiring McRaney and an aging Racquel Welch, in an attempt now to attract older viewers, made no difference. And a show where most of the drama was centered around publishing failed to excite people no matter how many beautiful people were jumping into bed together. Oil in Dallas and wine in Northern California's Falcon Crest might have had sex appeal in the 1980s but publishing in NYC in the 1990s just didn't inspire the same frisson. 

So who cares about Central Park West, especially Mr NYC, twenty-five years after its short existence?

Well, because CPW was, in retrospect, a little ahead of its time. If it had premiered a few years later, it might have been a big hit. This was when America's view of NYC was more NYPD Blue and less Sex and the City. The idea of NYC as a glamorous dreamscape wasn't fully believable to middle America -- yet. In fact, Darren Starr would, after this failure, find his next big success by creating ... Sex and the City!

It's ashame, however, that the show failed to re-ignite Mariel Hemingway's career. She's such a talent and never had the kind of career she deserved. But the show also had a guy named John Barrowman, who went to great success with the BBC show Torchwood. And any show with Madchen Amick is, by definition, worth watching.

If you want to watch any of CPW, you're in luck -- the YouTube Gods have made the whole thing available for you.