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My 'Pasadena?' |
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Dana Delany (top row, center) is so good that it's worth watching just to catch her performance. |
Fox has a lively prime soap,
but it's getting hard to find
By DONNA J. PLESH
of TheColumnists.com
From my home in Orange County, it takes anywhere from
one to two hours to drive to Pasadena, depending on, as we Southern
Californians say, the traffic.
The drive to Pasadena is a piece of cake compared with trying
to find the Fox drama "Pasadena" on the network¹s
schedule. The series has been missing from the Fox Friday schedule
for a couple months now, pre-empted by specials and second runs
of the much-touted Fox drama "24."
For those of you unfamiliar with "Pasadena," let me
just say it¹s a great night time soap opera filled with
all the good stuff--family secrets, infidelities and a mysterious
suicide. In the past, I have called shows like this High Class
Trash ("Dallas" and "Dynasty"). But I like
to call "Pasadena" just High Class. How can it not
be with a cast that includes Emmy-winners Dana Delany and Barbara
Babcock, and has as one of its executive producers (and pilot
director) Oscar winner Diane Keaton?
Creator Mike White¹s "Pasadena" focuses on the
life of the wealthy Greeleys and the McAllisters. The family
money comes from the newspaper business run by George Greeley
(Philip Baker Hall). Working with him are his son Robert (Mark
Valley) who aspires to run the business, and his son-in-law Will
McAllister (Martin Donovan), married to Greeley¹s daughter
Catherine (Dana Delany). The other Greeley¹s are Beth (Natasha
Gregson Wagner) , who dabbles in art, and Nate (Balthazar Getty)
who dabbles in drugs. Babcock is George¹s wife, Joan.
The show kicked off with an intruder breaking into the McAllister
home and threatening teen-age Lily McAllister (Alison Lohman),
daughter of Will and Catherine, with a gun. He doesn¹t harm
her, but kills himself in the family¹s living room. But
who was he and why did he kill himself in the McAllister home?
These questions gnaw away at Lily and she begins an investigation
into the man¹s background. She feels the man is somehow
linked to her family. Her ally in the hunt is a school classmate
and would-be boyfriend, Henry (Alan Simpson) who has some secrets
of his own. He¹s trying to find his mother, who he believes
is somehow linked to the Greeley-McAllister families. He thinks
Catherine knows about his mother but she¹s not telling.
But why not? And just what is she hiding?
Still with me?
Then there are the other subplots swirling around: Will¹s
infidelities, Robert¹s rage when Will is named publisher
and Nate's out-of-control drug habit.
Everyone on this show is very good. But Dana Delany is great.
I¹ve been a fan since "China Beach," when she
blew away everyone with her portrayal of Army nurse Colleen McMurphy
and won two Emmys for her efforts. Her work in "Pasadena"
is every bit as good. She can--with a look or a head turn--convey
the full range of emotions. Outwardly, her Catherine character
is the prototype Pasadena matron. She dresses with class. She
lunches. She shops. She tries to be everything her mother (Babcock)
wants her to be. But, somehow, she always comes up short in her
mother¹s eyes--and mother is always there to remind her,
in a subtle way, about her faults.
Then there¹s her relationship with husband Will, who is
something of a skirt-chaser. He claims he¹s broken it off
with his latest girlfriend, but Catherine doesn¹t believe
him. When she sees him talking with the woman again, she takes
matters into her own hands and bashes in the woman¹s car
with a baseball bat.
And speaking of taking out her frustrations, what was that little
interlude she had with the store detective in a fitting room
all about? And how about that last scene in what I think was
the last espisode that has aired to date--young Henry is staying
over at the McAllisters' when Catherine comes to say goodnight.
After telling him she could be a "mother" to him, she
gives him a less than motherly kiss. Hmmmmmm.
Well, I can¹t wait to see the further adventures of the
Greeleys and the McAllisters. But when? A Fox publicist said
the show will return to the schedule sometime this spring. My
fingers are crossed that it will happen. And, if it does, tune
in. You won't be disappointed.
© 2002 by Donna J. Plesh. The photo is the property of Fox
Broadcasting.
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