American sitcom television series
Grosse Pointe
is an American
sitcom
television series which aired on
The WB
from September 22, 2000, to February 18, 2001, during the 2000?2001 television season. Created by
Darren Star
, it was a
satire
depicting the behind-the-scenes drama on the set of a television show, and was inspired in large part by Star's experiences as the creator and producer of the nighttime
soap
Beverly Hills, 90210
.
Series overview
[
edit
]
The series takes place in
Los Angeles
, on the set of a fictitious WB nighttime soap, also called
Grosse Pointe
, and several characters were based on real-life actors. The fictitious
Grosse Pointe
("a misguided
90210
rip-off", as Star describes it) is set in the
wealthy Michigan suburb
, and was very much a parody of teenage nighttime soaps.
Reportedly,
Beverly Hills 90210
producer
Aaron Spelling
called WB executive
Jamie Kellner
to complain about Lindsay Sloane's character Marcy Sternfeld, who in the original pilot was a thinly veiled parody of Spelling's daughter, actress
Tori Spelling
.
[1]
[2]
Darren Star
asked several actors from Spelling-produced shows to appear on the series.
Jason Priestley
and
Joe E. Tata
from
Beverly Hills, 90210
appeared in separate episodes, with Priestley directing the episode in which he appeared.
Kristin Davis
from
Melrose Place
and
Sex and the City
also appeared in an episode.
Katie Wagner
, who hosted a
Beverly Hills, 90210
special in 1993, also appeared on the show as herself for one episode. Former
Saved by the Bell
teen star
Elizabeth Berkley
appeared in the series finale.
In addition, several actors from other WB series appeared as themselves on
Grosse Pointe
, such as
Leslie Bibb
and
Carly Pope
of
Popular
and
Sarah Michelle Gellar
of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
.
Broadcast
[
edit
]
Grosse Pointe
was on the WB's Friday line-up in between
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
and
Popular
. The show lost much of the lead-in audience, and was moved to Sundays (a joke in the episode "The Opposite of Sex" references this, as the fictional show garners its highest ratings ever but fails to "beat
Sabrina
").
Grosse Pointe
was canceled in February 2001 after 17 episodes.
Cast
[
edit
]
Episodes
[
edit
]
Critical and public reaction
[
edit
]
Critics were largely positive towards
Grosse Pointe
.
Time
wrote that it was "nicely cast and smartly paced, it's a sassy, catty riot."
[2]
The
New York Daily News
wrote that it was "the funniest, smartest comedy" that the WB has ever had.
[3]
It was the only WB comedy to receive an "A" grade from
Entertainment Weekly
.
[4]
Despite this, the series struggled with low ratings. In its Friday night timeslot, it typically lost an average of one million viewers from its lead-in,
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
. Though the network tried to find an audience for it by moving it around the schedule,
Grosse Pointe
ultimately failed to attract enough viewers to sustain it past one season.
Home media
[
edit
]
On the DVD
audio commentary
for the
Grosse Pointe
pilot episode, Star explained that the behind-the-scenes antics on the set of
90210
were often more interesting than the show itself, and that the idea of creating a comedy based on this had been kicking around in his head for years.
In January 2006,
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
announced that
Grosse Pointe
would be released on DVD on March 14, 2006.
[5]
The DVD was later quietly taken off the schedule, and several months later, it was announced that it would be released as an
Amazon.com
exclusive on November 7, 2006. However, it was delayed yet again,
[6]
but the DVD finally shipped in late November.
On December 4, 2006, Sony announced that the DVD would be widely released on February 13, 2007.
[7]
The opening titles and theme song only appear once on each disc of the DVD set, in the pilot episode for disc 1 and in "Puppet Master" for disc 2, because the use of "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones was deemed too expensive to use in every episode. All other episodes had to be reedited to remove the opening titles. The cast credits, along with episode names, are shown over each episode's opening scene instead. The version of the titles that is used on DVDs is the standard version seen throughout the series not the original pilot version which featured
Joely Fisher
or the final version which included Nat Faxon.
DVD extras include an interview with Darren Star and commentary tracks on the following episodes:
- "Pilot" (with Darren Star)
- "Devil in a Blue Dress" (with Darren Star and co-executive producer Robin Schiff)
- "Satisfaction" (with Darren Star and Robin Schiff)
- "Secrets and Lies" (with Darren Star and Robin Schiff)
The DVD release jacket of disc 2 has a misprint with two of the episode descriptions.
Star Wars
's
description says that Marcy gets a restraining order to stop Quentin's harassment; it is actually Hunter who gets the restraining order.
End of the Affair
's
description says that Dave looks for the courage to break up with Marcy; again, it is actually Hunter that he is trying to break up with.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Carman, John (September 22, 2000).
"Mr. Spelling Was Not Amused"
.
SF Gate
. Retrieved
June 10,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Poniewozik, James
(September 25, 2000).
"Pointe, Counterpoint"
.
Time
. Retrieved
January 20,
2018
.
- ^
Eric Mink (February 9, 2001). "
Grosse Pointe
is as sharp as ever".
New York Daily News
.
- ^
Craig Seymour (November 3, 2000).
"Inside
Grosse Pointe
, the WB's scathing
90210
spoof"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. Retrieved
January 20,
2018
.
- ^
"Grosse Pointe - Sony Offers Show from Creator of 90210, Melrose Place & Sex and the City"
.
TVShowsonDVD.com
. January 2, 2006. Archived from
the original
on March 3, 2006.
- ^
"Grosse Pointe - Exclusive Delayed?!"
.
TVShowsonDVD
. November 13, 2006. Archived from
the original
on November 16, 2006.
- ^
"Grosse Pointe - Complete Series hits store shelves in February"
.
TVShowsOnDVD
. December 4, 2006. Archived from
the original
on September 14, 2012.
External links
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