Kevin Spacey
Wiseguy
February 27, 2010
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Wiseguy aired on CBS for four seasons, from 1987 to 1990.
Ken Wahl stars as Vinnie Terranova, a federal government agent in the Organized Crime Bureau who went deep undercover to capture criminals.
In the beginning of the show, he has just completed a year-and-a-half prison stint. It’s a set-up to give Vinnie a viable criminal background cover. To the outside world, he’s a wiseguy, a term applied to organized crime figures.
Jonathan Banks plays Frank McPike, Vinnie’s government handler who coordinates strategy with Vinnie. Banks appears in Beverly Hills Cop as one of the henchman of Victor Maitlin, the nemesis of Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley character.
Daniel Burroughs plays Jim Burroughs. Nickname: Lifeguard. Essentially, he is Vinnie’s communications link to McPike. His nickname is appropriate -- if Vinnie gets in danger, he calls Lifeguard with appropriate codes to send backup.
Wiseguy rarely contained self-contained episodes. Rather, it used story arcs comprised of multiple episodes.
The first story arc sees Vinnie become a trusted member of the crime family of mob boss Sonny Steelgrave, played by Ray Sharkey. Steelgrave electrocutes himself in front of Vinnie when he discovers Vinnie’s true identity.
The second story arc showcases Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt, an international criminal with roots in arms dealing.
Other story arcs focus on white supremacy, the garment district in New York City, the record industry, a Japanese Yen counterfeiting conspiracy, mafia wars, a small town in the Pacific Northwest rooted in corruption, a Cuban-American crime lord, and the drug trade in the New York City school system.
ABC aired a reunion tv-movie in 1996. The canon is questionable.
In the fourth season of Wiseguy, Vinnie is killed.
The 1996 tv-movie stars Wahl as Vinnie. So either the fourth season story line did not occur in official Wiseguy canon or the events in the tv-movie occurred before his death.
david@davidkrell.com
Wiseguy aired on CBS for four seasons, from 1987 to 1990.
Ken Wahl stars as Vinnie Terranova, a federal government agent in the Organized Crime Bureau who went deep undercover to capture criminals.
In the beginning of the show, he has just completed a year-and-a-half prison stint. It’s a set-up to give Vinnie a viable criminal background cover. To the outside world, he’s a wiseguy, a term applied to organized crime figures.
Jonathan Banks plays Frank McPike, Vinnie’s government handler who coordinates strategy with Vinnie. Banks appears in Beverly Hills Cop as one of the henchman of Victor Maitlin, the nemesis of Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley character.
Daniel Burroughs plays Jim Burroughs. Nickname: Lifeguard. Essentially, he is Vinnie’s communications link to McPike. His nickname is appropriate -- if Vinnie gets in danger, he calls Lifeguard with appropriate codes to send backup.
Wiseguy rarely contained self-contained episodes. Rather, it used story arcs comprised of multiple episodes.
The first story arc sees Vinnie become a trusted member of the crime family of mob boss Sonny Steelgrave, played by Ray Sharkey. Steelgrave electrocutes himself in front of Vinnie when he discovers Vinnie’s true identity.
The second story arc showcases Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt, an international criminal with roots in arms dealing.
Other story arcs focus on white supremacy, the garment district in New York City, the record industry, a Japanese Yen counterfeiting conspiracy, mafia wars, a small town in the Pacific Northwest rooted in corruption, a Cuban-American crime lord, and the drug trade in the New York City school system.
ABC aired a reunion tv-movie in 1996. The canon is questionable.
In the fourth season of Wiseguy, Vinnie is killed.
The 1996 tv-movie stars Wahl as Vinnie. So either the fourth season story line did not occur in official Wiseguy canon or the events in the tv-movie occurred before his death.
Crime Story
October 01, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.
A new look.
Story arcs that existed over several episodes.
And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.
Hill Street Blues? No.
Miami Vice? No.
Crime Story.
Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.
But it was a terrific two years.
Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.
When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.
At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.
The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.
Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!
Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.
A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.
Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.
Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.
Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.
Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.
And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.
Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.
Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.
In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.
Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.
Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.
david@davidkrell.com
In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.
A new look.
Story arcs that existed over several episodes.
And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.
Hill Street Blues? No.
Miami Vice? No.
Crime Story.
Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.
But it was a terrific two years.
Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.
When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.
At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.
The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.
Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!
Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.
A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.
Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.
Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.
Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.
Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.
And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.
Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.
Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.
In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.
Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.
Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.
Badge of Honor
June 26, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential boasts an outstanding cast.
Guy Pearce.
Russell Crowe.
Kevin Spacey.
Kim Basinger.
Danny DeVito.
James Cromwell.
David Straithairn.
But it also has a treat for fans of classic television.
In the setting of 1953, the popular television show of the day is Badge of Honor, a direct nod to Dragnet.
Kevin Spacey's character of Detective Jack Vincennes is Technical Director on the show.
He's a friend of the show's star, Brett Chase. Television veteran Matt McCoy plays Chase. McCoy is probably most recognizable to Seinfeld fans from his guest appearances as Lloyd Braun, childhood rival of George Costanza.
Vincennes clearly enjoys the aura of celebrity.
In an early scene, he's dancing with a girl who is enamored with Jack's glamourous nexus to Brett Chase and the world of television.
Indeed, Vincennes is a Hollywood detective.
Badge of Honor plays a highly significant role in the relationship between Pearce's novice Detective Edmund Exley and the veteran Detective Jack Vincennes.
When Exley has to figure a scheme to rat out certain cops, he convinces the higher-ups to use Vincennes' Badge of Honor job as leverage against him so he'll testify against the bad apples in the department.
He knows Vincennes lives for the glory that the show gives him.
With the police department's threat of disallowing Vincennes' association with Badge of Honor, Vincennes agrees to testify.
Vincennes counters, however, and tells Exley he simply testified against old-timers who were close to retirement anyway. He gets to keep his Badge of Honor job. The bosses are satisfied.
Vincennes plays his Hollywood connections like Yitzhak Perlman plays the violin -- with sheer expertise.
He has an information-sharing arrangement with Sid Hudgens, a sleazy tabloid writer played by Danny DeVito.
Think Louie DePalma of Taxi with a typewriter but with more cunning, deceitfulness, and an absolute lack of morals.
Vincennes gains fame with Hollywood busts of celebrities and Hudgens increases circulation with stories of the same.
Vincennes becomes embroiled in the investigation at the heart of L.A. Confidential.
And later in the movie, we see that Jack Vincennes does a 180-degree turn with his own morals. He fatally pays for his conscience.
In L.A. Confidential, we actually see a snippet of Badge of Honor, the show within a movie. And the famous phrase attributed to its real-life counterpart appears as a clear nod -- Just the facts.
The first incarnation of Dragnet occurred in the same time frame as L.A. Confidential, 1951-1959.
david@davidkrell.com
Based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential boasts an outstanding cast.
Guy Pearce.
Russell Crowe.
Kevin Spacey.
Kim Basinger.
Danny DeVito.
James Cromwell.
David Straithairn.
But it also has a treat for fans of classic television.
In the setting of 1953, the popular television show of the day is Badge of Honor, a direct nod to Dragnet.
Kevin Spacey's character of Detective Jack Vincennes is Technical Director on the show.
He's a friend of the show's star, Brett Chase. Television veteran Matt McCoy plays Chase. McCoy is probably most recognizable to Seinfeld fans from his guest appearances as Lloyd Braun, childhood rival of George Costanza.
Vincennes clearly enjoys the aura of celebrity.
In an early scene, he's dancing with a girl who is enamored with Jack's glamourous nexus to Brett Chase and the world of television.
Indeed, Vincennes is a Hollywood detective.
Badge of Honor plays a highly significant role in the relationship between Pearce's novice Detective Edmund Exley and the veteran Detective Jack Vincennes.
When Exley has to figure a scheme to rat out certain cops, he convinces the higher-ups to use Vincennes' Badge of Honor job as leverage against him so he'll testify against the bad apples in the department.
He knows Vincennes lives for the glory that the show gives him.
With the police department's threat of disallowing Vincennes' association with Badge of Honor, Vincennes agrees to testify.
Vincennes counters, however, and tells Exley he simply testified against old-timers who were close to retirement anyway. He gets to keep his Badge of Honor job. The bosses are satisfied.
Vincennes plays his Hollywood connections like Yitzhak Perlman plays the violin -- with sheer expertise.
He has an information-sharing arrangement with Sid Hudgens, a sleazy tabloid writer played by Danny DeVito.
Think Louie DePalma of Taxi with a typewriter but with more cunning, deceitfulness, and an absolute lack of morals.
Vincennes gains fame with Hollywood busts of celebrities and Hudgens increases circulation with stories of the same.
Vincennes becomes embroiled in the investigation at the heart of L.A. Confidential.
And later in the movie, we see that Jack Vincennes does a 180-degree turn with his own morals. He fatally pays for his conscience.
In L.A. Confidential, we actually see a snippet of Badge of Honor, the show within a movie. And the famous phrase attributed to its real-life counterpart appears as a clear nod -- Just the facts.
The first incarnation of Dragnet occurred in the same time frame as L.A. Confidential, 1951-1959.
Recount
June 04, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
HBO's 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.
The docudrama faces an enormous challenge because we viewed the real-life drama day after day on 24-hour cable news channels.
Recount takes us behind-the-scenes of the respective Gore and Bush campaigns, showing us the conversations, strategies, and debates that emerged in the post-2000 presidential election confusion concerning Florida's electoral votes.
Tom Wilkinson plays Bush team leader, Bush family friend, and former Secretary of State James Baker, a street-smart, no-nonsense, bottom-line politician.
John Hurt plays his counterpart, Gore team leader Warren Christopher. Christopher was also Secretary of State.
At the center of the controversy is Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State and Co-Chair of the Bush Presidential Campaign in Florida.
Laura Dern plays Harris, a woman who must navigate through the pressures of Republican politics, sudden media attention, and jokes about her hair and makeup.
At the heart of Recount is Kevin Spacey, an acting force on stage, film, and television.
Spacey plays Ron Klain, a Gore insider once aced out of his pole position by an internal campaign competitor in the fast track world of presidential campaign politics. Now, Klain is back in the eye of the storm joined by Michael Whouley, a Democratic operative, genius political analyst, and brother-in-arms. Denis Leary plays Whouley.
Recount may take liberties with the behind-closed-doors conversations, but the subject matter is relevant.
And the factual scenario doesn't change.
Gore did concede to Bush, then called back to retract the concession.
And that's when things pretty much started to transition from a snowball to an avalanche.
Protests.
Lawsuits.
And pundits around the clock on CNN and the relatively fledgling cable news channels MSNBC and FOX News Channel. Both channels debuted in 1996, just four years prior to the Bush-Gore presidential contest.
Recount is somewhat nostalgic. Though the events in the story took place less than ten years ago, the time seems like another era.
Since the 2000 presidential election, we've seen...
...the horror of the September 11, 2001 attacks,
...the war in Iraq,
...new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees,
...Must See TV sitcoms losing exalted status to filmed comedies without a laugh track or studio audience -- My Name Is Earl, The Office,
...the first African-American President of the United States,
...and the last of a Clinton wanting to be President of the United States.
Well, maybe not everything changed.
david@davidkrell.com
HBO's 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.
The docudrama faces an enormous challenge because we viewed the real-life drama day after day on 24-hour cable news channels.
Recount takes us behind-the-scenes of the respective Gore and Bush campaigns, showing us the conversations, strategies, and debates that emerged in the post-2000 presidential election confusion concerning Florida's electoral votes.
Tom Wilkinson plays Bush team leader, Bush family friend, and former Secretary of State James Baker, a street-smart, no-nonsense, bottom-line politician.
John Hurt plays his counterpart, Gore team leader Warren Christopher. Christopher was also Secretary of State.
At the center of the controversy is Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State and Co-Chair of the Bush Presidential Campaign in Florida.
Laura Dern plays Harris, a woman who must navigate through the pressures of Republican politics, sudden media attention, and jokes about her hair and makeup.
At the heart of Recount is Kevin Spacey, an acting force on stage, film, and television.
Spacey plays Ron Klain, a Gore insider once aced out of his pole position by an internal campaign competitor in the fast track world of presidential campaign politics. Now, Klain is back in the eye of the storm joined by Michael Whouley, a Democratic operative, genius political analyst, and brother-in-arms. Denis Leary plays Whouley.
Recount may take liberties with the behind-closed-doors conversations, but the subject matter is relevant.
And the factual scenario doesn't change.
Gore did concede to Bush, then called back to retract the concession.
And that's when things pretty much started to transition from a snowball to an avalanche.
Protests.
Lawsuits.
And pundits around the clock on CNN and the relatively fledgling cable news channels MSNBC and FOX News Channel. Both channels debuted in 1996, just four years prior to the Bush-Gore presidential contest.
Recount is somewhat nostalgic. Though the events in the story took place less than ten years ago, the time seems like another era.
Since the 2000 presidential election, we've seen...
...the horror of the September 11, 2001 attacks,
...the war in Iraq,
...new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees,
...Must See TV sitcoms losing exalted status to filmed comedies without a laugh track or studio audience -- My Name Is Earl, The Office,
...the first African-American President of the United States,
...and the last of a Clinton wanting to be President of the United States.
Well, maybe not everything changed.