Pasadena (TV series)
| Pasadena | |
|---|---|
| File:Pasdenapromo1.jpg Pasadena Cast Photo | |
| Created by | Mike White |
| Starring | Top Row Martin Donovan Mark Valley Balthazar Getty Chris Marquette Bottom Row Dana Delany Alison Lohman Natasha Gregson Wagner |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 13 (Episodes 5-13 shown on SOAPnet} |
| Production | |
| Running time | 42 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox Network |
| Release | September 29, 2001 – November 2, 2001 |
Pasadena was a short-lived cult television program that ran from September to November 2001, on the Fox Network.
Summary
The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by her own, very wealthy California family, the Greeleys. Other cast members included Dana Delany and Martin Donovan as Lily's parents, Will and Catherine McAllister, and Mark Valley, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and Balthazar Getty as Lily's uncles and aunt Robert, Beth, and Nate Greeley.
Creator
Mike White, also the screenwriter of the films The School of Rock and The Good Girl, was the creator of Pasadena; he attended elementary and high school in Pasadena, California. Actor/director Diane Keaton was among the show's executive producers.
Airing History
Initial Cancellation
The show was critically acclaimed but ignored by audiences upon its debut. The general speculation at the time being that with the series airing two weeks after 9/11, the mood in the U.S. was not for the dark soap that Pasadena was. This was further evidenced by the popularity of another new Fox Network series 24, which was run multiple times a week, sometimes actually preempting Pasadena.
Second Wind
Only four episodes were originally aired in the U.S., but thirteen were completed. The thirteenth was written to wrap up the storyline, creating a miniseries of a sort.
In 2003 and 2004, those thirteen episodes were aired in various countries such as Colombia, New Zealand, and China, with Pasadena gaining a cult following. In 2005, Pasadena was completely shown for the first time in the U.S. by the cable channel SOAPnet.
Trivia
Upon the show's premier, many critics noted the similarities between the character of Nate Greeley, a drug addict and scion of an extremely wealthy, powerful, and famous family, and Balthazar Getty, the actor who played him. Getty, the great grandson of Getty Oil founder J. Paul Getty, had given up what by several accounts[1] was a nearly-suicidal heroin habit only a few years before landing the role on Pasadena.