Blair Underwood (left) and Peter Krause.
© ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.
To Nick’s surprise, Darling patriarch Tripp (Donald Sutherland) offers him his father’s job. When Nick protests, he offers him $10 million dollars for a charity foundation on top of a healthy salary; making the offer to good to pass up. Of course with salary and the charity money comes the tremendous demands of being on call for the Darlings 24/7. These people are constantly dodging trouble or needing legal advice about a marriage.
Dirty Sexy Money will likely appeal to fans who enjoyed Dynasty, Dallas and Falcon Crest back in the 1980’s Craig Wright has taken those ideas and put a 21st century spin on them. Even the Darlings themselves fit the kind of stereotypes you’d expect to find on a series about a rich family: Tripp is the controlling, demanding patriarch, Letitia (Jill Clayburgh) is the professional but unfaithful wife, Patrick (William Baldwin) is the “good” son, hiding a lot of secrets (predictably, he’s also the politician), the I-need-love sister (Natalie Zea) who has more divorces than most people have dates, Jeremy (Seth Gabel) the drug addled black sheep of the family and his twin sister Juliet, the no-brains, no talent wannabe actress. Lastly, there’s Glenn Fitzgerald as the Reverend Brian Darling, who comes to symbolize the entire family’s duplicitous lives.
The pilot for Dirty Sexy Money was one of the best shows offered up during the 2007-08 season. Directed by Peter Horton, the episode introduced the characters and their world wonderfully. The Darling’s are really crazy in a lot of ways, and that’s part of the point. As much as many of us wish we were filthy rich, it’s not always as glamorous or cut and dry as it appears. In some ways, the pilot introduces us to a family not unlike the Bluth’s of Arrested Development. However, the Darling’s take themselves much more seriously and the series doesn’t play itself for much camp value.
While the quality of Dirty Sexy Money dropped off some after the pilot–sometimes the line between drama and comedy became dangerously blurred–the show remained fun to watch. Much of the drama on Dirty Sexy Money is derived from the relationships on the show and some of those storylines were more interesting than others.
Due in large part to a solid cast–Peter Krause provides the solid if slightly confused rock the family needs and Sutherland and Clayburgh are as strong as you’d expect these veteran actors to be. William Baldwin does some of the best work of his career as the son trying to do right by his family, but struggling with his feelings for a transsexual. Blair Underwood also joined the cast a few episodes into season one as Simon Elder, a billionaire who had some interesting ties to Nick’s father.
Donald Sutherland (left) and Jill Clayburgh.
© ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Given the time and place we live in, no show could ever hope to compete with Dynasty or Dallas again. Frankly, that’s a good thing; been there, done that. Dirty Sexy Money doesn’t try to play it straight or safe. Knowing the show is a soap opera, the writers and producers seem to be having fun with it. That said, Kudos to the series for casting transsexual actress Candis Cayne as Patrick’s lover Carmelita. That was one of the most intriguing storylines of the first season and I hope producers continue the storyline into the future.
Dirty Sexy Money is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, “enhanced” for 16×9 televisions. As with the other ABC series this show has strong production values, with a good amount of detail reinforcing the slick look and feel of the show. Colors are fairly well saturated, too. There is only a slight amount of graininess. The soundtrack is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with French and Spanish subtitles.
Dirty Sexy Money – The Complete First Season has some notable special features:
• Audio Commentaries – Here is a list of the episodes with commentaries and the individuals present:
o “Pilot” – Creator Craig Wright, executive producers Greg Berlanti & Matthew Gross, director Peter Horton, and actors Peter Krause and Natalie Zea.
o “The Bridge” – Wright and Krause again, this time joined by actors Seth Gabel & Zoe McLellan and writers Jess Brickman and Peter Elkoff.
o “The Watch” – Craig Wright, actors William Baldwin, Glenn Fitzgerald, Candis Cayne, & Will Shadley, director Andrew Bernstein, and writer Yahlin Chang.
• Deleted Scenes (14 minutes)
• The Road to Excess: Making Dirty Sexy Money (20 minutes) – a making-of featurette, Peter Krause describes the show as, “a nice mix of substance and brain candy.”
• Enter the Penthouse: A VIP Set Tour (7 minutes) – A look at the shows set design.
• Haute Couture: Dressing the Darlings (7 minutes) – A look at the shows costume design.
• The Other Woman: Candis Cayne (5 minutes) – A discussion of the much-talked-about decision to include a real-life transsexual as a significant character/love interest in the show.
• Tripp Ups: Dirty Sexy Bloopers (3 minutes) – Blown lines.
• A mock gossip rag with all sorts of articles about the Darling family.
