Info:
Premiere Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 (Touchstone Television)
Network: ABC
Time: Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. et/pt
Cast: Starring Donal Logue, Sofía Vergara, Lenny
Venito, Maz Jobrani, Kevin Michael Richardson and Josh
Grisetti.
Introduction:
From the executive producers of The Late Show with
David Letterman (and David Letterman himself!) comes a
hilarious tale of blue-collar workers who have never
stole anything in their lives trying to rob Mick
Jagger! It may sound far-fetched and crazy, but this
is indeed a real nice sitcom that is full of laugh out
loud material! This is their story... Eugene Gurkin's
(Donal Logue) dreams always have exceeded his means.
In fact his dead end job on the late, late janitorial
shift won't even fund a bottle of premium booze. In a
serendipitous moment, he catches an episode of an E!
Entertainment show and his passion is ignited. Soon
Eugene excitedly recruits a group of "average joes"
into his "gang" - the Knights of Prosperity -- for a
heist to finance all of their long-held, heart-felt
dreams. The first target: Rock icon Mick Jagger's
super-luxe Central Park West apartment.
Society might disregard the Knights and give them
short shrift, but this group of upstarts refuses to be
ignored: Beauty bombshell Esperanza Villalobos (Sofía
Vergara), a diner waitress in Queens, is more than
just a pretty face. The only female member of the
gang, she sees the celebrity heist as an opportunity
to control her own fate - something men have normally
done for her.
Working as a janitor alongside Eugene on the overnight
shift, Francis "Squatch" Squacieri (Lenny Venito)
relates to Eugene's desire for more out of life than
mopping up after millionaire executives. The one
married Knight, his motivation is to provide a better
life for his wife and children.
Back home in India, Gourishankar "Gary" Subramaniam
(Maz Jobrani) was a superstar lawyer, but here in New
York City he drives a cab to make ends meet. Reluctant
to join the group at first, Gary has a change in heart
when Eugene reminds him that, although he was a winner
at home, here he chauffeurs old ladies to Broadway
matinees.
Warehouse security guard Rockefeller Butts (Kevin
Michael Richardson), a mountainous, cigar-chewing man,
has one simple request in order to join the Knights --
cookies.
A college Communications student, ultra-nerdy Louis
Plunk (Josh Grisetti) finds himself at rock bottom
after being rejected for an internship by the Montel
Williams show. A chance ride in Gary's taxi turns into
an offer for Louis to serve an "internship" on a
movie. When he discovers the truth about his golden
opportunity, he still decides to stay.
Working together, this band of affable, new-age Robin
Hoods, who have never even shoplifted a candy bar, are
soon casing the joint and prepping for their crime.
Their scheme is to steal from the rich and give to the
poor - namely, themselves. What they don't realize is
that there's a much richer target for them... the
chance to find hope, self-esteem and self-confidence.
Cast Details:
"The Knights of Prosperity" stars Donal Logue
as Eugene Gurkin, Sofía Vergara as Esperanza Villalobos,
Lenny Venito as
Francis "Squatch" Squacieri, Maz Jobrani as
Gourishankar "Gary" Subramaniam, Kevin
Michael Richardson as Rockefeller Butts and Josh
Grisetti as Louis Plunk.
Donal Logue (Eugene Gurkin) has versatility and talent
that make him one of the most well respected and
beloved of today's actors. Television audiences will
be most familiar with Logue from his starring role of
Sean Finnerty in the comedy "Grounded for Life," which
aired on FOX for two seasons and then on The WB
Network for three seasons. He also had a recurring
role on "ER" as Sherry Stringfield's love interest,
paramedic Chuck Martin. Currently he is developing "El
Centro" for the FX Network, a project which he will
write and produce with John and Rick Dahl. Logue
created the character of "Jimmy the Cab Driver" for a
series of award-winning MTV promos, and has appeared
in numerous television series.
Sofía Vergara (Esperanza Villalobos) is recognized as
one of today's most popular and beloved Latin stars,
Sofía Vergara was discovered in her native
Barranquilla, Colombia. In the past year Vergara
co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in the action drama
"Four Brothers," directed by John Singleton, appeared
in the skateboarding epic "Lords of Dogtown," as well
as co-starring in the ABC comedy series "Hot
Properties." She will next be seen in the upcoming
comedy feature film "Grilled," opposite Ray Romano and
Kevin James. Her other credits include a guest
appearance as the "hot mattress woman" on an episode
of ABC's "Rodney."
Lenny Venito (Francis "Squatch" Squacieri) has made
his mark on the big screen, appearing in Steven
Spielberg's 2005 summer blockbuster "War of the
Worlds." In addition to his work in film, Venito has
an established television career. He has had recurring
roles in such popular series as "Rescue Me," "The
Sopranos" and ABC's "NYPD Blue," as well as guest
starring on multiple hit shows, including "Law &
Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," ABC's "Blind
Justice" and the NBC miniseries "Witness to the Mob."
Maz Jobrani (Gourishankar "Gary" Subramaniam) is best
known for his big screen role as "Moly" in Ice Cube's
"Friday After Next." He also played Jennifer Garner's
colleague, Glenn, in "13 Going on 30," and was seen in
the Sydney Pollack thriller "The Interpreter,"
opposite Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman. Television
audiences may recognize Jobrani from his recent role
as "Mr. Hut," the angry owner of a fast food stand in
the town's mall on the Fox sitcom "Life on a Stick."
He also appeared in recurring roles on "24" (Season
Two), "Life with Bonnie" and "Cedric the Entertainer
Presents." His numerous guest appearances include both
popular comedy and dramatic series such as "Malcolm in
the Middle," "Still Standing," "The West Wing," "NYPD
Blue," "Without a Trace," "ER," "Law & Order," and a
memorable turn as "The Sikh" in the hilarious 2004
season finale of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
Kevin Michael Richardson (Rockefeller Butts) has ruled
television without you seeing him. Audiences are
undoubtedly familiar with the amazing vocal talents of
Kevin Michael Richardson, who has been more widely
heard than seen, having created hundreds of animated,
commercial and video game characters over the past
years. Memorable animated characters he has brought to
life are The Boogeyman in "The Powerpuff Girls,"
Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones: On The Rocks" and
Plato in the PBS series "Book of Virtues." His
extensive repertoire also includes characters in the
Disney animated series "Kim Possible," "Teacher's
Pet," "The Proud Family," "Phil of the Future,"
"Hercules" and "Recess." Richardson has worked
extensively in front of the camera as well. He
recently starred opposite Holly Robinson Peete in The
WB comedy "Like Family," as the family patriarch, and
is especially proud of the three-episode arc on "ER"
in which he portrayed Patrick, a mentally-challenged
young man. He was also was featured in the role of
Vashti in the series "Homeboys in Outer Space."
Feature film appearances include "Bound" with Joe
Pantiliano and Jennifer Tilly, "BASEketball" and the
Carl Reiner film, "Fatal Instinct."
Josh Grisetti (Louis Plunk, the intern) makes his
network television debut in the role of Louis Plunk,
an ultra-nerdy college student who inadvertently joins
a gang of misfits prepping for a major celebrity
heist. Amazingly, this is the first television series
for which Grisetti ever auditioned. Grisetti can also
be seen in the upcoming feature film "The Namesake"
and in the independent drama "The Sandpiper." He also
has a leading role in the forthcoming independent
comedy "Public Interest," a mocumentary about a
reality television program.
Pilot Plot:
"Pilot"
Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:00PM ET/PT
Eugene Gurkin's (Donal Logue) dreams always have
exceeded his means. In fact his dead end job on the
late, late janitorial shift won't even fund a bottle
of premium booze. In a serendipitous moment, he
catches an episode of an entertainment news show and
his passion is ignited. Soon he excitedly recruits a
group of "average joes" into his "gang" -- "The
Knights of Prosperity" - to plan the celebrity heist.
The first order of business is to get a copy of the
key to Jagger's apartment. And, as usual for this
group of "Ocean's idiots," nothing comes easily.
SPECIAL GUEST STAR: Mick Jagger as himself
GUEST STARS: Guy Boyd as "Big Bird" the doorman,
Arthur French as Jonesy, Teddy Coluca as loan officer,
Glenn Wein as handyman and Heather Rae Wright as
server.
We also received the second episode that will air
January 10:
"Operation: Seduce Simone"
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 9:00PM ET/PT
The Knights hit a roadblock when they realize they
also need a five-digit security code to gain access to
Mick Jagger's apartment, along with the key they've
already pilfered. After they discover only one woman
possesses this important piece of the puzzle, the
group concocts an intricate plan to seduce her and
must rely on Louis, their young intern, to step up and
become a real man if they are to succeed
GUEST STARS: Reiko Aylesworth as Simone Cashwell,
Sally Jessy Raphael as herself, Kevin Carrigan as
Frank Cortland, Laurence Winslow as security guard no.
1, Ward Duffy as security guard no. 2, Sarah Hudnut as
Simone's friend, Rudy Costa as police officer, Felicia
P. Fields as woman carrying groceries, Nancy Eng as
Chinese woman no. 1 and Jo Yang as Chinese woman no.
2.
Analysis:
Oh what a wonderful pilot! I have watched it over and
over again since this summer and can't stop laughing!
The networks have given us very smart one-camera
sitcoms that are not laugh out loud over the years,
but this is a one-camera sitcom that has tons of
laughs! It is wacky and crazy, which is a perfect
recipe for a sitcom. Who cares about the world's
topics or world's problems, this show goes out to just
to make you laugh and that is all that matters in the
sitcom world.
The pilot I received in the summer from ABC ran well
over 25 minutes and the updated pilot that was sent to
us for review two weeks ago was just over 24 minutes.
So, they had to cut it some. They re-shot some scenes
and shortened others. The beginning is what is mostly
affected by re-shots. They only removed one scene
completely--the first scene where they meet Esperanza.
They re-shot the janitor scene and the bank scene, to
make it shorter..but it still delivers laughs,
especially that janitor scene. Shortened scenes are
not much of a big deal, it just removed a few seconds.
One example was the new version of the pilot didn't
have as much in the laser pen scene as the original
pilot.
Anyway, there are a lot of great moments in this
episode! Some of my best moments are: the hilarious
janitor scene (you will not see that coming...poor
Jonesy!), the formation of the gang, all the Gary &
Squatch scenes, and the heist for the key as it
happens. The intern idea is hilarious! Whoever
thought a gang would have an intern?? The pilot is
flawless I think. All laughs and no things that you
will predict. The only thing that people will be able
to predict is when they are looking at the numbers on
the keys. You'll know what I mean when you watch it.
Other than that, all laughs and you'll never see them
coming! As Rockefeller would say, "Got any cookies?"
Get your cookies out for this hilarious pilot!
As for the second episode that is airing. It is titled
"Operation: Seduce Simone." It runs under 22 minutes
and it leaves off where we left off from the pilot.
They have gotten Jagger's key, but what is next...the
access code for his 5-digit security code. Oh and how
they get it is flat out hilarious! Louis the intern
really shines on this episode and is GREAT! They fail
in getting the code from this Simone lady who has the
access code, so they come up with an idea to try to
seduce her to get to her apartment and get on her
computer to view the code, but they all strike
out...and they turn to Louis, the nerdy intern as a
last resort! Again there are tons of laughs here.
They even have an Ask Jeeves reference that got me
laughing so much. That Rockefeller Butts has great
one-liners! Sally Jessy Raphael has a brief cameo
appearance. This episode even has a theme song! A
nice theme written by the producers of the Letterman
show, with music by Letterman's own Paul Shaffer, and
sung by Rockefeller Butts himself (Mr. Kevin Michael
Richardson)!
Conclusion:
This show is clearly the funniest thing that has hit
television in years. It is wacky and crazy, which
equals funny. All the characters are fun to watch and
each are funny. I'm calling this now: Louis the
intern is the new sitcom nerd king for the 21st
century. He is in the same league as Steve Urkel of
Family Matters. Except Louis has contact lenses
instead of glasses and is a college student. And he is
white. The show will feature a lot of cameo
appearances. So far we have seen Mick Jagger on the
pilot and Sally Jessy Raphael in the second episode.
Sally was being targeted by Louis when he was
practicing in finding and talking to woman. Other
celebs coming soon: Ray Romano, Dustin "Screech"
Diamond, Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin! I'm sure we
will see David Letterman soon, too. As he is one of
the producers of this show.
The show will be airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. starting
January 3. I am sure the premiere will be
well-watched. Let's just hope it continues each week.
ABC has put it face to face with American Idol's
Results Show, which will start Jan. 17. So, the show
has two weeks to find a big audience and then let's
hope most of the viewers stick around the third week
and beyond against American Idol. So, please do join
the knights because it clearly is a fun ride. They are
stealing from the rich to give to the
poor--themselves, but you still root for them because
they are likable and funny! Get your membership cards
out and watch the Knights of Prosperity starting this
Wednesday and don't forget to get a plate of cookies
when watching!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Watchability: 5/5
Funniness: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 12/29/06
Related Links:
ABC.com Official Site
TV.com
epguides.com
Internet Movie Database
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