''South of Sunset'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in 1993. The program starred

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don ...

, Aries Spears, and

Maria Pitillo Maria Pitillo (born January 8, 1966) is an American retired actress. She has starred in films and on television, most notably as Audrey Timmonds in ''Godzilla'' (1998). She also had a recurring role on the TV series '' Providence''. Early life Pi ...

and premiered on October 27, 1993. The premiere episode performed poorly in the ratings, causing the network to cancel the series shortly thereafter. Four additional episodes were produced but never aired on CBS; these would later be shown on VH1 years later.

Synopsis

Frey played Cody McMahon, former chief of security for a major motion picture studio who left his financially secure, yet unfulfilling job to become a private investigator. Cody's offices were located just south of

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

. As a result, he calls his business the Beverly Hills Detective Agency, despite the fact he's in the "low-end" part of town. Aries Spears co-starred as Cody's young assistant Ziggy Duane, and

played his cute blond secretary (and aspiring actress) Gina Weston. The show was a combination of comedy and suspense, reminiscent of the series ''

Moonlighting Moonlighting may refer to: * Side job A side job, also informally called a side hustle or side gig, is an additional job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Side jobs may be done out of nec ...

''. The show was created by

John Byrum John Byrum is an American film director, and writer known for ''The Razor's Edge'', '' Heart Beat'', ''Duets'' and '' Inserts''. Early life Raised in Winnetka, Illinois, on the North Shore of Chicago, Byrum attended New Trier High School, and l ...

, who wrote all six of the episodes that were produced, and served as co-executive producer with Stan Rogow.

Development

CBS had green-lighted ''South Of Sunset'' with a six episode buy. Pitillo became involved early on, in part because of her collaboration with the Rogow/Byrum team on the ''

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

'' project. Spears was hired shortly after Pitillo, and both read with prospective actors auditioning for the part of Cody McMahon. After four months however, the producers still struggled to cast the male lead. It was only after Paramount execs saw Frey in concert, and recalled his previous acting experience, that they suggested him for the role of Cody McMahon. Five of the seven scripts were produced. It remains unclear if ''Remember Me'', and/or ''Chalk Lines'' were ever filmed.

Network run

The show was heavily promoted during the

1993 World Series The 1993 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 90th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending World Series champion and American League (AL) champio ...

. However, only the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

of ''South of Sunset'' ever aired, and not even to the entire country. The October 27 premiere was pre-empted by several West Coast stations (including KCBS in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

itself) due to news coverage of wildfires in Malibu. (KCBS later aired the pilot the following Saturday, October 30 at 11:30pm.) Disappointed with the ratings of the pilot and unwilling to give it a chance to build a base,

immediately cancelled the show, much to Frey's chagrin.

Criticism

Delays in production pushed back the premiere date until October, and CBS came under criticism for choosing not to provide advance copies of the pilot to critics, leaving Rogow to comment after the cancelation:

''"There was a perception we had something to hide, but we just didn't have the pilot ready," he said. "Forgive me, people in publicity, but how about trying the truth? Why not send the critics two other episodes we had finished and tell them the pilot was still being worked on? At least we would have been reviewed."''

The network also came under fire from the production community, which was already unhappy with the networks new policy of purchasing shows in blocks of six instead of the usual eight, thirteen, or even a complete twenty-two episode season. CBS execs countered by saying that ''South of Sunset'' had almost no base audience to build on, and had negatively impacted the time-slot winner ''48 Hours'', which followed the premiere episode.

VH1 rebroadcast

VH1 later re-aired the pilot and four more episodes as part of their ''

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

Family Tree Week.''

Episode list

#"Satyricon" #"Dream Girl" #"Custody" #"Family Affair" #"Newspaper Boy" #"Remember Me" (unaired) #"Chalk Lines" (unaired)

Cast

as Cody McMahon *

as Gina Weston * Aries Spears as Ziggy Duane

References

External links

Review: ‘South of Sunset Satyricon’. Variety. November 1, 1993 , 11:00PM PTFormer Eagle Glenn Frey Goes 'South Of Sunset. Ocala Star Banner-Google News Archive Oct 23, 1993TELEVISION : He's Got a Peaceful TV Feeling : It's a new gig for ex-Eagle Glenn Frey. L.A. Times Oct 24, 1993In the Dawn of 'Sunset's' Demise : Television: The CBS show starred a rock musician and got heavy promotion during the World Series, but still managed to join the ranks of an unenviable club.A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: SOUTH OF SUNSET (1993).
*{{IMDb title, id=0106142, title=South of Sunset CBS original programming 1990s American crime television series Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Los Angeles VH1 original programming English-language television shows 1993 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings Television series canceled after one episode