''Union Square'' is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
television series created by
Marco Pennette
Marco Pennette (born July 9, 1966) is an American television writer and producer.
Early life
Pennette was born in Greenwich, Connecticut where he grew up loving theatre: "I want to go into theatre; TV sort of lured me away." He attended New Yor ...
and Fred Barron, that was broadcast on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
for one season from September 25, 1997, to January 22, 1998. The show was supposed to serve as a vehicle for actress
Mel Gorham
Mel Gorham (born Marilyn Schnier, October 27, 1959) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Violet in Wayne Wang's films ''Smoke'' and ''Blue in the Face''. Gorham is from Miami, Florida, and is of Cuban and Jewish descent.
Gorha ...
, using her life as its basis, but was retooled into an ensemble sitcom without Gorham after the original pilot was poorly received.
Overview
Original pilot
The pilot of ''Union Square'' follows Mel (
Mel Gorham
Mel Gorham (born Marilyn Schnier, October 27, 1959) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Violet in Wayne Wang's films ''Smoke'' and ''Blue in the Face''. Gorham is from Miami, Florida, and is of Cuban and Jewish descent.
Gorha ...
), a small time actress who decides to quit her job working at a Miami gift shop and become a Broadway star. Armed with her wits and her large dog named Bird, Mel heads for New York City to stay with her friend Lana. She is later shocked to find that Lana and her boyfriend, Micheal (
Michael Landes
Michael Christopher Landes (born September 18, 1972) is an American actor of television and film.
Personal life
Michael Christopher Landes was born to Patricia and Bernard Landes on September 18, 1972 in The Bronx, New York (state), New York. ...
) broke up, resulting in Lana moving out. Mel tries to reason with Michael to let her stay with him until she can get an apartment of her own. Despite consistently telling her no, she persists and follows him to the Union Square Diner. Michael used to be a lawyer but gave it up to focus on his passion of becoming a playwright, but writes instructional manuals to make money.
At the diner, she meets Carrie, a musician, who works at the diner as a waitress; Suzanne, a snarky real-estate agent; Albie, the other waiter at the diner who can be dim-witted, Jack Pappas, the hunky head chef of the diner who is known for his womanizing, and Vince, the owner of the diner. Mel goes on an audition for a Neil Simon play, but misplaces her lucky locket. She goes to the audition anyway with Michael finding it later on. However, Michael only dropped it off to her as a means of avoiding Lana, who was going to come by the diner to check on Mel. After not only failing to get the part but getting so nervous she throws up on Neil Simon, Mel reluctantly concedes she might have rushed her dreams a little. Michael cheers her up just as Lana comes to the diner. Lana reveals that Michael was not a passionate lover and didn't seem to care about their relationship. Mel helps Michael make Lana jealous and Michael agrees to let Mel stay with him, mostly out of fear for what she might have her dog do to him if he said anything to the contrary.
Changes from the original pilot
After poor test screenings and negative assessments from advertisers for 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 ...
, the producers retooled the show and replaced Gorham, who played a struggling actress named Mel Suarez, with
Constance Marie
Constance Marie Lopez (born September 9, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Angie Lopez in ''George Lopez'' (2002–2007), and Marcela Quintanilla (mother of Selena) in the film ''Selena'' (1997). She portrayed Reg ...
as Gabriella. Once Gorham was replaced, the show was retooled into an ensemble cast format. Landes was also later dropped from the program since his plot line was no longer relevant to the show's new premise. The show instead centered on the goings on around the diner and some of the ways the group helped each other with their ambitions, goals or plans.
Cast
Main
*
Constance Marie
Constance Marie Lopez (born September 9, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Angie Lopez in ''George Lopez'' (2002–2007), and Marcela Quintanilla (mother of Selena) in the film ''Selena'' (1997). She portrayed Reg ...
as Gabriella Diaz
*
Harriet Sansom Harris
Harriet Sansom Harris (born January 8, 1955) is an American actress known for her theater performances and for her portrayals of Bebe Glazer on ''Frasier'' and Felicia Tilman on ''Desperate Housewives''.
Harris won a Tony Award in 2002 as a Fe ...
as Suzanne Barkley
* Jim Pirri as Jack Papas
*
Jonathan Slavin as Albie
* Christine Marie Burke as Carrie
*
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter (born 17 September 1946) is a Jamaican-born actor.
Introduction
He was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He spent his childhood like most children who weren't in the acting business. He moved to America in his ear ...
as Vince
Original pilot cast
*
Mel Gorham
Mel Gorham (born Marilyn Schnier, October 27, 1959) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Violet in Wayne Wang's films ''Smoke'' and ''Blue in the Face''. Gorham is from Miami, Florida, and is of Cuban and Jewish descent.
Gorha ...
as Mel Suarez
*
Michael Landes
Michael Christopher Landes (born September 18, 1972) is an American actor of television and film.
Personal life
Michael Christopher Landes was born to Patricia and Bernard Landes on September 18, 1972 in The Bronx, New York (state), New York. ...
as Michael
Episodes
Production and broadcast
The program replaced ''
Fired Up'' on NBC's "
Must See TV
Must See TV is an American advertising slogan that was used by NBC to brand its primetime blocks during the 1990s, and most often applied to the network's Thursday night lineup, which featured some of its most popular sitcoms and drama series of ...
" night of programming; it was given an 8:30 p.m. timeslot on Thursday evenings, a highly coveted spot due to its location between popular sitcoms ''
Friends'' (which aired at 8:00 p.m.) and ''
Seinfeld'' (which aired at 9:00 p.m.). Like ''The Single Guy'', ''Union Square'' attempted to capitalize on attractive singles in their 20s and 30s enjoying
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
life, which both ''Seinfeld'' and ''Friends'' (as well as other NBC programs) had turned into successes. Despite the advantages of its timeslot, ''Union Square'' lost a large portion of its lead-in audience from ''Friends'', and was cancelled in January 1998,
after 14 episodes had been made.
The show featured guest appearances from actor
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz (born May 15, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He played Mr. Universe in '' Serenity'', Charlie Eppes in the CBS drama series ''Numb3rs'', and starred in the '' Harold & Kumar'' and ''The Santa Clause'' film franchises.
...
, who appeared in two episodes.
Rhea Perlman
Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress. She played head-waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom '' Cheers'' (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting ...
also guest starred, as did
Mario Lopez
Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on '' Saved by the Bell'', '' Saved by the Bell ...
who appeared as a child that Suzanne sponsored.
Reception
''Union Square'' was ranked #7 in the ratings for the
1997–98 season, and was the second highest-rated new show of the season,
with almost 20 million viewers, though it still lost a large portion of its lead-in audience from ''Friends''.
The show was poorly received critically. Ray Richmond of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' described the show as having "all the wit and charm of a pepper-spray canister", and concludes ""Union Square" is like "Friends" on decaf — grumpy, disconnected, tired. The snore you hear may be your own." Will Joyner of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' states that ""Union Square"... has a disconcertingly familiar feel to it."
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0118501, title=Union Square
''Union Square'' (Pilot)at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
''Union Square'' (Episode 9)at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
1990s American sitcoms
1997 American television series debuts
1998 American television series endings
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Television shows set in New York City
Television series by Universal Television