''LAX'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

television series set at the

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...

, drawing its name from the airport's

IATA airport code An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code, or simply a location identifier, is a three-character alphanumeric geocode designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the ...

, "LAX". The series premiered on September 13, 2004 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 ...

, and aired through April 16, 2005.

Overview

''LAX'' is a drama focusing on the day-to-day operations of the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

, with its runway manager, Harley Random ( Heather Locklear), and its terminal manager, Roger de Souza (

Blair Underwood Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film ''Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series ''L.A. Law''. Underwood has a ...

). In the final episode, Harley leaves her job at LAX after she is told by Roger that he wants stability back in his life and no longer wants to be romantically involved with her. ''LAX'' premiered on

on September 13, 2004. Ten episodes aired before NBC announced in November 2004 that no further episodes would be produced. The show was moved to Saturdays at 8pm ET and the final episode aired on April 16, 2005. Thirteen episodes total were aired.

Cast

Main

* Heather Locklear as Harley Random *

as Roger De Souza *

Paul Leyden Paul Augustine Leyden (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He is best known for playing the role of Simon Frasier on the daytime soap opera ''As the World Turns''. He played Simon in the 2009 mini ...

as Tony Magulia *

Frank John Hughes Frank John Hughes (born November 11, 1967) is an American film and television actor, and screenwriter. Hughes is best known for his portrayals of "Wild Bill" Guarnere in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', Tom Fox in ''Catch Me If Yo ...

as Henry Engels * Wendy Hoopes as Betty * David Paetkau as Nick

Recurring

* Joel David Moore as Eddie Carson *

Sasha Barrese Alexandra Barrese (born April 24, 1981) better known as Sasha Barrese is an American former actress and professional poker player. She is best known for her role as Tracy Billings in '' The Hangover Trilogy''. Early life Barrese was born on Apr ...

as Caitlin Mansfield

Notable guests

* Chad Todhunter as Mystery Man *

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

as Himself * Daniel Morton as a Serbian co-pilot * Sam Doumit as Rachel, Senator's daughter *

Charisma Carpenter Charisma Carpenter (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress. She played Cordelia Chase in the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–1999) and its spin-off series ''Angel'' (1999–2004). She also starred as Kyra in ...

as Julie, Harley's sister

Episodes

Production

LAX (originally titled ''HUB'', and then ''The Hub'') was announced on NBC's development slate on December 19, 2003, after being scrapped by NBC during the previous development season in winter 2003. On January 14, NBC greenlighted production on the pilot. Anthony and Joe Russo signed on as directors of the pilot on February 6. On May 17, 2004 NBC announced that they had picked up the pilot to series. This show was not renewed for a second season. Exterior shots for the pilot episode were filmed in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, although sources differ on whether

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Ai ...

or Fort Worth Alliance Airport stood in for Los Angeles International. Many other scenes were filmed using a vacant terminal and a disused

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller air ...

Ontario International Airport Ontario International Airport is an international airport two miles east of downtown Ontario, in San Bernardino County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino. It is owned and operat ...

, interspersed with

establishing shot An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes, the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long or extreme-long shot at the beginning of ...

s of the real LAX airport. The theme song for the show was the beginning of "

Mr. Blue Sky "Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), featured on the band's seventh studio album '' Out of the Blue'' (1977). Written and produced by frontman Jeff Lynne, the song forms the fourth and final track of the "Concerto fo ...

" by

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical ...

. For the opening sequence of the final episode, a different excerpt of the song was used.

Broadcast and syndication

On February 22, 2014, it is announced reruns of ''LAX'' would air on

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...

in fall 2014.

Reception

In a survey by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

, ''LAX'' got 17% of the votes for most anticipated new series. The show was frequently the butt of comedic jokes due to its poor ratings, including

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's '' The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 20 ...

, who remarked the show was "so bad that the actual Los Angeles Airport is thinking of changing its name to avoid being associated with the show." The 13 episodes of the program averaged 6.52 million viewers. ''LAX'' lost 19.09% of the viewers in its time slot versus the previous season, which was occupied by ''

Third Watch ''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 26, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...

''.

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 0411003, LAX 2004 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings 2000s American workplace drama television series Aviation television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Los Angeles Los Angeles International Airport