''The Knights of Prosperity'' is an American comedy series that premiered on ABC in the United States on Wednesday, January 3, 2007. It was created by Rob Burnett and

Jon Beckerman Jon Beckerman is a producer, director and writer best known for his projects with Rob Burnett. He was born in 1969. He graduated from Shady Side Academy in 1987 and Harvard University in 1991. Career Jon's biggest success has been working with ...

, who also created the NBC

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

'' Ed''. The show follows a group of misfits—the titular Knights—who attempt to rob various celebrities, the first being

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

(Jagger was also credited as one of the executive producers, along with the creators and

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

). The series was made by Letterman's

Worldwide Pants Incorporated Worldwide Pants Inc. is an American television and film production company founded and owned by comedian and talk show host David Letterman. The company was formerly headquartered at the Ed Sullivan Theater building in New York City, but has si ...

and

Touchstone Television The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...

. The series initially aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. before being moved to 8:30. The series was pulled after airing nine episodes and then officially canceled by ABC. On August 8, after 5 months off the air, ABC broadcast two episodes and then pulled the sitcom once again. On August 17, 2007, the network made all 13 episodes available for viewing on ABC.com, but were later taken off.

Name changes and scheduling

The series went through several name changes: the original title, though never publicly affirmed, was ''Let's Rob Jeff Goldblum'', later changed to ''Let's Rob

'' once Goldblum committed to the NBC drama ''

Raines ''Raines'' is a seven-episode American police procedural television show starring Jeff Goldblum as a police detective who hallucinates the victims whose murders he is investigating. Created by Graham Yost, the series was short-lived, airing ...

''. ABC announced the series for its fall schedule as ''Let's Rob...'' in May, and the final name change to ''Knights of Prosperity'' was reported in July 2006. During the TCA Tour, executive producer Rob Burnett indicated that the title might change again before the show debuts, but the show debuted under the "Knights" name. Originally scheduled to debut on October 17, 2006 at 9:00 p.m., it was pulled from the schedule on October 3 in favor of at least two additional 90-minute episodes of its intended lead-in, ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

''. ABC later announced that the program would be shelved and rescheduled for a January 2007 airdate due to the network now making another sitcom, '' Big Day'', a priority for the Tuesday night schedule. On November 9, 2006, ABC began running promos for the show in advance of its January airdate. On December 5, 2006, ABC announced that the program would premiere on January 3, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. Although the show was scheduled to air the following week at 9:00, a

primetime Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

address by the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

caused the second episode of the show to air at 9:30 p.m. The show returned to its normal 9:00 time slot the following week. The show was rescheduled to 8:30 beginning on January 31, 2007, and remained there until it was pulled from the schedule on March 5. Before the upfronts, the network announced that it was considering a second season featuring Ray Romano. However, the show was ultimately canceled, and was briefly brought back in the summer to burn off the remaining episodes along with fellow low-rated newcomer '' The Nine''. Both shows were pulled again on August 14 and on August 17, ABC put up the remaining episodes on its website.

Marketing

On December 26, 2006, to generate buzz for the show, ABC distributed wallets bearing the monogram "KOP" in a number of markets. The wallets contained a receipt from "Enterprise Luxury Goods Ltd." for millions of dollars in purchases, a claim check for a platinum wristwatch, and an invitation to join a promotional group via text message.Johannes, Am
"ABC Drops Wallets, Cash for Knights."
Promomagazine.com, December 22, 2006 On December 31, 2006 during New Year's Eve in Times Square, ABC also distributed orange acrylic hats bearing a white embroidered "KOP".

Cast and characters

Main cast

Donal Logue Donal Francis Logue (born February 27, 1966) is a Canadian actor. He starred in the film '' The Tao of Steve'' and has had roles in the TV series ''Sons of Anarchy'', ''Vikings'', ''Grounded for Life'', ''Copper'', '' Terriers'', and, as Detecti ...

as Eugene Gurkin * Sofía Vergara as Esperanza Villalobos * Lenny Venito as Francis "Squatch" Squacieri * Maz Jobrani as Gourishankar Subramaniam *

Kevin Michael Richardson Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...

as Rockefeller Butts * Josh Grisetti as Louis Plunk

Guest stars

* Reiko Aylesworth as Simone Cashwell *

Ben Bailey Benjamin Ray Bailey (born October 30, 1970) is an American comedian. He is best known for hosting the Emmy Award-winning game show '' Cash Cab'' in New York City. Early life Bailey was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and raised in Chatham B ...

as Ralph Carnucci * Dustin Diamond as Himself *

as Himself * Sally Jessy Raphaël as Herself *

Kelly Ripa Kelly Ripa (; born October 2, 1970) is an American actress and talk show host. Since 2001, she has been the co-host of the syndicated morning talk show '' Live! with Kelly and Ryan'' in various formats. As an actress, Ripa's best known roles ...

as Herself * Ray Romano as Himself * Rocco DiSpirito as Himself

Episodes

International distribution

Seasonal ratings

Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of ''Knights of Prosperity'' on ABC:

References

External links

*
Extensive interview with the creators
on public radio program The Sound of Young America
Music from The Knights of Prosperity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knights of Prosperity, The American Broadcasting Company original programming 2007 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings 2000s American single-camera sitcoms Mick Jagger English-language television shows Television series by ABC Studios Television series by Worldwide Pants Television shows set in New York City