''Rich Man, Poor Man Book II'' is an American television

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in one-hour episodes at 9:00pm ET/PT on Tuesday nights between September 21, 1976 and March 8, 1977. A sequel to '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' that had aired the previous season, it focused on the further exploits and conflicts of the Jordache family. Due to the popularity of the first series this was rushed out as the sequel before the author Irwin Shaw had even written a "Book 2" sequel.

Synopsis

The series began shortly after the death of Tom Jordache. His son Wesley ( Gregg Henry) is now in the care of Tom's brother Rudy (

Peter Strauss Peter Lawrence Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s. He is an Emmy winner and five-time Golden Globe Awards nominee. Early life S ...

), who was seeking a seat in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. Also living in the household was Billy, Rudy's stepson, and much of the ongoing storyline concentrated on the tension between the two ambitious boys. Also crucial to the plot was Rudy's protracted battle with Charles Estep (

Peter Haskell Peter Haskell (October 15, 1934 – April 12, 2010) was an American actor who worked primarily in television. Early years Haskell attended Browne & Nichols and later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Harvard University following a two-year st ...

), the mysterious

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

owner of Tricorp. Returning from the original series was Anthony Falconetti ( William Smith), who had served time for the murder of Tom Jordache and was now free and intent on disposing of Rudy as well. At the same time, Falconetti firmly intends to eliminate Rudy, Wesley and all the friends of the Jordache family and this time it will not be enough to ignore it to escape him.

Cast

Davey Davison replaces Kim Darby as Virginia Calderwood. Peter Strauss, Susan Blakely, Herbert Jefferson Jr., Van Johnson, Kay Lenz, Tim McIntre, Ray Millard, Dick Sargent and William Smith reprise their roles from the original series.

Episode list

Reception

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

, playgrounds of the rich and famous and powerful, were two of the settings for the series. Filled with

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

-like touches, it was far more melodramatic than the original and not as successful critically or in the ratings. The series maintained a popular following in the UK and Europe and was released on a 6-Disc DVD set by Universal-Playback on June 18, 2007. The US DVD set contained both the original mini-series and the weekly series and was released for the first time by A & E Home Video on September 28, 2010.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *{{epguides, id=RichManPoorManBookII 1976 American television series debuts 1977 American television series endings 1970s American drama television series 1970s American television miniseries Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Michigan American Broadcasting Company television dramas