Viewers aren't the only ones wondering what might have been had CBS aired the prime-time comedy-drama Waterfront on Nov. 14, as the network had planned. The show, a playful midseason series that centered on a charismatic Rhode Island mayor, had a stellar cast — including Joe Pantoliano, Mary Stuart Masterson, Larenz Tate, and William Baldwin. The local Rhode Island film crew, which was relieved to have found steady work before the holidays, is also disappointed to see the show canceled. But most unhappy of all are the New England actors and the show's star, many of whom are still fighting to get the show on the air.
"We were poised for success," said Pantoliano, who played Mayor Jimmy Centrella on the show. "Every day we knew we were doing something special. We felt like we were changing history, and for it to all come to a crashing halt, it was surreal."
With five episodes in the can, network executives canceled Waterfront in mid-October without airing a single episode — and possibly without even viewing one. "The show was canceled before, I think, CBS had the opportunity to see the first cut of the first episode," Pantoliano said. "We delivered it on a Monday, and we were told Tuesday evening that we were canceled."
CBS had no comment on the show's cancellation.
Though not the first casualty of the 2006 fall season, Waterfront's swift, highly publicized demise left Pantoliano and the community of Providence, R.I., brokenhearted and reeling.
"We don't have this kind of work here on a regular basis," said Anne Mulhall, owner of LDI Casting, Rhode Island's only casting company. Mulhall cast more than 300 background actors and 10 stand-ins per day for Waterfront, and placed dozens of actors in other small recurring roles. "[Actors] thought they were making contacts," said Mulhall. " They were really feeling so positive on so many different levels, and the rug was literally pulled out from under them."
One of those actors was Andrea Lyman, a New England local cast in a principal role on Waterfront, playing a lesbian artist. The morning CBS shut down the production, Lyman was prepping to shoot her scene opposite Tate. With her hair and makeup done, and dressed in her antique kimono costume, Lyman rehearsed her lines with her scene partner as she waited to be called to the set. Then came a knock at the door. She opened it to find a crew member in tears. Though Lyman said she feels grateful for the opportunity and pleased she was cast, the show's cancellation left her disappointed. "It kills me that I didn't get to do the scene with Larenz Tate, because he's a great actor," she said.
Like most of the cast members, Lyman wasn't given a reason for the cancellation. Rumors circulated that the show was over budget, that there wasn't room for the show in the network's midseason schedule, and that CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler was unhappy with the show's creative direction.
Though Pantoliano said CBS ended up having only one midseason slot, instead of the two it expected, he said Tassler always supported the series. "Nina Tassler was rooting for this show, and she wanted it to succeed," he said. "But she's got bosses and, you know, corporations and stockholders."
Network Politics
According to Pantoliano, the reason the network chose to air the drama 3 Lbs. instead of Waterfront lay purely in corporate politics. CBS Paramount Network Television produced 3 Lbs.; Waterfront was produced by Warner Bros. "When a corporation has to determine whether or not to pick up a show that's owned by Warner Bros. or a show that's owned by themselves, there is some kind of antitrust [violation] in that," Pantoliano said.
The actor's assertion brings up the issue of vertical integration among television networks, which has been widely debated since 2003 when the Federal Communications Commission relaxed cross-ownership regulations, resulting in a number of media mergers. In September, FCC commissioners listened to the public's opinion about whether the FCC should relax those restrictions even further and perhaps eliminate them altogether. During the meetings, held at the University of Southern California and El Segundo High School, representatives from the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Producers Guild of America, and other unions argued that a byproduct of media consolidation is networks' preference for airing content produced in-house rather than content from independent television producers and production companies.
Though Pantoliano said the show is currently being shopped around to other networks, he said moving the show to another network would be difficult. "It's fraught with complications," he said. "We would have to get CBS to want to give it up."
Aside from corporate politics, Pantoliano said, the intelligence of the show also may have caused problems for the network, which expressed concern about the show's clarity. "Drama isn't clear," Pantoliano said. "Sometimes you want to be ahead of the audience. You want them to scratch their heads." But, he said, intelligent shows such as Fox's Arrested Development, which was canceled this year despite its multiple Emmy nominations (and six wins) over three years, and Waterfront cannot sustain a life on network commercial television. "I think that [the networks] continue to dumb down America, and it's like, you keep feeding [viewers] chopped meat. You know, the artistic arteries are rotting."
And so are opportunities for up-and-coming actors. Dona Sommers, executive director of SAG's Boston branch, said about 1,600 actors live and work in the New England area. In January 2006, Rhode Island enacted a law, similar to ones in New York and New Orleans, that provides motion picture companies shooting in the state a 25 percent transferable tax credit on productions with minimum budgets of $300,000. But television productions shooting in the area are still rare. The Showtime series Brotherhood is the only other television series that films in Rhode Island.
Angela Peri, founder and director of Boston Casting, which cast about 20 actors per episode of Waterfront, said the show's cancellation means not only less work for actors but also fewer opportunities for Rhode Island actors to make connections that could help their careers. At the time of Waterfront's cancellation, Peri said, a producer on the show had started to learn local actors' names. "All we can hope is that they had a good experience here and they want to come back," Peri said.
But many New England actors aren't ready to throw in the towel. After the cancellation, Mulhall's phone at LDI Casting began ringing. "[Actors] were calling me, thinking there was something we could do," Mulhall said. Soon the Rhode Island Film & Television Office distributed a press release and email titled "Save Our 'Waterfront" and posted the release on its website, urging supporters to write letters to CBS in support of the show, stating it would be a serious ratings contender if the public were allowed to see it.
The Rhode Island public, actors, and crewmembers saw the first two episodes of the show Oct. 23 at a bar in downtown Providence. Actor Joel Arsenault, a featured extra on Waterfront who participated in the campaign to save the show, said he was impressed by the quality of the acting, particularly the dynamic between Pantoliano and his onscreen daughter, played by Natalia Cigliuti. He also enjoyed seeing himself playing a cameraman on the show. He said the actors he knows haven't given up. "I know people are still calling [CBS] every now and then, saying, 'Hey, put this thing on the air,'" he said. Lyman said she attended a party recently at which actors told her they're still writing letters.
Though the production has shut down and its inventory of office supplies was posted Oct. 25 on Craigslist, Pantoliano encouraged actors to continue to fight for the show. "I think they should continue to campaign," he said. "I think they should continue to audition, because that's all we can do."
Those interested in participating in the campaign can write letters to CBS Corporation, 51 W. 52nd St., New York, NY 10019; call CBS at (212) 775-4321; or contact the company electronically by visiting www.cbs.com and clicking "Feedback" in the menu at the bottom of the screen.