Central Park West (1995)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Mädchen Amick
Carrie Fairchild
John Barrowman
Peter Fairchild
Melissa Errico
Alex Bartoli
Lauren Hutton
Linda Fairchild Rush
Darren Star
Writer
Justin Lazard
Gil Chase
Michael Michele
Nikki Sheridan
Tom Verica
Mark Merrill
Ron Leibman
Allen Rush
Kylie Travis
Rachel Dennis
Allan Arkush
Director
Lorraine Senna
Director
Gwen Arner
Director
Don Scardino
Director
Victoria Hochberg
Director
James Frawley
Director
Nancy Malone
Director
Victor Lobl
Director
Tim Hunter
Director
Terri Minsky
Writer
Eric Overmyer
Writer
Adriana Trigiani
Writer
Noelle Beck
Amanda Peet
Ed Koch
George Plimpton
John Costelloe
Justin Theroux
Gerry Becker
Alix Elias
Mariel Hemingway
Gerald McRaney
Clark Gregg
Michael Badalucco
Stacey Williams
Kim Raver
Joe Mantello
Mark Blum
Marian Seldes
Nicholas J. Giangiulio
Media.
Details.
Release DateSeptember 13, 1995
StatusEnded
Seasons2
Episodes21
Running Time1h
Content RatingNR
Genres
Wiki.
Central Park West (also known as CPW) is an American prime time television soap opera that ran from September 1995 to June 1996 on CBS. The series was created and executive produced by Darren Star. As the title suggests, CPW was set in New York, in the affluent Central Park West area of Manhattan. Mariel Hemingway, Mädchen Amick, and Kylie Travis portrayed three of the central characters on the show.
The program represented CBS's attempt to reestablish itself after a disastrous 1994-95 television season where the network lost a heavy amount of established affiliates due to affiliation switches related to Fox acquiring NFC football rights, and an attempt by the network to attract younger viewers. It was the network's most-promoted new show in many years with a promotional campaign exclusively produced to appeal to younger viewers, and attempted to recapture the network's past nighttime soap glory from the years of Dallas and Knots Landing. Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue was offered a lead role, but declined.
The series was not successful and was removed from CBS' schedule in November 1995, returning some months later with new additions made to the cast (Hemingway left by this point, and Raquel Welch was brought in). The retooling was not enough to save the show, which was canceled in June 1996. The failure of the series returned the network quickly back to their traditional broadcasting focus and repairing relations between both the network's new affiliates and their older stations which were frustrated by the network's moves in programming rights and programming within the Laurence Tisch era, which would end shortly thereafter with Westinghouse's purchase of CBS, Inc. in 1995 (approval of CPW to be placed on the network's schedule came well before Westinghouse's purchase).