Sadly Over-hyped

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Central Park West could have been (and was probably planned as) the one and only true heir of DYNASTY, with condign successors, especially for Fallon and Krystle, including a revived lily-pond-catfight now in a more public place -- a restaurant fountain. The leading ladies were lovely, especially (in that order) Lauren, Raquel, Mädchen, and Mariel. What was missing were hunks -- one Tom Verica is not enough -- and most of all a condign successor for Alexis,'cos there's only one Joan Collins. I don't want to be a bore, but IMDb forces me to fulfill their minimum of ten lines. Wait -- ten lines of something would have been something causing Carrie Fairchild's interest. Ten lines would have been a breakthrough for Mark Merrill's writers' block. Ten lines would have been -- wait, the minimum is done! May I add a line? Please, CBS, release this stepchild of yours.

I'm a fan of the prime time soaps of the 80's (DALLAS, DYNASTY, KNOTS LANDING & FALCON CREST) until 1989, the ones that entered the 90's became a shadow of what they were in the beginning (Only KNOTS was good until the penultimate season, last one was a mess but had a great final episode). With the 90's I missed a prime time soap opera with the quality of early Dallas, KL or Dynasty... I never liked Melrose Place or Models... Then CPW came in and I was excited. I know the series didn't had the success it deserved and changed by mid season, becoming more Dynastic with ambitious Raquel Welch marrying Lauren Hutton's ex-husband to see him die in her arms... inheriting his fortune??? We didn't know, because the series was canceled at that precise moment. I enjoyed all the episodes, but I must say the first ones, were the best. And I love the character of Carrie Fairchild, maybe because she was like the first Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) Carrington my favorite Dynasty character: a spoiled rich girl, intelligent, cunning and ambitious to get what she wanted.

I was a big fan of "Central Park West" and I was hoping it would go down in infamy with other great 90's shows like 90210 and Melrose Place, but instead it's one of those virtually-forgotten cult favorites like Models, Inc. I loved how this show tried to be so ambitious and over the top, sultry, sexy and bitchy. It was like the producers were trying to revamp "Dallas" for the 90's. Too bad it failed. Not once but twice. Even once it was reintroduced as "CPW" and it failed again. Michael Michele as Nikki Sheridan was my favorite character. At least she went on to star in successful shows like "ER". Even the star power of Mariel Hemingway, Lauren Hutton, and Raquel Welch couldn't revive this show. Too bad. It had so much potential and so many pretty faces.

Central Park West is quite simply one of the best soaps ever and it was really cheap of CBS to cancel it after only 21 episodes. This was such a terrific, trendy and very well-acted show with some of the most intriguing storylines ever. All the actors did remarkable jobs, especially Raquel Welch. Another thing that is so great about CPW is that it wasn't so completely wild, stupid, idiotic and over the top like Melrose often was. It was just one season, yes, but what a season! CPW had sophistication, style and great lines. I'm just waiting for a similar and equally entertaining TV series to show up.