Pasadena, Calif. – The show’s title is, by its creators’ own admission, a real stinker.
Its most famous character may never appear on it again.
And how on Earth did they wind up having to apologize to Jeff Goldblum, of all people? Two words: Mick Jagger.
That’s right, the Rolling Stones frontman is the reason “The Knights of Prosperity” is the most weirdly anticipated new sitcom of the fall TV season. But Jagger is hardly a regular on the ABC show about a bunch of sad sacks who plot to rob his swank New York penthouse apartment.
Indeed, co-creator Rob Burnett may be the only person in show-biz history to consciously underhype his product.
“We want to be careful a little bit not to oversell Mick,” said Burnett, at the Television Critics Association summer tour. Burnett created “Ed” and was David Letterman’s long-time producer. “We think of Mick as being an amazing cherry on a delicious sundae, and not the sundae.”
With all due respect, is he crazy? Based on the pilot episode, in which Jagger appears in several scenes giving a “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”-like TV crew a tour of his lavish digs, he ain’t exactly holding back. Jagger is a delightfully natural hambone, riffing about his hat collection, swanning about his Olympic-size indoor pool, and kicking soccer balls at his beleaguered personal assistant.
Plus he’s Mick Jagger, for criminy’s sake! On a Tuesday-night sitcom. The show premieres Oct. 17.
“I grew up in a small town on the Mexican border,” said Donal Logue (“Grounded for Life”), who plays Eugene Gurkin, the janitor who hatches the robbery scheme while watching a clip of Mick preparing to slip into a luxurious yogurt bath. “So to think that in some weird way that your world and Mick Jagger’s would be brought together is probably the highlight of my weird career.”
Confided Kevin Michael Richardson, who plays mountainous cookie-chomping “Knight” Rockefeller Butts, at an ABC party: “I love it. Especially because it could have been Jeff Goldblum.” But not if you believe Burnett. He and co-creator Jon Beckerman say they didn’t have any particular name in mind when they set out to sell the series.
It felt foolish pitching a generic “Let’s rob a celebrity” show, Burnett said, and they somehow alighted on using ex-“The Fly” guy Goldblum’s name as “kind of a placeholder.
Word hit the newspapers, and they apologized to Goldblum, who will get over it. And if he doesn’t, who cares? They got Mick instead, although the creators admit they were beyond highly skeptical when ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson raised Jagger’s name as a possibility.
“We were like, ‘Yeah, sure, great,’ you know, ‘Mick Jagger, go get him,”‘ Burnett said.
Sometimes, however, you get what you need.
“Him kicking the soccer balls, that was his idea,” Burnett said, crediting the rocker with some creative ad-libbing. “He seemed to enjoy playing a character version of himself.”
