Beggars and Choosers: Season 01 (1999)

Season one of the racy Showtime sitcom Beggars and Choosers begins as Rob Malone (Brian Kerwin), the harried president of the LGT television network, pins all his hopes for high ratings and job security by greenlighting a reality series about a group of violent extroverts called the Mountainmen. Though Rob's strategy proves successful, it later bites him in the backside when LGT faces a lawsuit after a youthful fan imitates the Mountainmen's destructive behavior. If this wasn't migraine-inducing enough for Mr. Malone, he must also contend with the self-serving program ideas cooked up by Lydia Luddin (Carol Kane), the conniving trophy wife of LGT's comatose owner E.L. Luddin (Bill Morey). Then there are Rob's problems on the home front, namely the neverending efforts by his wife Cecile (Isabella Hoffman) to conceive a child, his son Cary's (Kaj-Erik Ericksen) attempts to have "phone sex" with a beautiful TV star, and his teenage daughter's romance with Parker Meridian (Paul Provenza), the egotistical star of the popular NGT sitcom "Parker's Pals." While the "Parker matter" would ultimately be resolved, there are plenty of other intrigues to keep the NGT employees in a state of constant hysteria. Lori Volpone (Charlotte Ross), the network's sharkish vice president of development, is swept off her feet by poetry spouting Russian gangster Nicky Krasnakov (Rudolf Martin), who is pitching a miniseries based on his career. Casting director Malcolm Laffley (Tuc Watkins) wiffles and waffles about declaring himself a homosexual, until an embarrassing sexual harassment suit forces him to "out" himself on a coast-to-coast network hookup. The lead character in the LGT ethnic soap opera "Puerto Vallarta," who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, runs afoul of the FCC as the result of her uncontrollable outbursts of profanity. And the much-beloved female star of the heartwarming LGT family drama "An Angel in the Family" is revealed to be sleeping with her teenaged co-star. Amidst all this fictional chaos, real-life TV favorite Bea Arthur makes an appearance as herself, showing up at LGT to pitch a TV biopic about Ethel Merman with herself in the lead -- only to end up competing for the role with a transvestite hooker! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi