Love Life by Rob Lowe

Author:Rob Lowe [Lowe, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Actor, Biography & Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Movie Star, Nonfiction, Personal Memoirs, Retail
ISBN: 9781451685718
Google: LTxvAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1451685718
Barnesnoble: 1451685718
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2014-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

The day after Dr. Vegas premiered, I crawled out of my bed in the back of my Suburban to the sight of Joey Pants packing up his trailer.

“Saw our numbers last night. This one ain’t long for the world, pal,” he said, carrying a box of knickknacks to his car.

Joey was an alarmist and always dramatic. I do not allow myself the luxury of defeatism. “C’mon, man. We can turn it around!” I said, heading into another pre-sunrise rehearsal.

Hour-long shows have a rating at the first half hour and one in the second. When the first rating is good, it means they like the stars and the idea of the show. If the rating goes down in the second half hour it means they don’t like the episode itself. Usually it means the story didn’t hook them, so they bailed. It’s pretty simple and it’s a very clear message.

With the notable exceptions of The West Wing and Parks and Recreation, I almost never read an episode of TV and don’t think “This needs to be better.” But few shows have the level of writing that those shows have. It’s obvious and it’s right there on the page for all to see.

On Dr. Vegas our second-half ratings bore out my suspicions: Our stories were soft and needed teeth to hold the viewers.

Tom Sizemore had been doing great work on camera. Brooding, dark, sometimes funny but with a threat of real violence underneath. But the writing consistently steered away from anything even close to dark, even with the new replacement head writer. Dr. Vegas’s tone was cutesy, faux-sexy, without any real tension and absolutely zero danger. It could not have been further away from a network version of Nip/Tuck. But I kept trying to drag it just a little closer.

I pitched a story line that I hoped would show the network that we could push the envelope. In the story line, Tom Sizemore’s character would kill a man with his bare hands. It would be retribution for the murder-robbery the man committed in our casino. As Tom killed the criminal, you would feel guilt about feeling so good about Tom as a vigilante. These morally ambivalent stories are today common on cable drama. But on big, highly viewed networks, particularly CBS, this would be very, very dark indeed. Showing very good faith, the studio and network let us give it a try. You can’t ask for more from your bosses.

After giving up some of my salary to close Sizemore’s deal, I also got him with my business manager. I kept a protective eye out in all areas I could. I didn’t pry into things that weren’t my business and hoped that my proximity would be a steadying influence if the time came.

The time came.

I had noticed Tom sweating unseasonably, noticed he was wearing mirrored sunglasses almost nonstop, noticed dilated eyes and a change in personality. Tom was, and is, capable of being very charming and always liked to tell stories, usually about Robert De Niro.

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