Love and Money

1 9 9 9 – 2 0 0 0 (USA)
13 x 30 minute episodes

This mediocre CBS sitcom opens on the wedding day of wealthy heiress Allison Conklin (Paget Brewster), who’s about to marry a dull, rich guy she doesn’t love.

Just before the wedding, Allison bumps into Eamon McBride (Brian Van Holt), a working-class guy she had a crush on as a kid (and a summer fling with a few years ago).

Coincidence of coincidences, Eamon – having failed in a fleeting career with the National Hockey League – is now the superintendent of the very luxury New York apartment building where Allison has a multi-level penthouse.

She shares the sprawling place with her billionaire parents, Effie (a snooty, boozy Swoosie Kurtz) and Nicholas (a smug, bombastic David Ogden Stiers), her screwed-up brother Nicky (John Livingston), and her sister, Puff (Judy Greer), who describes herself as “the blonde nympho”.

Eamon lives in the basement with his father, Finn, the building’s doorman (Brian Doyle-Murray).

The upper-class Conklins are uptight and ruled by social expectations and a fear of saying what they’re thinking, much less feeling.

The working-class McBrides, on the other hand, say precisely what they’re thinking and feeling. Being (stereotypical) Irishmen, father and son get loud and confrontational with each other – always ending in love-affirming hugs.

The series had a strong cast, but unfortunately, the writers hadn’t given anyone anything interesting or funny to say.

Allison Conklin
Paget Brewster
Eamon McBride
Brian Van Holt
Finn McBride
Brian Doyle-Murray
Nicholas Conklin
David Ogden Stiers
Effie Conklin
Swoosie Kurtz
Nicky Conklin
John Livingston
Puff Conklin
Judy Greer