In the 1960s, Johnny Verona (Robert Pastorelli) was a young man who dreamed of becoming a rock star. One day, while passing a music store, Johnny saw a guitar owned by his idol, Jimi Hendrix. Eager to have the guitar, but unable to afford it, Johnny went to work as a bicycle messenger for Ed Foley Couriers. He earned the money to buy the guitar but his dream to become a rock star never came true.
He joined a band in 1968 and found moderate success playing clubs. In 1971 a record company offered him a contract – but only him, not the rest of the band. He rejected the contract and with the knowledge he had earned as a cycle courier, opened his own bicycle messenger service in Manhattan called Double Rush.
Stories followed Johnny’s ups and downs as he struggled to run a company that promised a rush delivery (within 45 minutes) or a double rush (within 20 minutes).
Other Regulars included Zoe Fuller (Corinne Bohrer), a girl with a degree from Harvard Business School who couldn’t find a job and now worked as Johnny’s whiny bookkeeper; Hunter (David Arquette), a young daredevil and Johnny’s fastest courier; Barkley (Sam Lloyd) the spaced-out dispatcher; the Kid (Phil Leeds), Johnny’s 75-year-old messenger who moved painfully slowly but knew every shortcut in Manhattan; cynical former delinquent Leo (Adam Goldberg) and Marlon (D.L. Hughley), a young husband and father with a legendary ability to con people.
Ed Foley (Richard Fortnow) was now Johnny’s competition, along with his daughter Kate (Sarah Nelson).
The NBC show flopped, primarily because of its bad time slot and going up against Roseanne.
On 15 March 1999, during an incident at his Hollywood home, Robert Pastorelli’s 25-year-old girlfriend, Charemon Jonovich, was killed by a gunshot to the head. The incident was investigated as an accident or suicide, and the LA Coroner’s Office declared the cause of death undetermined.
Pastorelli was found dead at his home in the Hollywood Hills on 8 March 2004 from a narcotics overdose. He was 49. At the time of his death, he had been advised that the police were planning on arresting him for further questioning regarding the shooting of Jonovich in 1999.
A review of the original evidence had resulted in her death being reclassified as a homicide, with Pastorelli being identified as a suspect for further investigation.
Johnny Verona
Robert Pastorelli Zoe Fuller
Corinne Bohrer Hunter
David Arquette Leo
Adam Goldberg The Kid
Phil Leeds Marlon
D.L. Hughley Barkley
Sam Lloyd Ed Foley
Richard Fortnow Kate Foley
Sarah Nelson
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