Windfall OAD 06/08/2006 "Pilot"

[scottykempf]

Well, I don't know what to think. Not a terrible show, but some pretty big leaps of logic. Like, the way people start spending money BEFORE they get the money. The nurse's car breaks down, so she goes to a Mercede's dealership, HOW THE HECK do they give her a Mercedes??????? I am presuming that she doesn't have great credit or anything? Then she gives the lady with the health problems a check for $10,000 and says that it will be good? HOW????

Same thing with the kid.

And the poor pizza woman, how does she pay for a helicopter to land in the trailer park and whisk her away before she has even met with the other winners?????

And at the meeting, Luke Perry says that they will have to decide how they want the money, payments or lump sum an makes it sound like they each individually have to decide how to take it. Wouldn't one winning ticket mean that they would all have to choose the same option?????????


AAAHHHHH

[Chapper1]

It was an interesting premise, but as you said, some major leaps in logic and faith. Also, tto me, there were so many characters, I was losing track of some of them...

I give it at least another week...

[terpfan1980]

Actually the show was interesting to me, though yes, serious leaps have to be made or ignored...

Honestly, I don't give it all that long, as in the past shows with Jason Gedrick just normally don't last long.

The premise itself is an interesting one though, and probably would make for a great soap opera style show that could run more frequently -- I'm thinking it would have been great stuff for the coming "My TV" network on the FOX owned stations (the former UPN stations or outcast WB stations). Do the show as one of their Telenovela (sp?) shows and let it burn hot and fast and it might make for a great show.

Stretched over (even the summer shortened) season or so, I just don't know how long it'll hold interest.

[MitchO]

Too soapy. Already too many scenes with Gedrick and Perry's wife, and smoldering ex-con is too characterish. I also was thinking about how they spent the money. I also had a lot of trouble seperating a few of the characters; Gedrick's wife and the lawyer look too much alike; I couldn't even point out the nurse in the crowd scenes after she had plenty of screen time.

OTOH, I do believe that most lotteries let 'multiple winners' seperate their options in terms of the money.

I'll also give it a short leash of one more week.

[IndyTom]

Yikes...I really wanted to give this show a chance. I always thought a TV show or a Miniseries of some sort about lottery winners, and how it played out, would be interesting.

However - I was disappointed tonight. As the original poster said - in real life you can't buy anything without cashing the check. I am sure the producers took a chance on the intelligence of the viewers in exchange for the euphoria everyone would feel splurging on a Benz and telling your boss off.

I spent most of the evening waiting for Gedrick to get caught by Dylan (sorry had to slip that in since I can't remember his name on this show).

Gedrick's ex kind of resembles the youngest wife on Big Love in some wierd way.

The ex-con plot? That's the worst of the bunch, especially since the attorney jumped in bed with him already.

The only saving grace is the daughter of the couple going through the divorce. Her eyes could melt steel.

I am with you guys - I will give this show a couple of more weeks to marinate. Then I will be moving on.

[vertigo235]

Lost interest after about 15 mins, we will probably finish it later and keep watching, but I'm not surprised we're watching this during the summer and not in the fall.

[JYoung]

I'll give it one more week but I don't think I'll be watching this after I head to Vegas.

[Fl_Gulfer]

Not very interesting, as for the spending before they get the money, I don't know any car dealer that would give you a car because you said you won the lottery.
The kid is going to loose his money to the russian girl, OH but what fun.......

[jlb]

As long as I don't have any conflicts, I'll continue to watch. It was 'aight, but nothing special.

[5thcrewman]

Isn't the guy with the fake identity actually a Mac (http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/)?

[TiVo'Brien]

I thought it was decent, if a bit hard to follow. I like the premise and will stick around just to see how that plays out. The teen girl's hair annoyed me with its obvious color job-- she was cute enough to start with, why mess with a good thing?

Possibly the most interesting story line will be the teen and Russian chick. The kid's an idiot for ditching his parents, not to mention getting involved with someone he knows nothing about.

[unicorngoddess]

I missed the first 5 minutes of the show, so I have no idea how it came to be that all these people got in on the winning lottery ticket. I just saw the one lady go in and buy one ticket with her lovers birthday as the winning numbers.

My husband's and my first reaction to the lady that just walks over to the mercedez dealership was the same...uh, she can't just go in and get a car. Well, I guess if she had good credit she coulda got it on a lease and is just planning on paying it off when she gets the money. Also, don't you have to decide when you actually buy the ticket if you want it in one lump sum or payments over time. That's the way it is here in Texas last time I played the lottery.

And the Russian bride, I called that one. If she had actually walked away with only $10k and a plane ticket back home she would have been the dumbest mail order bride EVER. That kid was stupid for thinking that. At least he mentioned her signing a pre-nup. I didn't see that part and just saw them at the Justice of the Peace and I remember thinking how stupid that kid was because the Russian chick was gonna take all his money.

I'm gonna keep watching it. Seems like it still has potential.

[SeanC]

Doesn't the INS very much dislike marriages of convience like that? Wasn't the movie Green Card all about how you can no longer do a marriage as a business decision?

[BeanMeScot]

Well, I wasn't sure if I wanted to try this and the so-so reviews here have convinced me to delete it without even bothering. Treasuer Hunters, anyone?

[unicorngoddess]

One thing I've learned about reviews is you can never trust them...that's because they're other people's opinions. I wouldn't delete it without watching it. Out of all the things on the summer lineup, I think this one is the best.

[RichardHead]

Isn't the guy with the fake identity actually a Mac (http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/)?
Nope. The Mac guy is Justin Long who play Warren Cheswick on Ed.

[dolcevita]

I really wanted to like this and I do like some of the characters , but too many WTF?, as have been pointed out.

When Luke Perry and his wife go out on the front lawn and start shouting at passersby that they just won $20 million. Hello - NOBODY does that. And I agree about the Mercedes dealer bit and the check given to the patient. The timeline was just off on all of that.

Sad to say in this day and age, I don't how many people who would work that hard to track down the pizza delivery lady. Glad they did though - nice to see some characters on tv acting as if they have, well, character.

The whole plot about the guy who could not collect under his own name made zero sense. Why would he not ask his boss to collect his winnings along with hers, rather than asking a delivery customer/attorney/stranger? The scenario where the soon-to-be ex husband overheard about the win was pretty forced also.

I liked Luke Perry's line (what is his character's name?) toward the end -- "if your wildest dreams came true, would I be in them?"

I want to like it. Hope it improves soon. Can't wait for Treasure Hunters!

[Gene S]

..snip.. Also, don't you have to decide when you actually buy the ticket if you want it in one lump sum or payments over time. That's the way it is here in Texas last time I played the lottery.


I think it depends on which "lotto" you are playing. State run lotto's might have different rules than the "mega-state" lottos. For the Powerball, you decide after you won how you want the payment.

Which brings me to my biggest problem. At the end when they received their "Check" it was for Cash, $386M. Two problems with that, 1) If they selected a cash option, it would be about half that amount; 2) Luke Perry said they had to wait for other winners to come forward, meaning there was more than 1 ticket sold that won. Again that $386M check is too high, if another winning ticket was sold, it would be half that amount.

[Dromomaniac]

Well, I wasn't sure if I wanted to try this and the so-so reviews here have convinced me to delete it without even bothering. Treasuer Hunters, anyone?Yeah I may just skip this once based on the comments so far.

Looking forward to TH! :up:

[darthrsg]

I didn't watch, but the plot sounds interesting on paper anyways. I always wanted to see a show about the court cases/public aftermath following a "Hollywood action run" through town. You know like Stallone and Snipes tearing up the town in "Demolition Man".

[flyers088]

being replayed at 9pm est on NBC

[appleye1]

Tembi Locke? Shades of "past it's prime" Sliders. Uggggh. She's enough to make me drop this show at the start.

[ElJay]

I dunno, I might give it another episode or two. Much of this episode was rather nonsensical so I can't say how long I'm going to put up with that. People have already mentioned lame stuff like the purchase of a new Mercedes CL. The timeline was way off for the car purchase, but the helicopter trip from the trailer park had to be the lamest of them all. What stupid idiot blows money on something like that? That's something that billionaires do, not somebody with a $10-20 million annuity or $5-10 million in "cash."

The geek in me was most annoyed by the dot-matrix printer sound as some pre-printed "lotto" ticket was advanced through a printer. Does anybody still use dot matrix printers in the lottery machines? Most of the ones I see use thermal printers, and clearly the lottery ticket it was "printing" was not produced by a dot matrix print head. I just don't understand why directors/editors/whoever make up "shots" like these that don't really serve any purpose but have errors like this. Just showing the ticket spitting out of the lottery machine would have been sufficient from my view. I know it's lame for me to rant for a paragraph on a scene that went by in a second, but it's this sort of thing that really makes me cringe.

[jschuur]

Well, I wasn't sure if I wanted to try this and the so-so reviews here have convinced me to delete it without even bothering. Treasuer Hunters, anyone?
One thing I've learned about reviews is you can never trust them...that's because they're other people's opinions. I wouldn't delete it without watching it. Out of all the things on the summer lineup, I think this one is the best.
I'm glad to see at least one voice of sanity here. It wasn't the greatest pilot, but I didn't think it was too over the top. They had a large cast and a lot to set up. I'll be tuning in for more episodes.

[MitchO]

2) Luke Perry said they had to wait for other winners to come forward, meaning there was more than 1 ticket sold that won.

I believe he meant the rest of the people at the Lotto Party, who are all allowed to become public at their own pace.

Because so many people do things like this (group ticket purchases), all the major lotteries are prepared to treat each member of a group like an individual winner, which explains the "lump sum or annuity" comment, and the fact that they didn't all have to come forward at the same time (as long as the group acknowledges X people exist).

[grant33]

I didn't watch it and now I'm not really excited about getting to it after reading all of this. Just from seeing the previews I already had one thing nagging me. If they won $386 million it would be only about $250 million after taxes at most. Split 20 ways that's $12.5 million each. Pretty good haul, but there was a clip of one guy saying he was on his way to buy a football team. I'm pretty sure even arena league teams cost more than $12 million. I know it's nitpicking, but for some reason it bothered me.

[Family]

The show wasn't great... just OK, but for what's out there now it was watchable. At least it has a different theme than another doctor, lawyer, DA show. The posts criticizing the believability are absurd. If you have good credit and a reasonably small deposit... you can buy a new car, even a Mercedes. The person talking about buying a football team was a teenage kid. OK the helicopter was a bit much, but big deal. Every show ignores some reality. It was a bit soapy and you won't mistake it for The Shield or Deadwood in terms of quality, but when compared to the slim pickings right now it wasn't so bad.

[MitchO]

You never heard the lyric "Think I'll go buy me a football team"?! Of course, by football they meant soccer, since it was the English band Pink Floyd, but still .. it's just a turn of phrase.

[barrettd]

I liked it all right. I feel about the same level of interest I had for "Conviction", but I like Luke Perry, so I'll keep watching.

[zyzzx]

I'll continue to watch it, especially since it's the summer.

The premise is excellent but it was a bit too soap opera for my taste. I'll see where things head from here.

In addition to the blunders above, I'll add that hospitals care for anyone regardless of their ability to pay so that storyline didn't sit too well with me.

Check out the date of the check in the final scenes with the misplaced comma: "April, 25 2005".

[IndyTom]

The posts criticizing the believability are absurd. If you have good credit and a reasonably small deposit... you can buy a new car, even a Mercedes.

Something tells me that she passed on that possibility long ago when driving her, barely running, Pinto station wagon.

[IndyTom]

You never heard the lyric "Think I'll go buy me a football team"?! Of course, by football they meant soccer, since it was the English band Pink Floyd, but still .. it's just a turn of phrase.

Good catch, I didn't think of that. :up:

Perhaps it was a wink and nod to those viewers that would have caught the Dark Side of the Moon reference?

[flyers088]

They replayed this again Sunday night. Are they desperate for a hit show??

[busyba]

The geek in me was most annoyed by the dot-matrix printer sound as some pre-printed "lotto" ticket was advanced through a printer. Does anybody still use dot matrix printers in the lottery machines?
New York State lottery machines still use dot matrix printers.

I think New Jersey ones do too.

[appleye1]

New York State lottery machines still use dot matrix printers.

I think New Jersey ones do too.

Most Virginia lottery machines still use dot-matrix too I think.

[marksman]

I t thought it was interesting enough to watch again. My only real problem was the big kissing in the rain scene at the store buying the tickets. It was way too over the top.

[marksman]

Not very interesting, as for the spending before they get the money, I don't know any car dealer that would give you a car because you said you won the lottery.

Yeah but you don't need money to buy a car just credit. She is a nurse, so she makes a decent salary, and if she had perfect credit, she could walk in and buy that car.

[DougF]

It was OK. My wife really liked it, though I imagine she'd watch Luke Perry do informercials.

[busyba]

It was OK. My wife really liked it, though I imagine she'd watch Luke Perry do informercials.
I can't imagine she'd have to wait too much longer for that. :)

[Uncle Briggs]

The premise is excellent but it was a bit too soap opera for my taste.I would love to see this premise done in the comedy-drama format like Desperate Housewives.

[johnperkins21]

I didn't watch it and now I'm not really excited about getting to it after reading all of this. Just from seeing the previews I already had one thing nagging me. If they won $386 million it would be only about $250 million after taxes at most. Split 20 ways that's $12.5 million each. Pretty good haul, but there was a clip of one guy saying he was on his way to buy a football team. I'm pretty sure even arena league teams cost more than $12 million. I know it's nitpicking, but for some reason it bothered me.

If it's taken in one lump sum, the lottery comission takes half as lost revenue for the interest they would make. So, from $386 million, they'd get $193 million split 20 ways is $9.65 million each. Taxes won't apply until the following April, but they'd be in the highest tax bracket and owe $3.378 million to Uncle Sam. Leaving them a grand total of $6.272 million dollars. Much more than I have, but this is why so many lottery winners go bankrupt. They forget to think that they really only get 32.5% of the money if they take it all in cash.

[Deekeryu]

Can you calculate how much money they would make in the long run if they took instalments?


Oh, and pretty interesting show. I decided to watch the last half of it on the repeat on Sunday. Seemed like a pretty good concept. Money does create problems doesn't it? haha. Everyone wants a piece. The Sean storyline seems the most interesting. I wonder what his past is all about.

Loved how the helicopter came in and picked those people up out of their old home, the trailer. In your face, picky neighbors, haha.

[johnperkins21]

Can you calculate how much money they would make in the long run if they took instalments?

I think they changed the installments to 26 yearly payments now instead of the 20 it used to be. That would be about $742 thousand a year, for a total of $19.3 million. They'd still be in the highest tax bracket and owe $260 thousand a year in taxes, leaving them with ~$482 thousand a year or $12.5 million overall. Right around double the lump sum.

I would take the payments if it were me, but I'm only 31. My dad says he would take it in a lump sum because he doesn't plan on living another 26 years to collect it all. I don't think I can argue with that kind of logic. :p

[ScottE22]

The ending scene with Luke Perry "figuring out" that the winning ticket was the other guy's birthday struck me as odd... Not odd because he figured out it was a birthday, but odd because he at least appeared suspicious about it. How does he just assume that his wife bought that particular ticket and that it isn't just the numbers the guy wanted to play in the first place? I mean, I'd just figure, "Oh, look, what's-his-name played his birthday! Cool!"

And another thing ;) -- if you've ever played lotto with a group before, did everyone pick their own numbers, or did you just go the store and buy "25 'quick pick' tickets, please!" I would think having people pick their own numbers would open up the potential for some greedy jerk to say, "Hey - my numbers won - see ya suckers!!"

Having said all that, I'll keep watching because it's summer! I've also added the Treasure Hunters one and, for the wife, Big Brother All Stars. :rolleyes:

[unicorngoddess]

I would think having people pick their own numbers would open up the potential for some greedy jerk to say, "Hey - my numbers won - see ya suckers!!"



I had the same thought. I originally missed the first 5 minutes when it first aired but then saw it again on Sunday. It seems to me that she bought that ticket seperate from the original pool...and technically she used the teenager's dollar to buy that seperate ticket. You would think the lotto commision would see that ticket as an individual purchase seperate from the group's purchase. I wonder if that might bring up problems later on...

[Havana Brown]

Well, I wasn't sure if I wanted to try this and the so-so reviews here have convinced me to delete it without even bothering. Treasuer Hunters, anyone?


Give it a try, you may like. I did, but I may be the only one. :o

[marksman]

Something tells me that she passed on that possibility long ago when driving her, barely running, Pinto station wagon.

Don't mean to harp on this, but for fiscally responsible people that may not be the case at all. Just because she drives a beaten up car does not mean you have bad credit. It just means you don't wish to spend your money on a car. Perhaps she was saving for something else etc. Just buying something nicer because someone will give you credit for it is not always a very smart move.

So if she saved her money and had good credit, she could have easily gotten the car, or had the resources to get the car.

That being said, with all the holes in this story, I am not willing to defend any of this to the death.

[appleye1]

Don't mean to harp on this, but for fiscally responsible people that may not be the case at all. Just because she drives a beaten up car does not mean you have bad credit. It just means you don't wish to spend your money on a car. Perhaps she was saving for something else etc. Just buying something nicer because someone will give you credit for it is not always a very smart move.

I was like that. Up until my 40s although I could easily have bought new cars, I preferred to drive old clunkers. I was usually able to keep them going myself and didn't have to pay too much for repairs. I was never one to attach much status to what type of car someone drove. And I just hated, hated the idea of having a car payment.

But then in my early 40s I decided what the hell, I buy everything else on credit, why not a car? Haven't been without a car payment since. :(

[KRS]

To add to the list of errors/problems with the pilot, I am pretty sure that you wouldn't legally be allowed to land a helicopter in a trailer park like that.

As for the ex-con, since he was friends with some of the other winners, it would clearly make more sense for him to approach one of them about his situation, rather than a lawyer of all people. It's not like their scribbled list of names is a binding document - why would he have to come forward at all?