Central Park West could have been (and was probably planned as) the one and only true heir of DYNASTY, with condign successors, especially for Fallon and Krystle, including a revived lily-pond-catfight now in a more public place -- a restaurant fountain. The leading ladies were lovely, especially (in that order) Lauren, Raquel, Mädchen, and Mariel. What was missing were hunks -- one Tom Verica is not enough -- and most of all a condign successor for Alexis,'cos there's only one Joan Collins. I don't want to be a bore, but IMDb forces me to fulfill their minimum of ten lines. Wait -- ten lines of something would have been something causing Carrie Fairchild's interest. Ten lines would have been a breakthrough for Mark Merrill's writers' block. Ten lines would have been -- wait, the minimum is done! May I add a line? Please, CBS, release this stepchild of yours.

I was a big fan of "Central Park West" and I was hoping it would go down in infamy with other great 90's shows like 90210 and Melrose Place, but instead it's one of those virtually-forgotten cult favorites like Models, Inc. I loved how this show tried to be so ambitious and over the top, sultry, sexy and bitchy. It was like the producers were trying to revamp "Dallas" for the 90's. Too bad it failed. Not once but twice. Even once it was reintroduced as "CPW" and it failed again. Michael Michele as Nikki Sheridan was my favorite character. At least she went on to star in successful shows like "ER". Even the star power of Mariel Hemingway, Lauren Hutton, and Raquel Welch couldn't revive this show. Too bad. It had so much potential and so many pretty faces.

Wild, sexy, innovative and sleek series from CBS that suffered in the ratings and finally folded after appearing sporadically from 1995-1996 and only completing 21 wicked episodes. "Central Park West" is all about rich and crazed socialites in New York City who were doing their best to get ahead ala pieces on a chess set to get more respect, more money, more fame and more power. The whole story centered around two young adult siblings (Madchen Amick and John Barrowman) and everyone connected to them. Amick was Dennis Rodman in a dress (no pun intended). She was unconventional, brash and oh so much fun to watch. Barrowman was a JFK, Jr. clone. He was nice, kind, handsome, loving and totally respectful (polar opposite of Amick). Mother Lauren Hutton and stepfather Ron Leibman (who was the power-player of the series) completed the dysfunctional family. Leibman was blackmailing Michael Michele into a torrid affair while Hutton found love with Gerald McRaney as time passed. Melissa Errico became Barrowman's love interest, but her motives were always unclear. Barrowman's best friend (Justin Lazard) had continuous money and woman woes while the ultra-erotic Kylie Travis steamed up the boob tube every time she came around. Even now-familiar names like Amanda Peet were regulars. The series struggled during its first season with Mariel Hemingway trying to take center-stage as a high-class publicist who had a husband who fell in lust with Amick. Soon though she was written out and players like McRaney, Travis and even Raquel Welch (another bombshell here) took over. It seemed that the show would survive with the changes, but constant schedule changes and terrible timing kept the program grounded. The soap opera age of the 1970s and 1980s (with "Dallas", "Knots Landing" and "Dynasty") had run its course by the mid-1990s and sadly that would be the fatal blow to "Central Park West". It is still fun to think back to what might have been. A hidden treasure that few, perhaps only myself, really cared about. 5 stars out of 5.

Central Park West is quite simply one of the best soaps ever and it was really cheap of CBS to cancel it after only 21 episodes. This was such a terrific, trendy and very well-acted show with some of the most intriguing storylines ever. All the actors did remarkable jobs, especially Raquel Welch. Another thing that is so great about CPW is that it wasn't so completely wild, stupid, idiotic and over the top like Melrose often was. It was just one season, yes, but what a season! CPW had sophistication, style and great lines. I'm just waiting for a similar and equally entertaining TV series to show up.