I Love The Show, Key West

[mykeywesttv]

What if they had a reunion show

Unfortunately the TV series Key West died before it’s time.  Only 13 episodes before Fox pulled the plug on the series which had great potential.  The time slot that Fox put the show into was facing one of the largest viewed sitcoms and that was Roseanne.  Key West did not stand a chance against such a show.  So it died an unnatural and unwarranted death.

What if they brought the show back?  How would it fair?

Just for fun, let’s say that they did indeed bring the show back with the original cast.  Unfortunately two of the members have passed on, but they can still be part of the show.  Follow and I’ll give an idea or at least my vision.

First is Seamus, now he is the editor and publisher of The Meteor.  Hanging on the wall are portraits of two of his influencers.  One is Ernest Hemingway who Seamus idolized and right next to that is a portrait of Roosevelt ‘King’ Cole his mentor.  Even though Ivory Ocean who played Cole in the original series passed on in 2011, can be written into the new show as Cole passing on yet remains as watching over Seamus from above.

Next is Jojo Nabuli the lovable Rastafarian who has not changed much.  Still living life to it’s fullest and being the best friend of Seamus.

Sheriff Cody is still the Sheriff of Key West keeping things in order with his sense of fair play and Zen.

Gumbo has expanded his bar to a larger location still with dancing girls in skimpy outfits.  His favorite pet, ‘Tickle Pink’ is older but still with him.  Alligators can live up to and sometimes exceeding 70 years old so it would not be unreasonable that Tickle was still there.  And like in the original series, Gumbo’s is a favorite hang out.

Mayor Chaucy has made it to the Governor of Florida but still makes Key West her home.  In fact when she is not in Tallahassee the capital of Florida, she is in Key West and has an office there.

The lovely Savannah has retired from being a prostitute and now runs a business consulting firm but will still take on a few private clients from time to time, if you know what I mean.

Flame now owns a dance studio and teaches girls the art of exotic dancing.  In  episode two, Seamus asked her what would she like to do and she said study ballet.   Not only does she teach exotic dancing, but ballet as well.

Rikki has a successful retail establishment on Duval Street.  She is just as upbeat and playful as ever.

Fig still works at The Meteor and is the lead reporter and Seamus’s second in command of the paper.

Hector, played by Geno Silva passed on in 2020, would have his legacy continue with a son or daughter who now runs the business.  In the first or pilot episode we see that Hector has a son with special needs, so the child that takes over the business was born after the special son.

Dr. Clarke and Seamus have gotten married to each other since there was the sexual tension between the two in earlier episodes.  Dr. Clarke still runs the Atlantic Dolphin Research Center and advocates for dolphins.

Hunter Fisher still has a successful charter boat business taking tourists fishing.

Annie and Isadora are now the personal assistants to Chaucy.

From here numerous story lines can be written for the original cast using current events.  It could make for a great show once again. 

But in reality that would most likely never happen.  Not only have two of the actors passed on, but the creator of the show, David Beaird and executive producer Richard Berg have both passed on as well.  David in 2019 and Richard in 2009.

According to IMDB,there have been four of the actors who have not acted in several years and it can be assumed that they retired from it.  Starting with Joy Hawkins who played ‘Annie’ has not acted since 1993, Lara Piper who played ‘Rikki’ has not acted since 1995, Michael Covert who played ‘Hunter’ has not acted since 2012 and most recently Leland Crooke who portrayed ‘Gumbo’ has not acted since 2016.

The last executive producer, Allan Marcil is now teaching at a college and the last film he produced was in 2000.

So even if a reboot or a reunion show was conceived it is doubtful that those people and the rest of the cast would be interested, but you never know.

Then again, a reunion show is nothing more than a pipe dream of mine.

Long Live the Conch Republic

[mykeywesttv]

Next to M*A*S*H possibly one of the best shows was ‘Key West’ that aired on Fox in 1993 created by David Beaird d2019.  Executive producers were David Beaird, Richard Berg d2009, Allan Marcil.  Key West is about a factory worker Seamus O’Neill played by Fisher Stevens who won a million dollars on the New Jersey Lottery on March 26, 1992 (Thur).  O’Neill an aspiring author who idolizes Ernest Hemingway quits his factory job and drives to Key West to pursue his dream of being a writer.

Once there he learns that he is flat broke for the winnings have been seized for back taxes and law suits.  O’Neill begs for a job at the local newspaper the Key West Meteor run by Roosevelt ‘King’ Cole played by Ivory Ocean d2011.  Cole offers O’Neill a job sweeping floors for $4 an hour and O’Neill said that was good money.  The wage offered was .25 below the Florida minimum wage of 4.25 and hour in 1992.

King Cole was the blind and demanding publisher of the Meteor who said secretly that O’Neill had more talent in his little finger than the rest of the office but he also indicated the O’Neill was raw unbridled talent the needed to be harnessed and molded.

Of course there was no time line as to when this all transpired.  All we can do is surmise that the story was based in 1992 – 1993.  First O’Neill won the lottery in 1992 and was established living in Key West when hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. 

O’Neill is befriended by several locals, JoJo Nabuli a laid back free spirited Rastafarian played by Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson, Savanna Sumner a high class prostitute with a head for business and a heart of gold played by Jennifer Tilly, Paul “Gumbo” Beausoleil the owner of a bar on the water front called ‘Gumbos’ played by Leland Crooke.  Sherriff Cody Jefferson who spent time in a Buddhist monastery and brought his beliefs in Zen to the job played by Brian Thompson.  In the show Cody was the law enforcement in Key West but in reality the Sherriff runs the Sherriff’s Department for Monroe County where Key West is located.  Key West’s police department is run by the chief of the department. It is the KW PD that does the law enforcement.

Then there was Rikki a dancer that worked at Gumbo’s Bar and Grill played by Lara Piper who lived next door to O’Neill, Mayor Chaucy Caldwell who is a recovering alcoholic with her hands full played by Denise Crosby, Dr. Reilly Clark who ran the Atlantic Dolphin Research played by Kim Meyers, Fig who worked with O’Neill at the Meteor played by Maria Canals-Barrera, Flame who was a dancer at Gumbo’s played by Jenna Grodsky.

Not everyone in the show were the shining stars of the island for there was Hector Allegria a gangster wannabe who was a land developer that owned a lot of properties in Key West and was always expanding his empire played by Geno Silva d2020.

The show is a light hearted comedy /drama where O’Neill finds himself in all kinds of dilemma’s as well as the rest of the cast.  I need to point out that there was nothing violent, degrading, or sexual in any of the scenes.  Even in regards to Savannah the prostitute.  There is one scene in the beginning of the show where Flame, one of the dancing girls in Gumbo’s takes off her top but all you see is her back.  Gumbo yells at her to put the top back on.  That probably was the ‘dirtiest’ scene in the entire series.

The show was not only set in Key West but was filmed there as well for in many scenes you will see local establishments and neighborhoods.  In a later article, I tried to locate as many of the filming locations as possible.

As an example in the opening credits is a shot of the world famous Sloppy Joe’s bar where Hemmingway hung out.  Speaking of which in the first show O’Neill passes the Hemmingway house and wanted to kiss the ground.  In the episode ‘Act of God’ where hurricane Andrew was about to hit Florida, featured a cameo with ‘Captain’ Tony Tarracino himself of Captain Tony’s Saloon.  An interesting note, Captain Tony’s is the original location where Sloppy Joe’s was when Hemmingway hung out there.

In episode 5 at 13:07 O’Neill gets a package from home addressed to him at the Meteor.  In episode 4 at 25:21 we see an exterior shot of the Meteor as well as in episode 9 at 9:36.  Considering that in many TV shows and movies, addresses are generally made up unless it is a significant landmark like ‘1 PP’ in Blue Bloods.  I took the address from the package that O’Neill received and put that into Google Earth and it brought me to the exact building that was used as the exterior shots for the Meteor.

Speaking of locations, I was able to drill down to where Gumbo’s Bar was located, Jojo’s home that was used in episode 4, the old Court House on Greene Street which was featured in a few episodes, and the background that was used when O’Neill tried to catch a plane to get off the island in episode 7 when hurricane Andrew approached. 

A little historical note – hurricane Andrew was a Cat 5 storm in August 1992 and was the costliest hurricane recorded until Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

In a later article I am putting a chart with the latitude and longitude of the filming locations that I have found so far.  You can put those coordinates into Google Earth and see them when you go to Street View from Google Earth.

Error-Back to Jojo’s home, in a later episode, episode 8 his home was referred to as being in a house boat that was trashed in the hurricane.

Several of the streets in the show were not paved even where Gumbo’s was located.  Today all of the streets of Key are paved and where Gumbo’s was has grass in front of it.  Then again this is 29 years after the show aired.

There was a major error in the show that no one caught on.  In episode 10, “We The People” the Federal Government set up road blocks preventing people from leaving Key West until their cars were searched for illegal aliens and narcotics.  The truth is there was indeed a road block in April of 1982 but up further north of the merger where US1 and Card Sound Road meet on the mainland.  About 124 miles from Key West.  In the episode Mayor Caldwell and Sheriff Jefferson are involved with a federal agent at the road block.  The actual event was 11 years earlier than when the date of the Meteor was shown in episode 9 and 10 years earlier when O’Neill established himself in Key West.

The events of 1982 caused the formation of the Conch Republic which was highlighted in the show, even thou the timeline was incorrect.  But it made for an interesting episode.

The cast played off perfectly with each other and brought a sense of enjoyment to the viewers.  The series ran for only 13 shows not even a full season and was canceled suddenly without any explanation.  I learned from Allan Marcil, one of the producers that the show was aired by Fox at the same time as Rosanne which was a heavy hitter in the broadcast industry.  So Key West did not stand a chance of succeeding and was given a death sentence before the first season was over.

This is not new for Fox for they did the same thing with the western sci-fi show, ‘Firefly’ which I enjoyed as well.

Key West is a fabulous look at a fictional life being based and filmed in paradise. It is a shame that Fox and Viacom pulled the plug way too early on the show for it had great potential.  Maybe if it was shown on CBS, NBC or ABC would have given it a fighting chance for longevity. 

As I understand the show still lives and is shown weekly at the Green Parrot Bar on Whitehead Street in Key West.  I just hope their copies are in better condition than the ones I’ve seen on the internet.

In closing, Long Live The Conch Republic.