3 things we learned about Mike White’s forgotten first show ‘Pasadena’
When it comes to Mike White's TV credits that are not The White Lotus, most people would probably name the gone-too-soon Enlightened, his early work as a writer on Dawson's Creek and Freaks and Geeks, or even his reality stints on The Amazing Race (twice) and Survivor. But one that hardly ever comes up is Pasadena.
The Fox prime-time soap was the first series White created. Named after his California hometown, the show had the nascent marks of what everyone loves about The White Lotus now: a mysterious death, backstabbing, secrets, privileged white people, and even sexual tension between — yes — siblings. It starred Dana Delany as the matriarch of the wealthy Greeleys. After her daughter, Lily (Alison Lohman), witnesses a murder, family secrets are uncovered. The cast also included Martin Donovan, Balthazar Getty, Mark Valley, Christopher Marquette, and Natasha Gregson Wagner. Diane Keaton even directed the pilot. Pasadena got great reviews and premiered on a Friday night, Sept. 28, 2001, but it only aired four episodes before being pulled due to low ratings. The initial order of 13 episodes was produced, and the show only aired once in its entirety in the U.S. in 2005 on SoapNet. Though a DVD release was planned, it was never released on physical media. So, no, you cannot watch Pasadena anywhere. But you can watch a promo:
In a piece for Vanity Fair, Mark B. Perry (The Wonder Years, Law & Order, Picket Fences, Party of Five), who was brought in to serve as Pasadena's showrunner due to White's inexperience, remembers working with and quickly becoming impressed by White. Here are three things we learned about the Emmy winner's forgotten first baby.
1. The White and write stuff
Perry, who liked White "instant I met him," wrote the fourth episode, the first script not penned by White. The day after submitting his draft, White told him he loved the script but was going to rewrite it and every other script from the writers' room because "it's the only way" he knew how to do this. "The gist of the episode was still there, but the script was pure Mike, and it was clear the entire series was percolating in his brain in a way another writer couldn’t duplicate," Perry says of the rewrite. The writers' room was initially "demoralized" to hear their scripts would be rewritten, but White gave all the writers solo credit. "[T]hey were all assigned an episode for which they received sole 'written by' and full payment and residuals. It wasn't an ego thing for Mike; it was, as he'd said, the only process he knew. Added bonus? We got lifetime bragging rights about working on Mike's first show."
2. Network meddling
Pasadena was supposed to film in, well, Pasadena. But during pre-production, Fox decided filming would relocate to Vancouver due to costs. Relieved of his writing duties, Perry took on more of a producer role and "passionately defended keeping Pasadena in Pasadena." It did not work. Because the exteriors were a lost cause, focus turned to "salvaging what we could for the interiors." One day, White dispatched Perry to "Pasacouver" after the network took umbrage with the sets. "The network hates them. I think they want us to look like Dynasty or something. But don’t do that," White told Perry. Once there, Perry "huddled with the set designer and the art department and changed maybe one or two things noticeable enough so the execs would feel they had been heard, but still protecting what I thought was the spirit of Mike's vision."
The network notes didn't end there. In the second episode, Delany's character Catherine hooks up with a "decidedly odd-looking security guard" in a fitting room backed by "cheesy Muzak." "Words don’t do justice to how deliciously bizarre the scene was, as hilarious as it was unsettling, and all of us in the writers’ offices were sure it would be one of the show’s many “water cooler” moments (as we called them back in the day)," Perry writes. A Fox executive, however, hated it and maintained that a "smoking hot woman" like Delany would never have sex with a "weirdo." White and Perry tried to explain that was the point, but no dice. The network, of course, got its way, and the scene was reshot with a "studly security guard right out of Baywatch" with mainstream music piped in. "That was the day it became clear the network had postured about buying an 'edgy Mike White show,' but their cold feet suggested they secretly wanted 90210 meets Dallas," Perry says. "Mike rose to the occasion and walked the line between keeping the suits mollified while slipping a few things past them."
3. The mystery was wrapped up
In case you're wondering — and likely did not catch Pasadena on SoapNet in 2005 — White wrapped up the mystery in the 13th episode, "making the finished product a prototype for today’s streaming limited series," Perry writes. Perry was able to watch all 13 episodes after getting his hands on bootleg VHS copies back then. "My husband and I recently screened those 13 episodes (I’d found my VHS dubs while Swedish death cleaning), and all I can say is Mike's Pasadena deserves a hearty 'damn that was some good TV.' It also deserves a prominent mention as part of his artistic development. Like the early short stories of Truman Capote teased at glimmers of what was to come, Pasadena was ahead of its time and explored many of the uncomfortable themes that still permeate Mike's work."