Hot on HuffPost TV:

EDITION: U.S.

CA Canada US United States UK United Kingdom

Short-Lived Shows: Lucky

by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 9th 2005 7:59PM

John Corbett - Lucky Oh, how I miss this show. If I were to pick three or four shows from the past five or so years that I truly miss, Lucky would be near or at the top.

John Corbett starred as Michael "Lucky" Linklatter, a gambling addict living in Las Vegas (probably not the best place to live with such a problem), trying to cope with the suicide of his wife, break his gambling habit, and possibly get together with another gambling addict, Theresa (Ever Carradine). He's helped by buddies Vinny and Mutha, and sorta helped/sorta threatened by tough guy hood Joey Legs (Dan Hedaya).

It's really hard to describe this show, and that's probably one of the things that made it so appealing. It had a gritty realism (filming with handheld cameras on location in Vegas in many scenes certainly helped), but that realism and seriousness was offset by the wacky antics of Vinny and Mutha and the problems that Lucky found himself in week after week. This show didn't last too long at all, just thirteen episodes, but those episodes show a really entertaining, original, quirky show - one that could almost be called "independent filmmaking" for the way it looked and felt.

I really don't know why FX didn't stick with this show. It seems like a natural with their schedule. Maybe it was a few years before its time.

Here's an episode guide.

Link Squad

Kim Kardashian and Hollywood's All-Time Shortest Marriages [The Hollywood Reporter]
Celebrities Say the Dumbest Things [Zap2It]
TV's Most Obvious Cliches [TV Guide]
Celebrity Bikini Body Secrets [Wetpaint]
Who Is Your Favorite ‘Glee’ Couple? [BuddyTV]
Animated TV Series That Deserve a Comeback [Television Without Pity]
Best and Worst Nudity of 2011 [EW]
TV’s Most Annoying Characters [Vulture]
Craziest Fan Attacks in Sports [Bleacher Report]

Add a Comment

Sign in »

4 Comments

Filter by:

Margaret Calvert

I, too, enjoyed this show and watched it every week. Of course, after his time on SATC, it was easy to like anything John did. He's a favorite of mine and I was glad to see him get his own show. I'm just sorry it didn't last longer. It was a little whacky and I liked that element of the show.

December 12 2005 at 10:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

C R

A bit of TV trivia: The woman who played Lucky's wife (pre-suicide) was "where have I seen her before" actress Stacey Scowley. She was, at that time, appearing in several commercials and may look familiar to some of you, particularly from the 2002 Kia Spectra commercial where she cycled through several poorly chosen boyfriends. The video is available at her website: http://www.scowley.com

December 10 2005 at 2:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jason

Two "Short-Lived"'s in a row...man... Nowhere Man, and now this. You guys are making my heart ache reminding me of these great shows!!! This show really was a genre-bending show, and it seemed ridiculous to me at the time that FX would cancel it considering the significant amount of critical acclaim it got (not to mention an Emmy nod). And yet now it seems like we can't even get a DVD set of this! Come on Shout! Factory, I'm expecting you to pick up the ball and run with this...

December 10 2005 at 4:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jessica

I thought I was the only person who watched and loved this show. I only gave it a chance because I knew John Corbett from Sex and the City, but I wound up liking the show. I think it was ahead of its time since it wasn't really a comedy or a drama. It was difficult to place it in a specific genre.

December 09 2005 at 11:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply