Joe Pantoliano is not letting the canceled CBS drama Waterfront die an anonymous death.

Pantoliano and other members of the Waterfront crew, including the girl who plays his daughter on the show, showed up at the Tazza Cafe in Providence, RI the other night to show two episodes of the series for the crowd. The show was about the mayor of Providence and a lot of it was filmed on location. CBS pulled the series without even showing a single episode, saying it was too expensive and that there were creative differences.

But Pantoliano says its more than that, and uses as an example CBS' decision to put 3 Lbs in the slot vacated by the now-canceled Smith. 3 Lbs is a Paramount show. Paramount is owned by the same company that owns CBS, Viacom. Waterfront is a Warner Brothers show, and Pantoliano thinks that CBS wants to air one of their own shows instead of another show.

He wants to finish the episodes they were working on and show them to the public and see if they like it or not.

[via TV Tattle]

I know, I know, you're saying, Bob, what the hell is Waterfront?

It's (or it was) a new political drama starring Joe Pantoliano as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. The network ordered 13 episodes of the Warner Brothers show...but pulled the plug on the show before any of the episodes aired. The reason? CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said she was "unhappy with the show's creative direction."

Ouch. Since other Warner Brothers shows are doing either poorly or so-so (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Nine, The Class), this hasn't been a great fall for the studio.

I actually have a friend who worked on the show, so I'll try to get some info about it what happened.

(S01E9) Ecclesiastes 7:2: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, For that is the end of every man, and the living should take it to heart.

Now that Tommy has worked his way into the second most-important position in the legislature, the Speaker orders him to get a crucial vote on passing the budget. Naturally Tommy's mob ties (by blood anyway, to brother Michael) come into play. And, just as naturally, the vote he needs this time comes from the one representative that last week called Tommy's installation as new party Whip what it was: ward politics at its worst.

This episode is frought with death and betrayal which should have made for some compelling television, but didn't work for me. The past couple episodes have been so good that I found myself expecting more. Well, we do get more, but it's just more of the same. Another dirty deal by Tommy, another attempt at reform and backslide by Eileen, another attempt (and success) by the mob characters to solve problems with violence or cash.