Second Chance

I was suprised to stumble across this show. I remember when it was originally on, considering that I was only 9 years old at the time says a whole lot. The basic plot was that there was a town called second chance where people could move to who wanted a second shot in life. Racism was not allowed, and I remember there was an incident where one of the residents made a racist remark and another took umbrage. I remember that it was a little over my head at the time, but enjoyable all the same. I also remember at the time my family watched it because it had "colored people" on it.

So, the story is about a successful stockbroker who is miserable and he buys a ghost town in Nevada and turns it into a community for folks deserving a second chance. Nope...doesn't sound the least bit ridiculous or contrived. No, wait, it sounds like a textbook example of ridiculous AND contrived!! Talk about starting off a movie with a huge strike against it!!! Is Brian Keith (the stockbroker) able to salvage a decent movie out of this mess of a story idea?

The town grows surprisingly fast (I'm not sure HOW) and it's peopled with a motley group of weirdos...such as a sex pervert therapist, an ex-football player, an ex-con, a crazed nut of a newspaper man and more. Most of these folks seem like caricatures instead of real people. This, combined with the embarrassing 'rap session' is reason enough to skip this dopey flick. Generally, I like installments of "The ABC Movie of the Week", but this one is really not worth your time unless you like terrible films.

Apparently someone thought this would be a great idea for a TV series. The fact that the series was never made certainly comes as no surprise to me or ANYONE who watched the film. I think the idea MIGHT have worked if it had been more serious and the characters been less annoying. But as is, it's pretty dippy.