Diner

This is the pilot for a proposed telly version of Barry Levinson's brilliant debut film "Diner"; the pilot version aired on CBS in August of 1983, and has recently been show on the TRIO channel, also.

This version had the same clever writing and decent ensemble acting of the movie, and only Paul Reiser returned for the telly version, playing the mooch "Modell". Mike Binder played "Eddie", James Spader played "Fenwick", the late Max Cantor played "Shrevie", and the oddly not credited (on www.IMDb.com) Michael Madsen took over for Mickey Rourke as the hair-dressing tough guy "Boogie".

Oddly enough, Eddie's wife "Elyse" figures in the pilot (played by sitcom veteran Alison La Placa), while she is actually never seen completely in the film, which seemed to show Eddie's ultimate terror at getting married.

The film "Diner" is one of my "desert island" films, I have always loved the movie, and the pilot version is also worth a look.

I must say that I'm a bit surprised to find a television show based on "Diner." This is a pilot that was filmed but never accepted by any television studios -- it's based on the obscure, but excellent, 1982 drama directed by Barry Levinson, which starred Mickey Rourke, Paul Reiser, Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern and Kevin Bacon.

This spin-off features Michael Madsen (Mr. Blonde from "Reservoir Dogs") as the Rourke character, Boogie. James Spader (who allegedly was a background dancer in the opening segment of the film itself) plays the Bacon character, Fenwick, and Paul Reiser is in fact the only actor to return to his role from the film! The DVD for "Diner" was surprisingly good (it contained special features and animated menus - pretty good for a $6 DVD made in the era of those cheap trailer-only DVDs!) but I really do wish they had put this on there.

I don't think the film was very successful financially when it came out and to this day it remains largely unknown (with only just over 3,000 votes on IMDb which isn't very high at all!). I highly recommend the film and my only regret about the DVD is that this wasn't included.