City

I went to a test showing of a new pilot of a different show, and an episode of this was shown afterwards. They said it was canceled, even though it got very good ratings (top 10), because the lead actress wanted a pay raise, but she was thinking of revisiting the show. I had never heard of the show before, so at least the first part rang true. The second part was probably a lie. My guess: This show is used as a "control" to set the audience's overall mood for the new show they are actually testing. I found this show amusing (better than the pilot they were actually testing), and, judging from the audience's reaction, the rest of the test audience did too. So, they used this as a show that they knew usually got a good score (but one almost nobody had ever heard of), just in case they got an audience that was happened to be extra grumpy the day they tested. Judging from the first comment listed for this show, it's clear they have been doing this since at least 1999.

If you saw this (especially if you saw it with SOULMATES), you were being tested for the products in the commercials. You likely filled out a survey on several products, then were shown the TV shows under the lie that your reviews would be used in the production of the shows or future shows. They told you that you would see commercials so the experience would be the same as it was when you watch the shows at home. After the shows were finished, you had a second survey of the products. This was to see if the ads had any effect and if you changed your results.

NOTHING about this has ANYTHING to do with these TV shows. It's a marketing scam to get you to watch the ads and test their effectiveness.

DON'T waste your time on this nonsense.

BTW, SOULMATES (a drama) was funnier than THE CITY.

I thought she looked young in this show. I just saw this at a test screening last weekend. Apparently, like other audiences, the majority loved this show. I wrote in my critique that it was reminiscent of other workplace sitcoms such as Night Court, Barney Miller & WKRP (i.e. straightman, or in this case, straightwoman, surrounded by a cast of oddball characters). The episode I saw was about Valerie's character trying to secure funds to fix a mess of a bulldozed cemetery sending coffins down a hillside. A secondary plot was about citizens submitting new "theme songs" for the city. If the TV Preview people were just testing the appeal of Ms. Harper & not necessarily this show, they just need to look at Seinfeld's supporting cast and check out their success post-Seinfeld.

Years ago, my mom and I went to see a screening of "potential" pilots and when this show came on I knew right away we were scammed. They didn't say Valerie Harper was planning on coming back. They said they were pilots of shows that could air soon. The second show didn't even have her in it. I knew these shows were decades old and didn't have a chance to air. It was very obvious that we were there just for the commercials, which were very boring. They weren't even clever commercials like we see today. Also, there were far more questions about the commercials than the shows and they gave away a basket of household items with popular brands.

But, in all retrospect, I would like to see Valerie Harper make it on TV again. It's a shame they use her pilot to hawk products to people and give us hope she might be back on the air.

From what I've read, most of the people who have seen this show have seen it at some kind of audience testing session...which is where I saw it tonight. We were told it was shot 12 years ago and they wanted to know what we thought of Valerie Harper, because perhaps they'd come up with another show for her. However, all the questions on the audience survey were about how we liked the characters and the show itself. I can only imagine they're using this old show to weed out audiences for future surveys.

As for the show itself, it had a strong supporting cast, but conceptually,"Spin City" has been there already. As for Valarie Harper, she's fine. A sitcom perenial. Whatever the case, she'll be back in something.