Double Rush

Robert Pasterelli had been a fixture in the cast of MURPHY BROWN as Eldin, the artistic house painter (and political liberal) who is painting Murphy's home room by room (each one with a special mural) and acting as her political and social conscience. Then, in 1995, his character was written out of MURPHY BROWN when Eldin suddenly gets a huge sum of money as a legacy, on the proviso of studying art in Europe and doing a certain amount of work. This was done because the producers and network planned a series for Pasterelli called DOUBLE RUSH. He owns a delivery service that works with skates and bicycles, and is barely holding it's own against larger competition in New York City.

One of the employees (the oldest one, nicknamed "the Kid") was Phil Leeds. Leeds had been one of the best scene stealing comedians in film and television for decades, and this one show was his only chance to show himself as a regular. And he did do well.

But the show was a flop. Bad time slot, and a lack of network pushing caused it to only last one season. Which was a sad because, if the show was not riotously funny, it had potential. Leeds died within three years. As for Pasterelli, he did return to MURPHY BROWN in it's final episodes, but his career really lost momentum. His personal life also got shattered by the somewhat mysterious drug death of his girlfriend, followed by his own death from an overdose a few years later.

This "6" is for both performers, who were really affective (especially Leeds) at their best.

Robert Pastorelli left "Murphy Brown" for this show, in which he played the owner of a struggling bike-messenger service. The cast was full of young up-and-comers, and the writing was decent. Pastorelli was better suited to his supporting role in MB than as the lead here; his offbeat charm is less well suited to a lead role. In any case, the show was doomed to a difficult time slot. One episode was entitled "The Show We Wrote the Day We Found Out We Were Going On Opposite Roseanne." Because of that, it lasted 12 weeks (with one episode going unaired).