User:Charles M. Fraser

Charles M. Fraser added a third paragraph to the Wikipedia entry for the CBS television series Double Rush. This is his premier week review.

DIFFERENT SPOKES Total TV Magazine Dec. 31, 1994

Lovers of actor Robert Pastorelli’s character Eldin, of Murphy Brown, will appreciate Pastorelli’s new starring vehicle, Double Rush. As Johnny Verona, owner of a bicycle-messenger service, Pastorelli now shares his sage advice with Manhattan messengers while it’s the couriers who paint murals on Verona’s walls. Johnny, like everyone else who ever messengered, has an end-of-my-rope-and took-up-bike-messengering tale. Two steps from stardom, he quit rock ‘n’ roll when promoters wanted just him and not the band. Walking New York’s frantic streets, Verona saw a guitar once owned by Jimi Hendrix and resolved to buy it earning money on a bike, which led to owning his own company. Bike messengering itself grew out of Manhattan’s need to move packages quickly through systematically designed but thoroughly congested streets. The incentive of receiving a percentage on every package carried created a sport in which, as in other athletics, you compete with yourself. Like baseball players, couriers are only as good as their next run. “Double rush” refers to the extra charge clients pay for direct service. Otherwise, couriers carry many packages at a time to make a decent wage. I’ve seen irresponsible aggression from every vehicle, at any speed. When a messenger is at fault, the standard explanation among couriers is: rookie. The bike-messenger subculture thrives in many cities. In London more than 300 couriers competed at last year’s World Bike Messenger Championships. “Big City Bike Messengers,” a 1986 National Geographic Explorer documentary, compared couriers to the Pony Express riders of 1860. The Pony riders, replaced by the telegraph, lasted a year and a half, while bike messengers have lasted since 1969. Prairie air was better, but a 1989 study showed that by breathing harder, couriers are less affected by Manhattan’s high-rise confined air. In Double Rush’s premiere, idealism prevents Johnny from selling out to a competitor, again deferring to his dream of owning a rock club. Actor Richard Portnow, as the cynical adversary, comes across as a wonderfully animated Barry Diller of delivery systems. Their quaint rivalry leads to a race for a new client’s business. Double Rush is a harmonious confrontation between the Woodstock and X generations. Instead of hearing Murphy Brown speaking from a public stage, we’re confidantes to Johnny’s gathering his group around as Alex did on Taxi. Unlike Louie DePalma, Double Rush’s Barkley (Sam Lloyd) is a glued-to-his-seat dispatcher with a “What pressure?” personality that implies he’s heard it all. As Leo, Adam Goldberg represents the Xers. His stare reminds me of a young cyclist who, during my days as a top rider, thought I was in the way of his share of the lion’s work. I held my position as my body allowed – every generation’s story. David Arquette, as Hunter, represents Verona’s company in the premiere’s big race. He and his opponent, dressed like soldiers in Star Wars, roll through Hollywood’s back-lot sidewalks like BMX trick riders on an L.A. beach. The cartoonish competition, as in 1986’s Quicksilver, doesn’t come close to the car chase in Bullitt that producers aspire to re-create. Veteran couriers will cringe at seeing the sidewalk used so recklessly. So far, only the sitcom’s intro shows what it’s like to surf Manhattan on a bicycle. Civilians can attest to the city’s dangerous traffic, which couriers defy daily to survive. I’ve had great hopes for Double Rush producer Diane English ever since Murphy Brown, on a bike, tried getting an interview by chasing President Bush. For me English’s new show may be Eldin’s mural we didn’t get to see.