''Scoundrels'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on the ABC network. It is based on the New Zealand TV series ''Outrageous Fortune''. The one-hour comedy-drama premiered on Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 9 pm. The eight-episode run ended on August 15, 2010.

Plot

Cheryl West is a middle-aged woman with four children: twin brothers Logan and Cal, and daughters Heather, an aspiring model and Hope, the youngest and an aspiring filmmaker. After Cheryl's career criminal husband Wolf is sentenced to five years in prison, Cheryl forces her family to quit its criminal activities. However, even from jail, Wolf interferes with her attempts to reform their family.

Cast

Virginia Madsen Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pr ...

as Cheryl West *

David James Elliott David James Elliott (born September 21, 1960) is a Canadian actor who was the star of the series '' JAG'', playing lead character Harmon Rabb Jr. from 1995 to 2005. Early life Elliott was born David William Smith on September 21, 1960, in Milton ...

as Wolfgang "Wolf" West * Patrick Flueger as Logan and Calvin "Cal" West (twins) *

Leven Rambin Leven Rambin is an American actress. She is known for playing look-alike half-sisters Lily Montgomery and Ava Benton on '' All My Children'', and for her recurring roles on ''Grey's Anatomy'' and '' Gone'', as well as '' Terminator: The Sarah Co ...

as Heather West *

Vanessa Marano Vanessa Nicole Marano (born October 31, 1992) is an American actress. She has starred in television movies and had recurring roles in such series as ''Without a Trace'', ''Gilmore Girls'', ''Ghost Whisperer'', '' Scoundrels'', ''Grey's Anatomy'' ...

as Hope West *

Carlos Bernard Carlos Bernard Papierski (born October 12, 1962) is an American actor and director, best known for his role as Tony Almeida in '' 24'', which he played from 2001 to 2006, and then reprised again in 2009, 2014 in '' 24: Solitary'' and 2017 in ' ...

as Sergeant Mack

Development and production

The series is based on the New Zealand TV series ''Outrageous Fortune'', which was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang. (See also "Honest" starring Amanda Redman - a UK version of the New Zealand series which transmitted on ITV in 2008.) Lyn Greene and Richard Levine wrote the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

of ''Scoundrels'' for American television, and they serve as the series

show runner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

s. ABC

green-lit To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

the series in January 2010 with an eight episode order. Madsen was cast in early February, followed by Flueger. Rambin came on board in late February, along with

Neal McDonough Neal McDonough (born February 13, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' (2001), Deputy District Attorney David McNorris on ''Boomtown'' (2002–20 ...

, who was originally cast as Wolf West. Filming began March 16, 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Three days into the shoot, McDonough was replaced by David James Elliot due to McDonough's strict religious beliefs and refusal to film sex scenes. This was ABC's second attempt at reformatting ''Outrageous Fortune'' for an American audience. In 2008, a pilot named '' Good Behavior'' wasn't picked up by the network.

Reception

The series pilot "And Jill Came Tumbling After" received mixed reviews with ''The Boston Herald'' claiming the show was "wicked fun" and praised the show's cast. A reviewer from ''The Boston Globe'' was quoted to say "Not a single one of the characters were funny enough, or touching enough, to make me want to see more of them. If the Wests were thrown in jail, I’d be tempted to throw away the key." On the review collaboration site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, ''Scoundrels'' currently holds 56% (mixed or average) based on 18 critic reviews. The show's second episode ''Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'' got overall a better response than the pilot with it earning positive reviews. TV Fanatic gave the episode 3/5 saying "the episode was an improvement on the pilot, with the characters developing and the show overall finding its tone and footing a bit." and "there were decent dramatic moments and good laughs in “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary."

Cancellation

On October 24, 2010 it was revealed on ABC's Twitter page that ''Scoundrels'' would not be returning for another season.

Episodes

Ratings

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Weekly ratings

Seasonal ratings

Canadian ratings

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1595860, Scoundrels 2010s American drama television series 2010 American television series debuts 2010 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming American television series based on New Zealand television series English-language television shows Television series by South Pacific Pictures Television series by ABC Studios