S01.E01: An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere

[AntFTW]

Quote

Indian immigrant Somen "Steve" Banerjee spends his days working at a gas station and his nights dreaming of being the next Hugh Hefner. A chance encounter with a Playboy centerfold and her slick promoter husband sends him and his business plan in an unexpected new direction.

Air date: November 22, 2022

[peridot]

I decided to watch this show on a whim, and I'm glad I did. 

I couldn't believe the guys in the beginning had the nerve to greet Somen and then decide to walk out the door.  I thought they were regulars at first.  I hated seeing their condescension and racism, I hope they got the guys on camera.  I don't think I could eat expired sandwiches for five years, just to save money. 

I hardly recognized Dan Stevens with those dark contacts.  I didn't realize that he was married to the Playboy bunny.  I hated that he couldn't even try to be happy for her.

I thought this would be a dramedy, but I wasn't expecting that ending. 

[SeanC]

The ending took me by surprise insofar as I'm much more familiar with Dorothy Stratten's story versus Banerjee's, so I wasn't expecting that to happen because the show took some pretty significant liberties with how they got to that point. But this is a series about Banerjee, not her and Paul, so that makes some sense from a dramatic perspective.

Bits of Paul's time emceeing are depicted in Bob Fosse's film Star 80 (the mud wrestling, in particular), but I don't believe the Chippendales connection is ever raised there.

[MerBearStare]

I have to say, I'm not really a fan of Nicola Peltz, but I thought she did a good job here. Even though the ending was accurate, the show sped the timeline up by a lot. I would have liked to see her and Dan Stevens (who I didn't even know was in this until I looked on IMDB) in at least one more episode. 

[chocolatine]

I ended up reading the Dorothy Stratten story after this episode and now I really wish *that* had been the show.

Spoiler

Apparently, she did have an affair with Peter Bogdanovic like Paul had predicted, and shortly before she was murdered she separated from Paul to be with Peter. Then, after her death, Peter ended up marrying her younger sister. 🤯

I do enjoy Kumail Nanjiani in this, and Murray Bartlett is fantastic as the choreographer. It's also funny to see how rough around the edges the show was when it started out. The men weren't all in great shape, and they were still wearing regular pants that must have been very awkward to take off in a "sexy" way. I wonder when they started using Velcro pants (and whether it was Steve's idea or someone else's).

2 hours ago, peridot said:

I hardly recognized Dan Stevens with those dark contacts.

I kept thinking "this guy looks vaguely familiar, am I supposed to recognize him?" Not only did the dark contacts and hair throw me off, but he's also much thinner than I remember from Downton Abbey.

[SeanC]

7 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I ended up reading the Dorothy Stratten story after this episode and now I really wish *that* had been the show.

Star 80, which I mentioned above, is an excellent film if you’re interested in Stratten.

[pasdetrois]

I hated that they focused so much on Dorothy and Paul's story, which has been told multiple times already, in print, film and online. I think it was used for the shock factor, when I'd prefer that the focus be on Banerjee.

[AntFTW]

13 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I ended up reading the Dorothy Stratten story after this episode and now I really wish *that* had been the show.

Before watching this, I had zero clue who Dorothy Stratton was. I'm just starting to dig in and read about her now.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Never read anything on Steve Banerjee and Nick De Noia, so I went in totally clueless.

I like it. I enjoy this 1st episode of WTC and its catchy SOUNDTRACK.

🎵 Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight... 🎵

Quote

"The male body is beautiful."

"Women get horny. We're every bit as lustful."

- Dorothy Stratten

Quote

"You can't just engage a woman's body, you gotta engage her mind. Women aren't like men. They want a story. You gotta weave them a fairy tale."

- Nick De Noia

Edited November 23, 2022 by SnazzyDaisy

[Scarlett45]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:31 AM, pasdetrois said:

I hated that they focused so much on Dorothy and Paul's story, which has been told multiple times already, in print, film and online. I think it was used for the shock factor, when I'd prefer that the focus be on Banerjee.

I understand what you’re saying. I want to get more of Banerjee in future episodes. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I hated that they focused so much on Dorothy and Paul's story, which has been told multiple times already, in print, film and online. I think it was used for the shock factor, when I'd prefer that the focus be on Banerjee.

I know next to nothing about the Chippendales, so I had no idea Dorothy Stratten and Paul were involved in its origins until I watched this. I was pretty surprised and intrigued by it so I'm glad they included it. I don't know how accurate it was, there is no mention of Chippendales in Stratten's Wikipedia entry*, but there is a mention of her in the Chippendales entry so did apparently have something to do with the "collar and cuffs" look the dancers adopted. 

I also had no idea that was Dan Stevens playing Paul. Talk about a chameleon. 

I didn't really have any intention of watching this, but Kumal Nanjiana is been on every podcast I listen to promoting it, so I almost couldn't get away from it. Good casting though, I really like Annaleigh Ashford.

*BTW - do not read the Wikipedia page on Chippendales if you don't want to be spoiled. I was fairly gobsmacked by what I read there.

Edited November 28, 2022 by iMonrey

[juliet73]

I've only watched the first episode and I like it so far.  However, I'm not looking forward to seeing Juliette Lewis...her voice grates and her "acting" is awful, IMO.

I am familiar with Dorothy Stratten's story, but I didn't realize she and her horrible husband were part of Chippendales in the beginning.  

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, juliet73 said:

I've only watched the first episode and I like it so far.  However, I'm not looking forward to seeing Juliette Lewis...her voice grates and her "acting" is awful, IMO.

I am familiar with Dorothy Stratten's story, but I didn't realize she and her horrible husband were part of Chippendales in the beginning.  

Same here. I was shocked to see the very familiar Dorothy Stratten story having any part in this. 

[HunterHunted]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:31 AM, pasdetrois said:

I hated that they focused so much on Dorothy and Paul's story, which has been told multiple times already, in print, film and online. I think it was used for the shock factor, when I'd prefer that the focus be on Banerjee.

The idea of making it a male strip club really was all Paul's idea. It really was Dorothy's idea to have the guys wear the cuffs and collars. However, the name change was because the club was filled with reproduction Chippendale chairs. I actually wished they had stretched some of the club founding out because Steve Banerjee and Bruce Nahin (the business partner who does not seem to be in this show) had already started to push Paul out of the club. Banerjee and Nahin had already put the guys in costumes and I think they may have even hired a regular MC. Paul had been banned from the Playboy Mansion. Dorothy had left him for Bogdanovich. And Chippendales was still giving him a percentage of the door, but didn't want him there and didn't want his input. Nick De Noia didn't work for Chippendales at the time and he didn't fire Paul. Nick De Noia was hired after Paul raped and murdered Dorothy and then killed himself.

If the show had stretched the founding out, it would have helped to better explain why Banerjee and Nahin would go on to hire Nick De Noia. The business partners were already heading in that direction and why they'd give Nick a lot of control over the shows. It also would have help emphasize Paul's emotional head space. He discovered Dorothy, but she was leaving him behind. He helped create Chippendales, but they didn't want him either.