666 Park Avenue

About the show

666 Park Avenue was first aired on ABC in America from September 2012 and here in the UK on ITV2 from 19^th February. However, on 16^th November, the show had been cancelled meaning there is only one season.

Plot

A young couple (Jane and Henry) trying to make it in New York are hired as the new managers of The Drake, a luxurious apartment building on 666 Park Avenue. The Drake is owned by the mysterious Gavin Doran and his wide Olivia, who have more secrets than you can count on one hand. Each episode follows the lives of a different resident of The Drake, showing how just by living there, all of their dreams can come true. At the same time Jane and Henry are trying to sort their own lives out but Jane being the more active manager begins to notice that something is wrong. This is a show about mystery, secrets and desire.

Main Cast

Rachael Taylor as Jane Van Veen

Dave Annable as Henry Martin

Robert Buckley as Brian Leonard

Mercedes Masohn as Louise Leonard

Helena Mattsson as Alexis Blume

Erik Palladino as Tony DeMeo

Samantha Logan as Nona Clark

Vanessa Williams as Olivia Doran

Terry O'Quinn as Gavin Doran

What I thought

With many of the shows I usually watch having finished completely or the new season not being shown yet, I was desperate for something new and different. When I saw the advert for 666 Park Avenue, I was instantly intrigued. The adverts made it looks really creepy, which is something I love in a TV show so I began watching it right away.

Another thing that made me watch this was the cast. As owners of The Drake, Terry O’Quinn and Vanessa Williams star as Gavin and Olivia Doran. O’Quinn is probably best known for playing John Locke in Lost while Williams is known for her role in Ugly Betty. These are two actors who I have loved in other things and I was hoping for great things from them… and they didn’t disappoint. As characters, Gavin and Olivia don’t give much away at all over the course of the series with the exception of the last few episodes. They are very secretive which make them really interesting and mysterious at the same time. O’Quinn has a real knack for playing a character who isn’t at all what he seems and I think he shined in this role.

Rachael Taylor and Dave Annable play Jane and Henry, the new managers of The Drake. While I had not seen either in anything before, I liked them both. In comparison to Gavin and Olivia, these two are a lovely, likeable couple who the audience will be able to relate to. They’re just starting out in New York, with Henry wanting to work in politics and Jane being a qualified architect. What I really enjoyed about watching these two characters is the contrast between them and the Dorans. There is a lot of interaction between the two couples and I loved how different they were from one another. Although a large amount of plot focuses of Henry and his political career, it was Jane’s plot line which was the best for me. She is the one really running The Drake and is the one that really sees what things are like there.

The other residents of The Drake are the ones who show what really going on and really, are what the show is all about. As I said in the synopsis, dreams are granted at The Drake, courtesy of Gavin Doran. It is never clear how or why he is able to do these things but any character who accepts his help don’t really do so well. Yes, their dreams are fulfilled but there are also consequences that come with this kind of deal. I always had the idea of selling your soul to the Devil in mind with this show although that hasn’t been said in certain ways.

Unfortunately, this show got cancelled part way through its first and only season. Because of this, the last few episodes are yet to be aired but they will be during the summer. I read somewhere that as the show got cancelled, the last few episodes were being re-filmed so that everything would be wrapped up nicely and so that everything made sense. I’m really glad they did this as this has happened before with other shows such as Firefly, where the ending didn’t really work very well. Just as I was really getting into this series, I found out about the cancellation and was gutted.

666 Park Avenue was a show that was really different from anything on at the minute and one which was very entertaining. It had so many good things going for it and I cannot see why it got cancelled at all. I will be watching the final few episodes when they are finally aired because I’m dying to know what the real reasons are behind everything.