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An early AMC dramedy series profiling the fictional studio Sylver Screen Pictures during the 1930s and the pursuits of its classic Hollywood stars.
2001
Desperate for a successful picture, new studio head Leo Sylver steals Warner Brothers' actress Rachel Lipton to star in a big-budget story about the Jewish experience in Germany. Meanwhile, a friend helps Norma avoid foreclosure.
Sylver Studios hires high-brow New York writer Libby Wilson to pump up the screenplay on its new picture. Meanwhile, the studio takes measures to transform stuntman Victor into a leading man to co-star with Rachel.
Aspiring screenwriter Charlie Patterson falls under sexy Libby Wilson's spell as they work together on a new screenplay, but then she takes him to a Hollywood party that gets raided by the police.
When Leo Sylver finds out that Victor, the studio's new star, is a morphine addict, he orders Sweeney to fix the problem before it becomes public knowledge. Meanwhile, Charlie finds out that his adored Libby is trying to have his screen credit removed from the screenplay they worked on together.
Out on a wild ride with Victor Mansfield, Rachel's car is wrecked, sending the beloved leading lady through the windshield and into a coma. Leo and Sweeney, anxious to protect their investment in the up-and-coming leading man, pay off everyone, from the cops, to the hospital staff, to gossip columnist Letitia Devine, to keep it quiet, issuing a statement that Rachel has been hospitalized for an appendectomy. Rachel's friends back on the lot find their own ways to cope with the tragedy. However, Victor's guilt is inconsolable. Unscathed by the accident, he defies studio orders to stay away from the hospital, and sneaks into Rachel's room, where he's spotted by her bedside. A quick call to journalist Milton Maxwell and the studio's cover story is blown – along with Victor's career.
Fed up with playing nothing but maids and mammies, a classically trained African-American actress issues an ultimatum to studio boss Leo Sylver. Meanwhile, although Rachel has recovered from the car accident, her facial scar could ruin her career as a leading lady.
Legendary swashbuckling movie star Colin Rhome, as famous between the sheets as on the screen, arrives at Silver Studios and is warmly greeted by all, except Victor & Mary.
After years of hard living, Colin Rhome passes away in the presence of his friends. Mary, grieving for Colin, takes it upon herself to inform June about her father. Furious at Mary for denying her the chance to know him, she storms off. Meanwhile, Sweeney and Leo cook up a huge publicity stunt, as all of Hollywood must come to Sylver Screen Pictures for the funeral of Colin Rhome, to be held on a giant soundstage. Fabian, Norma and Mary have other plans for the late Colin Rhome, as they whisk away his body from the mortuary and take him to a local restaurant. Sweeney is terrified when he discovers that the corpse has disappeared while a traumatized June is given a chance to have ""one last drink with her father.""
Danny Matthews , a masculine leading man at Sylver Screen Pictures runs afoul Leo and the Hollywood press for being too open and public about his homosexuality. Sweeney and Leo concoct a plan to deal with this situation decisively, have him get married. He finds a willing companion in Rachel, who is only too happy to wed her dear friend to save his career. But after a bachelor party ends with Danny soliciting a male police officer, he and Leo have a final confrontation, which ends his career and reveals some shocking information about Fabian.
As Charlie works on writing a sex scene that will pass all of Lundquist's objections, the studido is visited by a ""union represenative"" who is actually fronting a mob attempt to extort money from all the studios.
Victor is starring in Charlie's adaptation of ""The Private Life of Oscar Wilde,"" but Leo nearly has a heart attack when the film's director informs him of the scandalous details of Wilde's life. Fearing the potential damage to Victor's career, not to mention the censors, Leo orders Charlie to sanitize the story, and turn Wilde into a lusty, masculine heterosexual male! As Mary engages in an affair with the picture's director, Norma has a difficult time convincing Mary that he's also made strong advances towards her. Equally frustrated is Fabian, whose ex-wife Cleo has suddenly re-entered his life.
Without Fabian's knowledge, stage-mommy Norma puts his young niece up for the starring role in Charlie's new musical. Meanwhile, Charlie tells Rachel that it is time for her to choose between being with him or Victor.
Rachel, having grown tired of mediocre roles in her films threatens to walk out on Sylver Screen Pictures. Leo calms her down and promises her the lead in a major new film, but she is infuriated when she discovers that the part has gone to Barbara Stanwyck instead. In a bitter confrontation, Rachel informs Leo that she's walking, but Leo responds by telling her that her contract is ironclad and that she can't get work anywhere without his permission. Meanwhile, the lead part in Rachel's current picture falls to Norma, who tortures Charlie with dozens of re-write notes, and Victor takes Fabian under his wing in order to get him into good physical shape for the company picnic.
Victor Webster
Victor Mansfield
Holland Taylor
Letitia DeVine
Perry Stephens
Jack Sweeney
Sara Botsford
Norma St. Claire
Stephanie Faracy
Mary Parker
Victor Raider-Wexler
Leo Sylver
Kim Rhodes
Rachel Lipton
François Giroday
Fabian
Steven Petrarca
Charlie Patterson
Streaming availability information not available
1999
Sweet young Hollywood hopeful June Parker looks like she may get her big break when the star of Sylver Studios' latest film dies in the middle of production, but her mother won't sign the parental consent agreement for her underage daughter.
When his financier brother objects to hiring an unknown to take over the lead in their new picture, studio head Harry Sylver schemes to make her well-known overnight by parading her at all the L.A. hot spots with the city's most eligible bachelors.
June's newfound star status attracts the romantic interest of playboy/mogul Roland White, as well as that of studio publicist Jack Sweeney. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Charlie Patterson finally sells his screenplay, but to competitor Metro Pictures.
After making a series of box office bombs, Harry Sylver is forced out by Roland Winters, who appoints himself the new head of Sylver Studios. He then lures June Parker back from Metro Pictures, but the formerly innocent June's stardom has gone to her head and she becomes a demanding diva on the set of her new picture.