Now entering its fourth week on our airwaves, it has become apparent to most that "666 Park Avenue," ABC's spooktacular drama set in a stately but shabby pre-war building on the Upper East Side, is not what you would call a "good" television show. In fact, if you read the reviews?actually, don't the read the reviews. Just know that the critics have it all wrong. Because "666 Park Avenue," which, OK, is pretty terrible, is also the guiltiest of pleasures for anyone deeply obsessed with the machinations of New York City real estate. Which means us. And you. Unfortunately there's not enough of our kind to go around?the show was dead last in the ratings last Sunday night. Sadly, "666 Park Avenue" is not long for this world, which means it's time to do something drastic before it's too late.
This Sunday night at 10pm EST, Curbed will be live-tweeting the latest (last?) new episode of "666 Park Avenue." Follow along via @CurbedNY, and if you'd like to join the discussion, MST3K style, tweet using the hashtag #666Curbed. You can catch up on the previous three episodes here, and if you're still not convinced this show is worthy of your attention, allow us to use our mystical powers of persuasion.
6 REASONS WHY 666 PARK AVENUE IS VITALLY IMPORTANT
1) A real estate developer is the Devil. Like, literally. And yet, the show carries no "Based on a true story!" tagline.
2) So far, Devil Developer has killed a rival for trying to sell him a polluted Midtown development site, and a Brooklyn politician for not delivering him the land for his "Greenpoint Towers" project. Greenpoint: So hot, it's practically hell!
3) The accursed Park Avenue building is called The Drake. Yes, the same name as the stately but shabby Park Avenue hotel that developer Harry Macklowe controversially demolished a few years back to build his sky-high glass cube. Possible spoiler alert?
4) Rent-controlled tenants get sucked into the walls, never to be heard from again. Again, though the creators may not realize it, this show is hovering near a 100% accuracy rate. Tishman Speyer used similar methods after purchasing Stuy Town.
5) All of the scariest stuff, including the unwitting release of various ghosts and spirits, happens in the basement laundry room. As if our laundry rooms aren't spooky/rapey enough, now we have to worry about stray demons? Guess that's what brokers mean by "pre-war character."
6) The protagonists are an ambitious young City Planning official and his architecture geek girlfriend, who lands the job as The Drake's resident super/manager in exchange for an awesomely huge apartment in the building. We've all wondered what sort of pact with the Devil we'd make in order to get one of those sweetheart deals on an amazing apartment in a grand old building, and this show portrays exactly what would happen if we took Big Red up on his offer!
There you have it. As for this Sunday's episode, it promises to be a doozy: Developer Devil Guy (played by Lost's John Locke, by the way) comes under investigation for his nefarious developer misdeeds! So follow @CurbedNY and join in on the?oh crap watch out for that elevator!
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