SPIN CITY: A SHOT IN THE DARK {SEASON FIVE FINALE} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedies about Michael Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York City, and the complications that arise in his professional life because his girlfriend is a City Hall reporter.
The mayor is criticized for not addressing the city’s growing crime problem, particularly after his limousine is carjacked. As a solution the mayor arranges for himself and his staff to go on a drive-along with local law enforcement. Caitlin finds herself constantly distracted by her new boyfriend Tim, much to Charlie’s chagrin. He says he is flying her to St. Thomas that night, making her unable to participate in the ride-along. Charlie protests but allows Caitlin to go, poking fun of the fact that Tim is much younger than her. Charlie and Caitlin get into a heated argument which culminates with a series of personal insults against each other. Privately, they each realize that it is their first real fight and each believes the other to have changed dramatically. Each of them resolves to apologize to the other, but cannot bring themselves to do so.
During the ride-along complications ensue; Charlie, Paul, and the mayor inadvertently insult the officer they are accompanying, and an arrested vagrant turns out to be Chad, a classmate from the mayor’s high school whose life he ruined due to a single incident between the two of them. The officer is called upon to respond to a robbery at a convenience store in progress, perpetrated by a teenager with a handgun. Charlie decides to speak to a group of teens across the street, believing that they saw something. They flee from him and when he pursues one of them shoots him. Caitlin learns about the shooting while boarding her flight to St. Thomas at La Guardia Airport with Tim. Charlie recovers in the hospital; the bullet grazed his thigh and thus his injuries are not particularly severe. Surveillance video reveals that the shooter was actually Paul; he found a dropped handgun on the street and was playing around with it, causing it to accidentally fire and hit Charlie. Caitlin comes to visit Charlie in the hospital and says she feels terrible about the fight they had. He makes it appear that his injuries are more severe in order to elicit further sympathy from her. She tells Tim to postpone their vacation, although Charlie tries to talk her out of that. She gets into an argument with Tim over the phone about her relationship with Charlie and she tells him to leave without her.
The mayor works with the police department to keep the details of the shooting secret. Caitlin learns about Charlie’s deception and as revenge gets a hospital cafeteria worker to pose as a doctor to convince Charlie that he has a bullet fragment lodged in his abdomen which will require immediate surgery and have far-reaching consequences with regards to his mobility and functions. This has the effect of frightening Charlie. Meanwhile, Stuart finds a teenager that Paul accosted during the ride-along who witnessed him shooting Charlie, and he, Paul, and Carter attempt to convince him not to go to the press. Charlie returns to the office and talks to Carter about his encounters with Caitlin and his suspicions that she may have feelings for him. Carter warns him not to misinterpret her feelings, and Charlie notes that he doesn’t want to start a relationship with a co-worker. Caitlin arrives and Charlie apologizes for faking his injuries and getting her not to go on her trip, and Caitlin notes that Charlie means a great deal to her in spite of her behavior towards him. Charlie nearly kisses her, which repulses her, and Tim arrives to apologize to Caitlin for their argument.
Charlie and Caitlin find that things are awkward between the two of them, he is reluctant to discuss the previous night. Caitlin confronts him about him nearly kissing her, and soon news of the incident spreads to the entire office. Caitlin believes that Charlie is jealous of her because she is in a relationship and he has “nothing,” but he claims that he is seeing someone, naming Kara, a mentally unstable woman who constantly pursues him and who he has made a myriad of excuses to avoid. Caitlin says she would like to meet her and invites Charlie and Kara out to lunch with herself and Tim. The mayor brings Chad into the office and gives him a position in the department. He asks his staff to prepare him for a press conference, although it is clear that Chad has a drinking problem which could complicate things. Charlie brings Kara to the lunch date and they meet Caitlin and Tim. Charlie does his best to make the date go smoothly despite Kara’s increasingly unstable behavior.
Chad is dressed up for his press conference and the mayor’s staff compares him unfavorably to Chad, echoing their time in high school together when Chad seemed to one-up the mayor at everything. The mayor introduces Chad to the press as part of a program he is initiating to provide jobs for vagrants, but he does not allow Chad to respond to reporters’ questions. Chad responds anyway and proves to be quite motivating. Charlie realizes that he may be attracted to Caitlin, but does not tell her about this in defiance of Carter’s advice. Caitlin tells him that Tim may be proposing to her, and he congratulates her and tries to hide his discomfort. Charlie becomes upset and ends up sleeping with Kara, an action he immediately regrets. Caitlin calls him to tell him that Tim broke up with her, and he leaves immediately to go see her. The mayor finds that Chad continues to outdo him in nearly every respect, much to his annoyance. Charlie arrives at Caitlin’s apartment and she tells him that Tim told her that he decided to get back with his ex-fiancée. He does his best to cheer her up, admitting that he is not actually interested in Kara due to her mental illness. Caitlin calls Charlie her best friend, and they end up kissing each other. Charlie pulls back, feeling too awkward to go further with her; he considers her his best friend as well and doesn’t want to jeopardize that friendship with sex. Caitlin accedes to this despite her newly-realized sexual attraction to Charlie.
The mayor, feeling insecure and inferior around Chad, decides to frame him for theft as a pretense for firing him and getting him a job in the private sector. Chad apologizes for his behavior and admits that he’s jealous of the mayor and always has been. He expresses his heartfelt and sincere appreciation for the mayor and calls his desire to compete with him “petty,” a sentiment which proves to be quite touching for the mayor. However, Paul enters and gets Chad arrested for the framed theft. Charlie returns to his apartment to find that Kara has left and burned his bed to a cinder. He listens to a voice message from Caitlin expressing her thanks and decides to go back to her apartment. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: May 23, 2001 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:59
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:65012
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: LGBT Collection; Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1996-2002
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Chevrolet automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Claritin antihistamine
- TV – Commercials – Coors beer
- TV – Commercials – Dole fruit bowls
- TV – Commercials – Intel computer processors
- TV – Commercials – Kia automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Lexus automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Lowe’s home improvement stores
- TV – Commercials – Lubriderm skin lotion
- TV – Commercials – L’Oreal hair products
- TV – Commercials – MSN internet service
- TV – Commercials – Miller Lite beer
- TV – Commercials – Mitsubishi automobiles
- TV – Commercials – On-Star roadside assistance service
- TV – Commercials – Sears department stores
- TV – Commercials – Thermasilk shampoo
- TV – Commercials – Volkswagen automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Zyrtec antihistamine
- TV – Commercials – “Atlantis: the Lost Empire” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “2001 World Music Awards”
- TV – Promos – “Alias”
- TV – Promos – “Bob Patterson”
- TV – Promos – “Sabrina Down Under”
- TV – Promos – “Spy Hard”
- TV – Promos – “Stanley Cup Finals”
- TV – Promos – “The Drew Carey Show”
- TV – Promos – “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
- TV – Promos – “Whose Line is it Anyway?”
CREDITS
- Gary David Goldberg … Executive Producer, Created by
- Tom Hertz … Co-Executive Producer
- Jon Pollack … Supervising Producer, Writer
- Tim Hobert … Supervising Producer, Writer
- Chris Henchy … Supervising Producer
- Michelle Nader … Supervising Producer
- Paul A. Kaplan … Producer, Writer
- Mark Torgove … Producer, Writer
- Linda Nieber … Producer
- Philip Wen … Co-Producer
- Bill Callahan … Co-Producer
- Sandi B. Hochman … Associate Producer
- Alex Maggioni … Consulting Producer
- Ted Wass … Director
- Bill Lawrence … Created by
- Bonnie Schneider … Writer
- Hadley Davis … Writer
- Danny Pelfrey … Music by
- Charlie Sheen … Cast, Charlie Crawford
- Heather Locklear … Cast, Caitlin Moore
- Richard Kind … Cast, Paul Lassiter
- Alan Ruck … Cast, Stuart Bondek
- Michael Boatman … Cast, Carter Heywood
- Lana Parrilla … Cast, Angie Ordonez
- Barry Bostwick … Cast, The Mayor
- Scott Wolf … Cast, Tim Connelly
- Vanessa Marcil … Cast, Kara
- Doug Ballard … Cast, Chad
- Jack McGee … Cast, Greenfield
- Kelly Monaco … Cast, Nurse
- Adam Wylie … Cast, Kid
- David Doty … Cast, Doctor
- Jabari Hearn … Cast, ER Doctor
- Gabriel Scalone … Cast, Thug
- Mim Drew … Cast, Judy
- Sarah Laine … Cast, Jenny
- Scott McAfee … Cast, Young Mayor
- Chad Cox … Cast, Young Chad
- Christine Romeo … Cast, Anchorwoman
- Bob Glouberman … Cast, Reporter
- Jenna Fischer … Cast, Waitress
- Jim Marshall … Cast, Security Guard
- Tom W. Chick … Cast, Employee