The phones didn’t exactly ring off the hook. The typical response, he says: “No one cares about money, and people on Wall Street are evil.”
One decade, many Dow points and thousands of hours of CNBC later, everyone seems obsessed with money and Wall Street. This fall two cable networks are hoping to capitalize on the market mania. Darren Star, the producer of such well-timed fare as Sex in the City, Melrose Place and Beverly Hills, 90210, has launched The Street on Fox. And Time Warner’s TNT is offering Bull, with Chernuchin as executive producer. “Now anyone can buy a stock and become a millionaire. Wall Street is open to everyone,” he says.
Bull revolves around a group of hungry, young executives at the venerable investment bank Merriweather Marx who defect to form their own elite boutique. (Chernuchin swears he had never heard of Long-Term Capital Management founder John Meriwether.) When news of their treachery leaks, they must face the wrath of the firm’s formidable chairman, “Kaiser.” The outraged financier sues the group, one of whom is his own grandson. “It’s a story of the American dream through business,” says the executive producer.
That plot line - and a couple of leggy actresses - may be enough to satisfy many viewers. Some press accounts have criticized the lack of reality on the new shows - measly $10 million trades, for example. Has Wall Street been receptive? Chernuchin says he’s gotten calls from disgruntled bankers who want to write for the show. He notes, “They’ve always been the enemy. I’m making them the heroes. They love it.” That, and the legs.
