CBS and Warner Bros. have agreed to air the new Ray Liotta pilot Smith with only limited commercial interuptions, and all of the ads will be for the new Martin Scorsese film The Departed. Liotta starred in Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas.
CBS had planned on airing the pilot as a 90-minute special, with ads. The network decided to go with limited commercials as a way to make the pilot stand out from the crowd.
"It's a great way to let viewers get into the program," CBS executive vice president of network sales Chris Simon said to Daily Variety. "There's a great benefit for us and for the client."
Smith follows a band of career criminals led by Liotta. He and his wife, played by Virginia Madsen, are hoping to get the elusive "last big score" so they can quit the thieving business.
Departed stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson in a tale of cops trying to take down a mob boss. The film marks the third of four collaborations between Scorsese and DiCaprio--the others are 2002's Gangs of New York, 2004's The Aviator, and the upcoming The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
Smith premieres September 26 on CBS.
Comments (1)
The story line has been done about a million times, but with Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsenn, this show may stand a decent chance.