The kids in the candy store are cops and the candy is cars, helicopters, and other high dollar equipment in this series from the mind of McG. The show is like a music video and features all manner of stunts and guest stars, but it only lasted one season and the results are houses in this DVD set.
LAPD undercover cop Van Ray (Peter Facinelli) and NYPD detective Deaqon Hayes (Bill Bellamy) find themselves partnering up after Ray’s partner, who is also Hayes’ brother, is killed in a bust gone badly. They find themselves under the command of Lt. Billie Chambers (Tiffani Thiessen) who runs an outfit called the Candy Store.
The Candy Store is a warehouse of seized merchandise from police busts. So the store is full of cars, drugs, money, and more than likely whatever you’d need to play the high-dollar criminal. The problem is that both Van and Deaq basically have to leave their law-abiding lives behind and become criminals, all the while working deep undercover for the greater good.
The group is so secret that even their fellow officers don’t know that the duo is on their side.
Fastlane is a Fox series that was under the production of McG. It’s not like you can’t tell as the show is full of music video cuts and action sequences. In fact, the show would win an Emmy for “outstanding stunt coordination” on one of those action sequences. So I guess I should call it the “Emmy winning series from McG.”
The show would last for 22 episodes before stalling out on the highway and Warner Brothers has gathered the entire series together for fan’s of the show on this six disc release.
I don’t know that I can place myself amongst the fans of the show, but since it appears to be aimed at young boys well below my age limit that might be understandable. The show cost well over 2 million an episode and that might’ve been a large contribution to Fox cancelling the series.
However, a lot of that ka-ching and bling does end up on the screen. Some small amount of that money could’ve gone to the guest stars that pop up on the show. These include Jay Mohr, Robert Forster, Kurt “Big Boy” Alexander, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jenny McCarthy, Jaime Pressly, George Hamilton, Iggy Pop, Naomi Campbell, Tommy Lee, Terrence Howard, Isaac Hayes, and even Biz Markie(!).
Mischa Barton’s guest shot would lead McG to cast her in his next series The O.C. Fans of the show must’ve pulled out their hair as the show ends on a huge cliffhanger.
The 12 minute “Smoking Stars” looks at the cast and guest stars. The 9 minute “Sizzling Action” talks about the stunts as well as the one that won the show an Emmy and “Junk Yard” is 6 minutes of bloopers.
If you’re going to go fast then sometimes you crash. This show was a nice bit of eye candy for adolescent boys with fast cars and hot women, but brain candy it is not. It can still have an appeal if you’re in the mood for it.
Fastlane - The Complete Series is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information
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