Single. Handsome. Charismatic. Architect?

According to The Gutter, everybody's second favorite network, ABC, is searching for "a 27-33 year old single, handsome, successful, charismatic guy who would like to be whisked away to an exotic, tropical location dating 25 beautiful girls" for the television show The Bachelor. For this casting call they "are interested in finding an architect."

Curious about what exactly a "single, handsome, successful, charismatic" architect is, I naturally consulted Google. An image search for that term resulted in zero matches. But a broader web search yielded a previously tried-yet-unsuccessful TV show, 2000's Madigan Men, starring Gabriel Byrne as "Benjamin Madigan, a handsome, successful and charismatic architect in New York City." I never saw this show but it appears to be a reworking of Frasier, cute dog and all, but with the potential for some Irish 'tude and the occasional AutoCAD joke or reference to Vitruvius.

This page on TV single dads also tells us about another show with an architect father, 2002's Family Affair starring Gary "Midnight Caller" Cole in another role that harkens back even more directly to Mr. Brady (Cole played Brady in the funny - to me - 1995 film), the TV architect of all TV architects. According to tv.com, Cole plays "a wealthy and handsome businessman...[with] a high-powered career, a stunning penthouse on Central Park East, a succession of beautiful women and a dignified old-school British butler," played by Tim Curry. Perhaps somebody should have reminded the writers and producers that the main character was an architect, not an architect's client. 

What comes to my mind with ABC's search for the impossible is not bad, formulaic TV but somewhat-decent, formulaic TV, Law & Order Criminal Intent's 2003 season-premiere where "a promising young architecture student is found murdered with a screwdriver, [whose] bold design for a new and prestigious downtown building strongly resembles those of a celebrated architest [sic]...whose personal life is even more elaborate than his blueprints." Supposedly "ripped from the headline" of Nathaniel Kahn's film about his famous father, the L&O episode is memorable for attempts to parallel the story about the womanizing architect with his creations. Most evident is the walkway that abuts the architect's office: the glazed walls offer views of the female employees calves as they walk past, unaware of the situation. Sure, it's funny to laugh at the writer's complete disregard for practical matters — is anybody really going to go to that effort and expense to frame and support that opening in the floor for what would clearly be seen as voyeuristic intentions?— but nevertheless it's refreshing to see the attempt made for drama based on the architects (albeit perverse) mindset, as opposed to some unrealistic and lofty ideals, à la Family Affair

All this makes me wonder who exactly ABC is looking for... the "real", introverted architect whose inner desires manifest themselves in their designs, or the hoped-for, middle-of-the-road rich guy who just happens to be an architect? If it's the former, sorry I'm taken, but if it's the latter, they're screwed.

Comments

  1. I know I've commented on it before. But what about all those hot female architects. Bachelorette - Building Division.

    Or a Bachelor where they lock him up (the architect) with a bunch of female architects with lead pencils, rolls of trace, and a coffee machine for a week. There's a reality show for you.

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  2. can they handle the workaholic style of this successful architect..?

    yikes adam sandler and david hasselhoff playing architects
    http://imdb.com/title/tt0389860/
    read the description.

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  3. Um, anyone remember "Partners" with, of all people, John Crier playing an architect?

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  4. Hi. It depends on how you interpret "Charismatic". If he is handsome and charismatic how can it be possible he is not taken? Either the man is too arrogant or loves solitude too much, or simply he does not like women.

    Anyway, if I am allowed to choose I would probably cast Ken Olin who played Michael in thirtysomething (late 80's TV drama), but I've never met a real architect, so I may only be dreaming...

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  5. 27-33 year old successful architect?
    In the same sentence?
    You're barely out of nappies (sorry - diapers) as an architect by that age.
    I think they need to either shift the age parameters a little, or think about the definition of "success".

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  6. "...27-33 year old successful architect?"

    How about Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul' Cathedral when he was 26?

    Alas, television didn't exist then. Or reality tv. How fortunate!

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  7. There's the Seinfeld case too: George Costanza's habit of pretending to be an architect when he meets women who outclass him.

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  8. Actually Sir Christopher Wren was in his 40s when he began working on the cathedral. He tweeked the design of it over the next 35 years and did see it finished by the time he dies when he was 90.

    At 26 he was still out boozin it up and trying to get laid.

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  9. mmm, how about brad pitt? right age ish, successful...i know hes not a REAL architect, but the boy sure can act it out!
    hehehehehe or alternatively see my post for architectural anarchy:

    Thursday, January 19, 2006
    big brother fills the gap in the hedge...

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  10. The age 27 - 33 year old architect and the word successful may not have a frequent point of intersection as yet in our century though much prestige comes with the title as we celebrate future glory to come or not to come
    .

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