Lori Loughlin: Failed 1988 TV Pilot Eerily Foreshadowed Star’s Shocking Arrest
Lori Loughlin's character on "Old Money" said that "being rich makes you different." If the college admissions scandal charges against her are true, she apparently took that line to heart. | Source: REUTERS / Brian Snyder
By CCN.com: Earlier this week, actress Lori Loughlin pleaded not guilty to her alleged role in the college admissions scandal whose exposure rocked both Hollywood and higher education. Now, an unsold TV pilot has emerged that eerily foreshadowed her shocking arrest – even if it didn’t predict the details.
Failed CBS Pilot Previewed Lori Loughlin’s Arrest
Loughlin, 54, is best known for her run on “Full House” and its reboot, “Fuller House”, where she portrayed Becky Katsopolis. However, in 1988 – the same year that she first appeared on “Full House” – she starred in a failed TV pilot called “Old Money” that aired on the CBS Summer Playhouse .
The “Old Money” pilot opens at the Palm Grove Jail where defense attorney Steven Porter (played by Tom Isbell) rushes into a jail cell to inform a scantily-clad Lori Loughlin that police have agreed to release her into his custody. It seems the young singer had been arrested and charged with everything from arson to prostitution.
“Good news, Tammy, I got them to drop the arson and murder charges,” said Porter, who is clearly positioned to be a future love interest. “They know the indecent exposure charge will never stand up. And they don’t have a shred of evidence that you ever engaged in prostitution.”
Following her temporary release into Porter’s custody, Loughlin goes to live with him and his wealthy parents in their palatial mansion. She seems to drift between servant and house-guest, waiting on the Porters in one scene and then sitting down to dinner with the family in the next.
There’s also a bizarre subplot in which a mafia boss schemes to place a hit on Tammy, which is somehow related to the mysterious incident that led to her arrest. What went down? That’s not entirely clear, though we find out that it involved her jumping out of a cake and ended with her at some point disrobing to her underpants.
‘Being Rich Makes You Different’
There’s little doubt why “Old Money” failed as a network sitcom, but the unsold pilot did leave behind two throwaway lines that – 31 years later – have suddenly grown deliciously ironic following Loughlin’s arrest for allegedly paying more than $500,000 to bribe her two daughters’ way into the University of Southern California (USC).
Steven Porter uttered the first line during the pilot’s opening minutes, reassuring Tammy that he will prove her innocence.
“You’ll never spend another day behind bars if I have anything to say about it.”
The second comes from Tammy herself. “Being rich makes you different,” she told the wealthy Porter patriarch in one of the show’s final scenes.
Apparently, Lori Loughlin took that line to heart.
