Monday, February 25, 2008

Watson's Elementary

Now that the writers’ strike has been settled, it looks like things will soon be back to normal with new episodes of popular medical and legal dramatic series like E. R., Grey’s Anatomy and Law & Order. But during the strike, the networks had apparently turned to replacement writers to create equally exciting new shows based on other workplace settings just in case. Sadly, we’ll now never see these brave new offerings:

Watson’s Elementary
Grade one teacher Julie Watson wanted adventure and excitement. She got that and more when she signed on with New York City’s P. S. 101. From the school opening at 9 A. M. to well after the 3:45 closing bell, Ed Koch Elementary is a beehive of dramatic activity.
On her first day of teaching, Julie is faced with one crisis after another. Missing construction paper, an overturned glue pot and non-stop kiddie washroom breaks test Julie’s skills and patience. And then there’s Brad.
Brad is the handsome young grade four teacher who has caught Julie’s eye. Trouble is, he’s married and gay.
The show’s cast also includes Leslie, the steroid-taking gym teacher; Kevin, the drolly amusing maintenance man, and Miss Blanchard, the crusty but benign school principal. From the stress of parent-teacher interviews to the pressure of circle time, there’s seldom an excruciatingly dull day on "Watson’s Elementary."

Chicago Credit
Newly-minted chartered accountant Justin Seaver bags his dream job at the downtown Chicago firm of Steuben, Miller & Fillmore. Firm life for Justin is an exciting mix of corporate accounting and long-range individual tax planning. Every day brings a new adventure as he tackles everything from deferred capital gains to annual depreciation allowances on non-capital investments.
Young curvaceous CA Heather Moore has her eye on both Justin and the Western Electric account. Funny guy Jack Jackson keeps the firm laughing with his non-traditional suits and ties and his hilarious attempts at creative accounting.
But not everything goes smoothly at Steuben, Miller & Fillmore. Crusty but benign name partner Tom Fillmore is experiencing incipient senility and sometimes inadvertently switches credits and debits with potentially disastrous results. No one has the courage to point out his errors until Justin steps forward and sets things right. Will he be chastised for his insolence or given a healthy year-end bonus for saving the firm from embarrassment? Stay tuned to find out.

Eng.
Golden Gate is a boutique engineering firm in San Francisco. Jesse Black is a recent engineering school grad from a small, mid-western town who’s looking for a career in the big city in the exciting field of civil engineering.
Golden Gate has built a solid reputation as a reliable builder of small to mid-size hotels and apartment buildings. But Jesse has grander ideas. He wants to design and build modern museums and flamboyant bridges.
Crusty but benign senior partner Jim Miller likes to build it "old school" and squelches Jesse’s grand ambitions. Tensions flare as the old guy and the new guy butt heads over everything from materials management to load bearing guidelines. The drama is non-stop as the firm’s denizens fret about which high-rise construction method will minimize code violations and maximize profits.

Addison’s Actuaries
Addison & Sons is a family-owned actuarial firm in downtown Palm Springs. Joe Addison is the crusty but benign patriarch who rules with a rigid tabular approach. But there’s trouble brewing as sons Cain and Able joust over eventual control of the business.
Younger sister Sarah joins the firm and tempers flare as she pushes to remove "& Sons" from the name. But that’s not all. Sarah has her own wild, modern notions of how to calculate present value, optimize asset allocation and apply arbitrage-free, risk-neutral valuation.
Joe Addison stubbornly sticks to traditional mathematical models and finds Sarah’s forays into data mining and ruin theory crazy and unproductive. Will Cain or Able take over the business? Will Sarah beat out both of them or leave in frustration and start her own new age actuarial firm? Don’t try to calculate the odds. Just tune in every week and follow the wild world of California’s craziest number crunchers.

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