After a few years away from the small screen, Alec Baldwin is officially making his return. The former 30 Rock star is set to take part in a new HBO series as what Deadline describes as “a billionaire real estate developer philanthropist and celebrated socialite/tabloid fixture” with “an appetite for women and a dark past,” who is thrust into duty as the mayor of New York City. If this series sounds familiar, it’s probably because it was being discussed as far back as last summer, back when the character was being called “a Rob Ford-type mayor.” So, we’re a little all over the place so far.
Thankfully, Baldwin elaborated a bit:
“The character is a philanthropist, a big businessman and well-known tabloid fixture in New York,” Baldwin said. “He’s Trump without the baggage, Bloomberg but a Democrat, George Soros if he was in real estate, a left-leaning Democrat who is also a businessman who understands the reality of how the city has to be run to create the right climate for the business community. He’s drafted for this run because the alternative would be catastrophe.
He’s Bill Gates but fancy, Ross Perot but sane and handsome, Alec Baldwin but only in that one recurring dream he has, that one dog who ran for mayor in the one small town but a human billionaire real estate developer philanthropist and celebrated socialite/tabloid fixture, etc. etc. etc.
The series is described as both a less dark House of Cards and in the tone of “the lightest and most entertaining episodes of The Sopranos,” which sounds promising but confusing, so let’s all just continue going ahead and pretending Jack Donaghy is the mayor now, for the short term.
