The cast of Waterfront arrive to soak up some local color that they hope to turn their TV pilot into a regular series.

11:06 AM EST on Saturday, March 18, 2006

BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer

Providence and politics are going in front of the TV cameras. Again.

Last summer, it was for Brotherhood, a Showtime series about two brothers, one a politician and the other a criminal.

Now there's a CBS pilot called Waterfront, starring Joe Pantoliano as the mayor of Providence and William Baldwin as an ambitious attorney general.

Filming starts today and will continue for about three weeks in and around Providence.

Producers aren't revealing exact times and locations because they don't want crowds of curious onlookers making their work more difficult.

Just because CBS ordered the pilot, which is being made by Warner Bros. Television, does not automatically make it a reality. Networks routinely order many more shows than they can use.

A CBS spokesman said that last year the network ordered about 20 pilots -- about 5 made it to viewers.

If Waterfront is picked up by CBS, the plan is to shoot the remaining episodes in Rhode Island as well.

Brotherhood also shot all its episodes in Rhode Island. Providence, the NBC show that was aired from 1999 to 2002, was made mostly in Los Angeles, with occasional visits here.

Pantoliano, who is also one of Waterfront's producers, said the plan was to have a pilot episode avaiable for CBS by the end of next month. After that, it's up to the network.

Asked about Waterfront's chances, Pantoliano shrugged. "All you can do is your best," he said during a visit to the State House on Thursday. "This is show business -- the odds are always against you. If I get a part, it means someone else lost the part. That's just the way it is."

Pantoliano, who won an Emmy for playing Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos, plays Mayor Jimmy Centrella, a character described as "ethically challenged" by the Hollywood Reporter, a show-business trade journal.

"He's a guy who might bend the rules for the benefit of the city," Pantoliano said. "We're all good guys [on the show] but with fatal flaws. . . . I've always been fascinated by politics. I think the national pastime is not baseball, but politics."

Pantoliano said he and writer/creator Jack Orman started talking about a TV series based on an East Coast mayor about a year ago. At the time, he said, they didn't have a specific mayor -- including former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. -- in mind.

Once they settled on Providence as the location for Waterfront, Pantoliano said, they got an earful about Cianci. "The thing I hear the most about him is how much people loved him," Pantoliano said.

He noted that Cianci, now serving a federal prison sentence on a racketeering charge, is not the only East Coast mayor to run afoul of the law.

Pantoliano, who now lives in Connecticut's Fairfax County, grew up in Hoboken, N.J., whose former mayor, Anthony Russo, is now serving a 30-month sentence in federal prison for taking bribes.

"There's a saying in New Jersey that the only way to leave office is either die or get indicted," Pantoliano said.

Besides Pantoliano and Baldwin, the show will feature Mary Stuart Masterson as the mayor's wife, Larenz Tate as the deputy mayor, and Natalia Cigliuti as one of the mayor's three daughters.

(Anne Mulhall, owner of LDI Casting, which is casting extras for the show, said anyone who is interested can send photos and contact information to LDI Casting, P.O. Box 7105, Warwick, R.I. 02886.)

Many of the cast members on Waterfront have spent research time with their real life counterparts, including Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, to get a sense of the state's politics and politicians.

Laranz Tate said Cicilline and his chief of staff, Mike Mello, let him sit in on some meetings.

"I'm just like a sponge, listening, listening, listening," said Tate, who was part of the large acting ensemble in the Oscar-winning movie Crash. "I get the sense of this place as a small town where everybody knows everybody else."

Tate came to Waterfront from another CBS show, Love Monkey, which lasted for only three episodes before being canceled.

On Thursday, Tate, Baldwin and Pantoliano all showed up at the State House for the annual St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day celebration. Pantoliano spoke to the House; Baldwin spoke to the Senate. Tate just listened.

Baldwin described his own mixed heritage -- his mother is German and French, his father is English, Scottish and Irish -- and talked about growing up in a large, rowdy family on Long Island.

He closed by thanking the Senate for passing tax incentives last year that makes Rhode Island more attractive for projects such as Waterfront.

In his remarks to the House, Pantoliano, who brought his 7-year-old daughter, Isabella, with him, compared Providence to Hoboken. (He's written a book, Who's Sorry Now, about his experiences growing up in New Jersey.)

"What I loved about Hoboken was the diversity, and I love the same thing about Providence," he said. "The greatest multicultural education I could have was growing up in Hoboken."

Pantoliano also spoke about the recent gentrification of Hoboken, and said he sew the same thing happening in Providence.

He closed with a particular prayer to St. Joseph: "That we get our pilot picked up in May and you'll see us back here in July."

SLIDE SHOW: See stars of the CBS pilot, Waterfront, celebrating St. Patrick's and St. Joseph's Days with legislators at the State House, at:

http://projo.com/celebrationphotos