| Genre: | Science fiction-legal drama |
| Creator: | Ed Zuckerman |
| Composer: | Danny Lux |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 9 |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Network: | CBS |
Century City is an American science fiction legal drama television series created by Ed Zuckerman, that aired on CBS from March 16, 2004, to January 20, 2005, before being cancelled due to low ratings. The series is set in Los Angeles in the year 2030.
The show follows the legal team of Crane, Constable, McNeil & Montero. At the helm are the firm's four partners, the founder and senior partner Hannah Crane; veteran attorney Marty Constable; the pleased-with-himself attorney Darwin McNeil; and the former Californian Congressman and newest partner, Tom Montero. The team is supplemented by the ambitious enthusiasm of two young associates, the self-critical and earnest Lukas Gold and the genetically enhanced first-year associate Lee May Bristol.
With the developments of cloning cells, genetic profiling, mind-altering antibiotics and even virtual rape, the attorneys of Crane, Constable, McNeil & Montero find themselves with an ongoing case-load of precedent-setting cases. In a time when lawyers can go before judges as holograms, the firm takes on such morally and ethically ambiguous cases as parents suing their doctor for withholding critical results of their unborn child's genetic mapping; defending a man accused of robbery for "stealing" back his identity from his ex-fiancée who has uploaded his presence and personality; protecting the rights of a woman who has been virtually raped through nanotechnology; and trying to enforce a contract for a rock star who refused to take a risky anti-aging treatment to help his band stay on top.
In the year 2030, the United States has 52 states and universal healthcare, Oprah Winfrey is the President of the United States (her Vice President is an openly gay, retired, one-armed, four-star U.S. armed forces general) and the moon has been colonized. Genes for homosexuality and deviant behavior have been discovered but genetic engineering allows said genes to be deactivated which as a result has impacted the artistic community greatly.
Century City aired on the American CBS television network on Tuesday evenings and premiered on March 16, 2004. CBS ordered nine episodes, but broadcast only four before cancelling the series. Universal HD began broadcasting episodes on November 29, 2004, including previously unaired episodes.
In June 2009 Hulu made all nine episodes available for online viewing; however, they are cropped from their original widescreen presentations. They also bear an NBC logo, despite being a CBS program, due to Universal Television owning the series.[1]
The episodes were originally aired out of chronological order, mostly regarding the appearances of the character Voxxy and the other characters' knowledge of Lee May's genetic enhancements. The intended order is as follows, and was used by Hulu:
| Intended | Aired | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | |
| 2 | 7 | "The Face Was Familiar" | |
| 3 | 3 | "Love and Games" | |
| 4 | 5 | "Sweet Child of Mine" | |
| 5 | 2 | "To Know Her" | |
| 6 | 6 | "Without a Tracer" | |
| 7 | 8 | "The Haunting" | |
| 8 | 4 | "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose" | |
| 9 | 9 | "Only You" |