8 Things You Forgot About ‘Dirty Sexy Money,’ Which Ended 15 Years Ago

With a title like Dirty Sexy Money, viewers knew exactly what to expect from the ABC primetime soap: very rich folks with very poor behavior. And that’s exactly what lawyer Nick George (Peter Krause) discovers when he becomes the chief counsel to the billionaire Darling family, led by matriarch Letitia (Jill Clayburgh) and patriarch Tripp (the late great Donald Sutherland).

“I couldn’t resist getting to play with Donald Sutherland for a little while. People were crazy for that show,” Krause told Remind this March. “When I look at it next to Succession, Dirty Sexy Money was pretty much the same show. … There are different angles, but we were PG-13, and had some boundaries that you don’t have on HBO. … It would’ve been fun to have done Dirty Sexy Money without the limitations and have that cast and [creator] Craig [Wright] writing the show that he really wanted to write.”

The fun ended 15 years ago, when ABC aired the final Dirty Sexy Money episode on August 8, 2009, after canceling the series. Still, the show lore below might convince you to revisit Dirty Sexy Money or to meet the not-so-darling Darlings for the first time.

1. It had a cast stacked with Hollywood veterans and emerging talents.

Krause joined the Dirty Sexy Money cast after starring on Sports Night and Six Feet Under. Sutherland did so in the back half of what would be an acclaimed, six-decade screen career. And Clayburgh did so after scoring two Oscar nominations during her time in Hollywood.

Then came the Darling children: Backdraft star Billy Baldwin played politician Patrick, Justified star Natalie Zea played businesswoman Karen, theater actor Glenn Fitzgerald played priest Brian, Fringe star Seth Gabel played wayward son Jeremy, and The O.C. alum Samaire Armstrong played actress Juliet.

Other supporting players included NCIS: New Orleans’ Zoe McLellan as Lisa George, Nick’s first wife; L.A. Law’s Blair Underwood as billionaire Simon Elder; and, starting in Season 2, Elementary’s Lucy Liu as attorney Nola Lyons.

2. Its writers’ room was full of future TV creators.

After bringing Dirty Sexy Money to the screen, Wright created Greenleaf, and his writing staff was full of future TV creators, including Diane Ruggiero-Wright (iZombie), Liz Tigelaar (Little Fires Everywhere), Joey Soloway (Transparent), and Sallie Patrick (Dynasty). Plus, prolific TV producers Peter Horton and Greg Berlanti ranked among the Dirty Sexy Money executive producers.

3. Even the guest-star roster had big names.

Established stars Rena Sofer, John Schneider, Sheryl Lee, Robert Pine, and Donna Mills appeared on Dirty Sexy Money in guest-starring roles; while Chloë Grace Moretz, Elle Fanning, Sofía Vergara, Gina Torres, and Bellamy Young all made appearances on the show before their breakout roles in other projects. (Fun fact: Moretz and Fanning split the role of Kiki George, Nick’s daughter.)

4. ABC banked on Paris Hilton for publicity.

Before the show premiered, ABC placed a “We Love Paris” ad signed by “The Darling Family” in the New York Post, capitalizing on the legal troubles facing heiress Paris Hilton at the time, as Reuters reported. The network also commissioned a plane carrying a banner with the same message to fly above a detention facility where Hilton turned herself in, per TV Guide.

5. The network also put fake news stories on PerezHilton.com.

In another bid for viral marketing, ABC planted fake news stories on gossip blog PerezHilton.com, hyping up the show with tabloid-style missives about its characters.

One read: “Billionaire drama queen acting out again. It turns out the only place Juliet Darling can really act and react is in front of the press. When questioned about her less-than-stellar reviews for her stage debut, she had three words for the media. ‘Well, you’re poor!’ Goes to show that even with scads of dirty sexy money, you can’t buy talent or class.”

Another said: “Family lawyer Nick George does good with Darling gold. Funded by a generous grant from the Darling Family Foundation, Nick George was caught practically skipping with joy after he took his first steps in creating a non-profit promoting children’s welfare. Is this the first-of-its-kind orphanage? Or perhaps a cover-up for something, shall we say, less than Darling?”

6. Lady Gaga had a hand in the promotion.

Before Lady Gaga was a global pop superstar — and an acclaimed actor, to boot — ABC used “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” a song from her debut album, to promote Dirty Sexy Money. One of the two “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” music videos intercut shots of Gaga with shots from the show.

7. Candis Cayne played a groundbreaking character.

In the role of Patrick’s mistress Carmelita, Candis Cayne became the first transgender actor to play a recurring role on primetime TV, according to Out Magazine. Even better, Carmelita was trans, too.

“I was only supposed to do one or two episodes, and then it ended up lasting the life of the show,” Cayne told Out in 2015. “It was written really well and my character was in love with this man, and he was in love with her, too. I realized that had never been portrayed, but I had no idea how big the impact would be socially until I was three to four episodes in and people started to realize that this was making the world aware of the fact that there are normal-feeling trans women out there. … It’s a cool feeling to be a part of trans history on that level.”

8. Billy Baldwin begged viewers to save the show.

In December 2008, after ABC opted not to order additional episodes of Dirty Sexy Money Season 2, Baldwin urged fans to “complain like hell” to the network to keep the show on the air. “Dirty Sexy Money is not dead — yet,” he wrote in an email message to supporters, per the Boston Herald. “Tell ABC you want your DSM. Complain and don’t mince words. Tell ’em you’re mad as hell and you’re not gonna take it anymore. … I love this show. It’s been a great gig, and I want to continue to share [the] high crimes and hijinks of the Darling family with you for many seasons to come.”

Unfortunately for fans and the cast and crew, the Darlings’ high crimes and hijinks left the airwaves after Season 2, but the good news is that Dirty Sexy Money is available on DVD and on digital.