Rich Man, Poor Man Book II

Did You Know?

• Davey Davison replaces Kim Darby as Virginia Calderwood.
• Irwin Shaw's actual follow-up story was titled "Beggarman Thief" and had a totally different cast to the original series.
• Peter Strauss, Susan Blakely, Herbert Jefferson Jr., Van Johnson, Kay Lenz, Tim McIntire, Ray Milland, Dick Sargent and William Smith reprise their roles from the original series.

Synopsis

Picking up after Tom Jordache's death, the story follows his son Wesley, now living with his uncle Rudy, who is running for the U.S. Senate. Rudy's stepson Billy also lives with them, and much of the plot revolves around the rivalry between the two driven young men. A key conflict is Rudy's long struggle against Charles Estep, the enigmatic billionaire who runs Tricorp. Anthony Falconetti, back from the original series, has been released from prison for killing Tom and is now determined to take out Rudy as well. This time, Falconetti is set on destroying Rudy, Wesley, and every friend of the Jordache family, making it impossible to simply look away and escape him.

Critical response

The weekly series Rich Man, Poor Man Book II drew an average of 21.6 million viewers per episode, ranking 21st for the season. Its settings included Las Vegas and Aspen, locales associated with wealth and power. More melodramatic and soap opera-like than the original miniseries, it fared worse both in ratings and critical reception. Despite this, it retained a loyal audience in the UK and Europe. A six-disc DVD set was released by Universal-Playback on June 18, 2007. In the United States, A&E Home Video issued a set containing both the original miniseries and the weekly series for the first time on September 28, 2010. According to Chicago Tribune critic Gary Deeb, ABC took a risk on the sequel after Nick Nolte declined to reprise his role as Tom Jordache. Author Douglas M. Snauffer, in his book Prime Time Soap Operas, declared the series a failure.