NEW SHOW: Lucky 7: How it Happened

Another series told in flashback. From the beginning of the pilot, we know that "present day" is seven months later than when the group of coworkers win the Empire State Lottery, but it is not clear how long the series will be in the past. It is even suggested that the drama will delve further into the past, in order to uncover the reasons behind the various characters' struggles. Still, $145M (obviously less after taxes) split six ways is a nice chunk of change. Plus, the fact that one of the Gold Star employees did not participate in the pool definitely puts an interesting perspective out there. All said and done, the pilot had me on the edge of my seat wanting more, and I hope that the next several episodes can live up to that.

Lucky 7 "Pilot" (S01E01): First, the characters and their backgrounds...
Denise, an overweight woman with a cheating husband, Ted. They have no children, but they tried for several years, only resulting in a miscarriage. They hadn't had sex in five years when he disappears, only to resurface after Denise wins big.
Matt has a pregnant wife, Mary, and a son and they're living at his mother's, as is his ex-con brother, Nicky. Things there are hectic, and Mary winds up going into premature labor, but fortunately births a healthy daughter. Mary even threatens to head to her sister's place with the kids if they can't get a place of their own. [this sort of attitude bothers me. How uninformed is Mary that she isn't aware of what their household can and cannot afford?]
Nicky is six months out of the slammer, and owes money to several different people. He is also trying to date Samira.
Samira wants to play the violin at Julliard, but her parents want her to settle down, trying to arrange a marriage for her with a local doctor.
Leanne is a single mother with a young daughter who dances. Leanne also has a past, but how deep it goes has yet to be revealed. [identity theft, anyone?]
Antonio is a mechanic at the gas station who stopped playing the pool at work to save money, but didn't tell his family, including wife Bianca.
Bob is the boss, who is worried that Gold Star might be sold to a chain, which could affect everyone's jobs.

Now, the story in the pilot. Matt, desperate to find a place to live, asks Bob for a raise. When he's turned down, Nicky tries to convince his brother to steal from the safe at work, which could benefit them both. After some hesitation, Matt agrees to help, but when Bob shows up in the middle of the robbery, Nicky hits him over the head and he's rushed to the hospital. [I was surprised that Nicky and Matt didn't go over "the plan" a little more, as it came off very strange.] Matt wants to come clean, but Nicky just wants to split the $9,000 and move on. When the numbers are pulled and the group finds out they won, everyone is excited except for Bianca, who immediately starts spending the money, unaware that her family isn't entitled to any of it. [everyone just memorizes the numbers to look for? for one set of numbers, sure, but for a bunch??] Antonio calls in sick the next day, avoiding the excitement as lottery official comes to go over the rules, talk about a press conference, and have the group vote on whether to include Matt, who didn't technically pay in that week.

(ABC/John Medland)

The blind vote is 2-2 (though Matt suspects Samira and Denise were the ones trying to keep him out), so once Bob is coherent, he breaks the tie by including Matt. [awww. how sweet. but why did anyone vote to keep him out? If they covered his portion, they knew he'd pay!] Meanwhile, Nicky gets interrogated about being a con working at the gas station. A day later, Antonio has no hard feelings and hopes that they all will still spend New Year's together. [that's sweet.]