A disbarred attorney gets a job as a City of Chicago electrician with the help of his union boss big brother and attempts to earn an honest paycheck and stay clean. But once he befriends a mob-connected city worker, his world will never be the same (Gold Medal Winner for Best Original TV Pilot - Beverly Hills Screenplay Contest). 

SYNOPSIS:

In its simplest form, the Blue Circus is a microcosm of Chicago politics itself. However, instead of portraying the typical politicians and cops/firemen in the lead rolls, this is an examination of The City that Works, or doesn’t work, through the eyes of its colorful, low-level soldiers--electricians in the city’s clout-heavy Department of Streets and Sanitation. With 4 episodes completed (and 2 others nearly completed), The Blue Circus depicts Chicago as a city undergoing rapid change. Project buildings are coming down, the homeless are being run out of the downtown area, vast areas of the city are being beautified and old neighborhoods are becoming gentrified. Through all the change though, the way the city works, the way those in power doll out jobs, the way of patronage politics does not change. These civic workers cling to the ways of the past and this resistance to change leads to tension and conflict. What was acceptable for city workers to do 2, 3 or 10 years ago, is suddenly no longer acceptable as the media and Inspector General’s office crack down on renegade city workers. And the Lonigan family mirrors the City of Chicago, as its members fight their way through a multitude of problems and changes.

A drama sprinkled liberally with humor, The Blue Circus is centered around the lives of several Chicago city workers who approach their work day with a sense of entitlement and an “anything goes” attitude. Though politicians, the City Inspector General, reporters, and policeman appear regularly throughout the season, the primary forces that wind this clock are city worker newbie Danny Lonigan—a disbarred lawyer, and Jimmy ‘The Hat’ Scarpelli—a mob-connected worker. Danny’s union boss, big brother, Tom Lonigan, and the Hat’s mobster uncle, Jello Pellegrini, use their pull to keep their hooks in their kin, but those ties disintegrate as the season progresses and the friendship grows between Danny and Hat. Mayor Stokely attempts to portray the city in a positive light, but an endless stream of city worker misconduct cases gets tossed in his face at every turn. Kate Lonigan, Danny’s wife, and Mary Lonigan, the family matriarch, do their best to right the wrongs whenever their family’s secrets bubble to the surface. Jankowski, a dapper hitman fond of miniature golf, makes his first appearance in Episode 3, and becomes a scene stealer from that point on. He aids Danny in his transformation from lawyer, to city worker to ankle-breaking muscle for Jello.

The title, in part, refers to the blue work trucks and vans these men and women use to drive about the city on a daily basis, while the circus refers to the manner in which many of these workers approach their jobs. At best, their jobs are folly, an entitlement of sorts bestowed upon them because of their clout. With a mixture of drama and comedy reminiscent of The Wire, The Blue Circus is far more than just a peek at a group of colorful malcontents. As the season progresses, civic workers at every level are forced to examine the truths about what they have created and the culture of entitlement that they allow to exist. The City of Chicago itself becomes a character of sorts as its workers weave about its various neighborhoods. The streets, the delis, the pubs, the people that form Chicago bring about the action. Each episode stands alone with a full story movement but the complete season ties together to depict a city that should fall flat on its face in light of everything falling apart around it, and yet that city and its people, and indeed its city workers, persevere and stand tall.