The Arrangement

Network: E!
Episodes: 20 (hour)
Seasons: Two

TV show dates: March 5, 2017 — May 13, 2018
Series status: Cancelled

Performers include: Josh Henderson, Christine Evangelista, Michael Vartan, Lexa Doig, Kyle Toy, Courtney Paige, Carra Patterson, Kyle Rideout, Katharine Isabelle, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Ashley Grace, and Autumn Reeser.

TV show description:
The Arrangement TV show is certainly not a roman à clef account about Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Scientology. This drama series is, however, a Hollywood-set love story featuring the pitfalls of celebrity romance and the pressures self-improvement programs can impose upon them.

A-List movie star Kyle West (Josh Henderson) is an ardent adherent of the Institute of The Higher Mind self-help program. He credits it for all of his success. Kyle’s still getting over the humiliation of former fiancée, Lisbeth (Ashley Grace), leaving him at the altar and dreads running into her at industry events.

That’s where Megan Morrison (Christine Evangelista) comes in, and she’s about to have a doozy of a day. A beautiful but struggling young actress/waitress, Megan auditions for a role in Kyle’s next summer block-buster.

She is caught off-guard when the casting director asks her the “three imperatives,” before going into the scene. These are three simple questions, which Megan is to answer with the first thoughts that come into her mind. The woman says the answers will reveal Megan’s true character.

Although she complies, Megan is fairly certain her audition went over like a lead balloon. For the record if she could have anyone else’s life, she’d choose Amelia Earhart. The most dangerous thing she’s ever done was hitchhike from Hoboken to Virginia Beach. Finally, her greatest fear is maximum security prison. Will any of these prove significant?

The three imperatives are the brainchild of Terence Anderson (Michael Vartan), Kyle’s best friend and head of the Institute. When he and his wife, Deann (Lexa Doig) — Kyle’s producing partner — review Megan’s audition tape, Terence does not care for Megan’s imperative answers. Kyle, however, is looking for someone with some actual acting ability and insists they continue watching.

Meanwhile, back home, Megan’s packing for a trip with her boyfriend of two years, Nic (Matthew Kevin Anderson), when a young woman named Annika (Courtney Paige) arrives and reveals she’s pregnant with Nic’s baby. Devastated, Megan seeks solace with her best girlfriends.

Shaun (Carra Patterson) and Hope (Katharine Isabelle) invite some young guys over and proceed to get Megan drunk to the point of being ill, because that’s what friends are for. The next blindingly bright morning, a hellaciously hungover Megan is awakened by a call from her quite pregnant agent, Leslie Bellcamp (Autumn Reeser), telling her she has two hours to get ready to do a reading with Kyle.

Despite, or perhaps because of the past rotten 24 hours, Megan knocks her callback out of the park. When she leaves, Kyle chases after her and convinces her to come out to lunch with him. He whisks her away on his motorcycle, and the two bond over tacos.

He later convinces her to let him jet her off to an island off the Mexican coast, where they truly hit it off and end up in bed together. The next morning Megan finds a sweet note from Kyle, who is off to a meeting. She smiles as she remembers their time together, on her flight home.

Back in Malibu, Terence investigates Megan and reveals to Deann that the young actress is essentially an orphan. Her dad took off when she was an infant, and while Megan was at NYU, her mother died of cancer. She dropped entirely off the grid for four months. Terrence feels Kyle’s involvement with her is “regressive.” Since Lisbeth’s people are already holding her side of the breakup over their heads, these two set out to ensure this new love train will not derail.

The next day, Leslie comes to the set of another project Megan’s working on. It seems she may be playing a coked-out hooker. Leslie presents Megan with an offer from Kyle’s people. It’s a demanding legal relationship and marriage contract, which could provide Megan with a $10 million payday.

When they meet to talk things over, Kyle explains that his brand can’t stand another indignity like the one it suffered when Lisbeth backed out on their wedding. He is really into Megan, but he has to protect not only himself, but all the other people who depend upon his image for their bread and butter. Knowing he’s winning her over, Kyle asks Megan to take a few days to decide.

Later, Megan shows the contract to Shaun and they mull it over. Marveling at all the stipulations in it, Shaun says Kyle is looking for the perfect girlfriend. “And I’m sorry, but we both know you haven’t been perfect.” Megan is hiding some secret from her past.

Is Terence only looking to protect Kyle, or are his motives much more malevolent? In Hollywood — where fame is everything — Megan must decide how far she’s willing to go for

her career and whether or not she will accept the arrangement.

Swept up by the way everything has unfolded, as well as Kyle’s not inconsiderable charms, Megan signs on the dotted line and the drama begins.

Series Finale:
Episode #20 — Suite Revenge
Megan comes to a decision about her relationship with Kyle; Kyle makes a move that could upend his entire life; Terence and DeAnn move forward with a plan that could change everything.
First aired: May 13, 2018,

What do you think? Do you like The Arrangement TV show? Should it have been cancelled or renewed for a third season on E!?