The Inspiration For Donald Trump's TV Show

Who Will Inspire Donald Trump’s New TV Drama? These Are Our Guesses.

3:07 pm, August 19th | by Hillary Reinsberg

It’s fair to say we’re more than a bit excited about Donald Trump’s just-announced TV show, a fictional drama about wealthy and wacky millionaires and billionaires who live in his glitzy midtown apartment building, Trump Tower. The only thing that could make it better: if it were real.

Though the show will feature actors, we have to imagine that the starring characters will be inspired by some of the people who’ve inhabited Trump’s fancy apartment buildings. So, we took an extensive (and awesomely fun) look at the most inspiring dozen or so denizens of Trump buildings. Many kudos and indebtedness to CityFile, which has remained an excellent archive of this information and aided us greatly in our project. Now, without further ado, the wildly wealthy real estate moguls, fashion mavens and foreign billionaires who we hope are the inspiration for this upcoming show:

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1.Tamir Sapir: The Over-The-Top, Rags-to-Riches Billionaire

Tamir Sapir is a taxi-driver during electronics and oil importer turned real estate mogul. In other words, a billionaire. After divorcing his wife of 29 years, he married a leggy model. On top of that, he's also a business partner of Donald Trump's – he's a big investor in the new Trump Soho. Oh, and by the way, he used to own one of Manhattan's most famed pieces of real estate, the 20,000-square-foot Duke Semans mansion -- before he sold it to Carlos Slim.

2.Vikram Chatwal: The Over-the-Top Hotelier

Vikram Chatwal is the hotelier son of an elite Indian Sikh family. Chatwal owns trendy haunts like the Dream Hotel and has dated the models to match – Giselle, Kate Moss, you name it. He finally married an Indian model in an epic ceremony for which his father flew 300 guests to India. He lives in Trump International.

3.Celerie Kemble And Boykin Curry: The Society Couple

Celerie Kemble and Boykin Curry – his name real, hers not – are quite a society pair. She's a fancy interior decorator, while he works on building Playa Grande, an invite-only, über-exclusive "creative utopia" resort in the Dominican Republic. Just go with it. Expect to see them at most who's who social events.

4.Woody Johnson: The Tragedy-Plagued Heir/Sports Team Owner

Woody Johnson is the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and also the owner of the New York Jets. The family has had some tragic episodes, including the untimely death of Johnson's two brothers and daughter. He lives in Trump International.

5.Robert Burke: The Fashion Maven

Robert Burke used to run the fashion department at the irreplaceable Bergdorf Goodman and is credited with turning it into a high fashion hotspot. Now he runs his own style consultancy and has advised clients from Marc Jacobs to Vera Wang. Burke lives in Trump Tower.

6.Derek Jeter: The Hot Sports Star

Derek Jeter needs no introduction. The Yankees shortstop is equal parts hometown hero and heartbreaker. He lives in Trump World Tower.

7.Andew Rosen: The Fashion Mogul

Andrew Rosen is the co-founder of major fashion brand Theory. He previously rented an apartment from Theory co-founder and fashion designer Elie Tahari in Trump International, but stopped doing so when the two had legal issues. He didn't leave the building though – he bought an apartment on a different floor.

8.Donny Deutsch: The Advertising Playboy

Donny Deutsch ran the successful advertising agency called Deutsch, before selling it to Interpublic and cashing out. He became well-known for his CNBC show The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch and has a reputation for an active social and dating life. He's apparently renting in Trump Park Avenue, while he renovates a townhouse further uptown.

9.Jeffrey Chodorow: The Restaurateur

Jeffrey Chodorow is the restaurateur behind mega restaurants China Grill, FoodParc, Bar Basque and the whole slew of China Grill Management restuarants, which have locations all over the world. Chodorow's restaurants are famously fun, but Chodorow has been embroiled a crop of not-so-fun yet ultimately harmless food industry feuds with chefs and restaurant reviewers. He owns three combined apartments in Trump Tower.

10.Robert Lieber: The Banker Turned Public Servant

Robert Lieber was a Lehman Brothers banker until the firm went under and he's the former deputy mayor, as appointed by Michael Bloomberg. He lives in Trump International.

11.Stephen Green: The Real Estate Mogul

Like Trump, Stephen Green is in the real estate game. Green's firm, SL Green, doesn't go for the glitzy buildings Trump does. Instead, Green is the largest commercial landlord in the city and he calls Trump World Tower home. While fate has been kind to Green, it's been less so for his brother, Mark Green...the guy who's unsuccessfully run for New York public office more times than anyone can remember.

12.Stewart Rahr: The Tan Pharma Exec

Stewart Rahr runs mega wholesale drug retailer Kinray and is a close friend of Trump's. Rahr regularly brags about driving an old Jeep, but is usually seen in Aston Martin. He owns a $45 million Hamptons pad as well as an apartment in Trump Park Avenue.

13.Victor Ganzi: The Old Media Mogul

Victor Ganzi is the former CEO of Hearst, the company behind everything from Elle and Cosmopolitan to ESPN and the History Channel. We needed one media mogul in there, right? He lives at Trump Parc.