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Prime Time Comedy
Friends. I never watched it in its first few years. But I watch it now, and find
that the writing is excellent and the actors perpetually fresh in their line
readings. A true ensemble, and surprisingly funny so many years into
the series.
News Radio. The writing has the nastiest sense of humor in television today. I
miss Phil Hartman (not least because his replacement has always been
hard to watch), and as the show strains for "far-out" comedy I can see
the death throes beginning ... and yet it's still a pleasure to watch, and I
remain a fan.
Frasier. A spin-off better than the original? By far. And it's getting better all
the time. Especially now that they spend less time on the job and more
time with the household. They envisioned it as a workplace comedy with
a domestic element, but it has evolved into a domestic comedy with a
workplace element. Good choice.
Spin City. This show started out thinking it was a dirty sex comedy. Then the
writers grew up (or were told to grow up) and Michael J. Fox's comedic
talents are no longer forced to take second place to pointless dirty jokes.
Just Shoot Me. I'd watch David Spade read the phone book. I know I'm the
only writer in the world -- so far -- who feels this way, but I think Spade
is being underused. In film, he could bring off Gene Wilder and even
Cary Grant roles. But even here, where he's merely a barb in the sides of
the other characters, he brings an intelligence and panache that stand
out in an otherwise merely adequate workplace comedy.
Veronica's Closet. Considering how narrowly Kirstie Alley missed being
locked into Vulcan rules in Star Trek movies, it's a pleasure to see her
find new life in this dirty-minded but still funny workplace comedy. In a
way, this is the other spin-off from "Cheers" -- and it manages to make
relentless frustrated lust far more entertaining than the increasingly
annoying and formulaic "The Nanny."
Working. What can I say? Fred Savage has grown up to be a better actor now
than he was as a kid. How many child actors does that happen to? The
ensemble and the writing are both weak -- I don't expect this show to
last -- but as long as it does run, it rests entirely on the shoulders of
Fred Savage's talent and utter likeability.
The Drew Carey Show. This show had an almost fatal case of Fonzie-itis,
where a funny "relief" character becomes the crutch the writers (and
network executives) lean on, to the detriment of the believability of the
rest of the show. Mimi almost became the Urkel of this show -- which
kept me switching away from stupid Mimi-centered plots for a solid year
-- but this year the writers seem to have realized their mistake and the
shows are more balanced again. Or maybe it's just the episodes I
happen to have tuned in for. The heart of this show is "Drew" and his
buddies, not the rivalry with Mimi.
The trouble is, something even worse than Fonzie-itis has
happened: Roseannitude. When Roseanne Barr started her TV series,
she was no actress -- but she was believable as a working-class woman.
A few years later, after the facelift, after years of Hollywood flattery (in
Hollywood, "You're a genius" means "hello"), after piles of money, she was
a better actress -- but not for one second was she believable as her
sitcom character. Drew Carey is well advanced on the same road. He
was a whitecollar working stiff kind of guy when the series started. But
that man is gone, and in its place is this Hollywood guy who for some
reason hangs out in an office. So this show is dying, and it's Drew
Carey's success that's killing it. Bummer, huh?
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