Saturday, September 01, 2007

Yet More TV Critics...

...blogging over at Viewer Discretion, the Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert and Joanna Weiss. So far they're no Jaime Weinman, but worth checking out...like for this Six Feet Under cast update, and a trashing of Parker Posey/Lauren Ambrose's new sitcom:

The actors that helped to make "Six Feet Under" so excellent are all over TV in the next few months.

Lili Taylor (Lisa) is currently in "State of Mind."
Peter Krause (Nate) starts his promising new series, "Dirty Sexy Money," on Sept. 26.
Rainn Wilson (Arthur) returns on "The Office" on Sept. 27.
Freddy Rodriguez (Rico) joins "Ugly Betty" on Sept. 27.
Michael C. Hall (David) will be back in "Dexter" on Sept. 30.
Rachel Griffiths (Brenda) returns in "Brothers & Sisters" that same night.
Jeremy Sisto (Billy) is joining "Law & Order" when it returns early next year.
And Lauren Ambrose is due in "The Return of Jezebel James" in January.

I started thinking about this because I was remembering with horror watching Fox's pilot episode of "The Return of Jezebel James." It is a truly awful sitcom, friends, despite the formidable talent behind it. Parker Posey costars with Ambrose, and the show was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino of "Gilmore Girls." The concept: Posey and Ambrose are sisters who are opposites, and Ambrose agrees to have a child for Posey since Posey can't get pregnant.

I really can't believe that these people came up with such a brash, unfunny, derivative mess. Punctuated with an ear-splitting laugh track, it's the kind of show that makes you hate sitcoms. I'm hoping that 1) everyone involved agrees with me and decides to reshoot the pilot entirely and maybe even make it into a more dramatic hourlong show, or 2) Ambrose gets out of her contract.

I have such great memories of her as the mordant and, ultimately heroic, Claire Fisher. I believe she can be funny, but I think she deserves to appear in a more distinctive and original comedy.


That show does sound smelly, doesn't it.

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