Starring Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton (PBA)
Back to You features two of the best actors in TV history in a show produced by the creators of the most award-winning comedy of all time. How can it go wrong? It's hard to tell from the available clips (laid end to end here with a few gaps) but I have some notes to share after you watch them:
Heaton comes off fairly well here because she's not automatically likeable and she's in an office setting in a suit. This puts some healthy perceptual distance between her and Debra Barone. But Grammer may be cursed with Frasier Crane till the day he dies. Everything is lose/lose. Put him in a suit and he looks like Frasier. Put him in anything else and he looks like Frasier trying to be a regular guy. The hard edge he's shooting for here is often reminiscent of the voice and posture Frasier would assume when he was trying to impress Marty's pals. Still, Grammer has the skill to make us buy Chuck in time, so I'll give him a chance to pull it off.
The supporting cast is looking shaky at best. The nerd has a cliched appeal but the invisible guy is truly invisible. He has all the presence of an empty cereal box. Hopefully this is impression comes merely from the brief time he has in these clips.
The writing is average in spots, above average in others. I like the falcon line!
All in all, it has some potential and a great pedigree. We'll see if it's allowed to find its footing.
Final preview score: B minus
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1 comment:
Having seen the first episode, I cannot whoelheartedly recommend investing 30 minutes in this show every week. For a show put together by an ostensibly urbane staff, it can be very crude and puerile.
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