A Couple of Reviews... and Hey, Isn't That An Iron Chef Sitting Next To Us?

The Class

The sole new comedy on the CBS Fall lineup is The Class (which debuts this Monday at 8). With a definite Friends-ish feel to it (likely due to its producers), The Class uses a highly-contrived plot device (a group of late-twentysomethings reuniting twenty years after having shared a third-grade classroom) to set up the “sit” in this sitcom.

The cast is very appealing, and there were a few genuine laugh-out-loud laughs in the pilot. Unfortunately, the show feels too “set up”… almost too contrived… as if the producers, writers, and actors are struggling to get us to buy into the highly-contrived situation. This pilot crammed an awful lot of exposition into a twenty-three minute comedy… probably too much for the format. But it’s a show worth keeping an eye on: it’s got a great pedigree in its producers and writers, and its young cast shows a great deal of potential. If the producers can rise above the way-too-forced set up, then they just may have something here. For now, though, the jury’s out.



Til Death

Fox is attempting to update its early hit Married with Children with Til Death, a new half-hour which premiered last Thursday. Brad Garrett assumed the sardonic “Al Bundy” role as the long-suffering husband of Joely Fisher (a barbed but less caustic version of “Peggy Bundy”). As in Married, this old, seen-it-all married couple finds themselves with new neighbors, an idealistic newlywed couple. As the format goes, it will be up to the old married couple to help squelch the idealism of the newlyweds.

Garrett and Fisher work well together, but the show feels overly familiar, to the point where we, the viewers, know exactly where the show is going even before it gets there. While amusing enough, Til Death already feels as if it’s growing stale… and that’s after only one episode! If you want to see the bickering couple shtick done right, then pick up the DVD collection of the “classic 39” episodes of The Honeymooners. If those shows don’t make you laugh, then nothing will.



Iron Chef!

From the “what were the odds against THIS ever happening“ department… I found myself last weekend in the company of an Iron Chef. Yes, an honest-to-god Iron Chef… of the famed television Iron Chefs. I was at a Foxwoods VIP after-party (following the Food and Wine Festival), when who should sit down practically next to my guest and me but Morimoto himself. He was there with his entourage, and he was quite gracious when my guest and I went over to say hello and to introduce ourselves. Other “Food TV” personalities eventually made it to the after-party, including Tyler Florence (who couldn’t have been nicer), Tom Colicchio, and TV’s first Top Chef winner, Harold Dieterle. All in all, it was a fun party… and it made for some great people-watching (including a security guard who was a dead-ringer for “Mario” of Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong video-game fame).



And Finally...

For the two or three of you who are interested, local television is about to once again lower its standards, as I have once again been invited to act as master of ceremonies for the annual Public Access Awards… this year being held on September 29. The ceremony (also known as the PEG Awards), which honors achievement in public-access television programming, will be taped on that date for later telecast. Get your TiVos ready!