Zach Braff, Scrubs
Question: I know that you have finally given The Office the credit it is due, but there is still an argument that Scrubs should be paired with My Name Is Earl. Why does it have to be one or the other? I grew up with two full hours of NBC comedy hits on Thursday nights. Why can't NBC put together another Thursday-night powerhouse and have all three of the shows on Thursday?
Answer: You would think, wouldn't you? (And more than a few weighed in with this very thought.) So let this be my latest (by no means my first) cry for NBC to have some common sense and decency and put Scrubs back where it belongs, on Thursdays, if not to close this season out — that seems too much to ask — then to jumpstart next season. The idea of Scrubs leading into an Earl-Office combo, with some unknown comedy filling the first half hour, is my idea of comedy heaven. Unfortunately, NBC has always had a tin ear for this sort of thing, and even in the best of days (the Cheers/Seinfeld/Frasier eras), there was
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John Larroquette, Harry Anderson and Markie Post, Night Court
Question: My boyfriend and I were watching a Night Court rerun the other night and ended up having an argument about Harry Anderson. I think he was a magician before he had that show, but my boyfriend said that he made a living as a con man. Who's right? And don't make fun of us. We fight about everything.
Answer: Me, make fun of my loyal readers? Perish the thought, dear woman, for it is you whose page hits help generate my paycheck, thus keeping me fat and happy (but mostly fat).
The answer to your question is a little of both, but I must say the magician part is easier to prove due to Anderson's appearances on Saturday Night Live and Cheers, where he played a hustler named, appropriately enough, Harry. He's on record saying he used to run shell games in various cities before going straight, but Anderson was notorious for making up en
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Question: Please, no 7th Heaven spin-off with Lucy and Kevin. That sounds like 7th Heaven: The Next Generation. The most interesting concept for a spin-off would be one that follows Martin as he tries to break in to the big leagues. They could spin it in the direction of Felicity and make the show about Martin trying to make it on his own and discover who he is while avoiding the temptation of steroids and being a dutiful father to his child. Eventually his baseball career would go bust and he could study sports journalism at Simon's school.
Answer: You know, this is the first good idea I've heard regarding life after 7th Heaven. It goes the Frasier route in taking a character who was important to the parent show (in that case, Cheers) but not from the core original cast and telling a completely different story, though with the same basic values. Only problem here is that series with sports themes have had a terrible time of it, the horrific One Tree Hill notwithstanding. But Martin
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Among the new series revealed to be in production at other networks: KISS rocker Gene Simmons, his real-life honey, Playmate Shannon Tweed, and their kids will front Gene Simmons' Family Jewels, a new reality series from A&E, which is also in development on shows centered around Cheers alum George Wendt and champion drag-racer John Force, and USA Network has ordered the comedy-drama Underfunded, starring Reno 911!'s Mather Zickel as a "superagent" for the Canadian Secret Service.
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Seth Green is one of Four Kings
Four Kings, the new NBC comedy (premiering tonight at 8:30 pm/ET) from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, treads Friends-ly territory with the story of four lifelong buds — Barry (Seth Green, the Austin Powers movies; Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ben (Josh Cooke, Committed), Bobby (Shane McRae) and Jason (Todd Grinnell) — who inherit an improbably fantastic New York City apartment when Ben's grandmother passes away. With a quartet of young actors onboard, the backstage shenanigans probably rival what you'll see on screen. "One of the games we play, involving a blue fuzzy pillow being wi
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Josh Cooke is one of Four Kings
Four Kings, the new NBC comedy (premiering Thursday at 8:30 pm/ET) from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, treads Friends-ly territory with the story of four lifelong buds — Barry (Seth Green, the Austin Powers movies; Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ben (Josh Cooke, Committed), Bobby (Shane McRae) and Jason (Todd Grinnell) — who inherit an improbably fantastic New York City apartment when Ben's grandmother passes away. With a quartet of young actors onboard, the backstage shenanigans probably rival what you'll see on screen. "One of the games we play, involving a blue fuzzy pillow being w
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I've missed Kitchen Confidential. I know it isn't really groundbreaking TV, and I know its goose is pretty much cooked, but it is just plain funny. Reuniting Alias pretty boys Bradley Cooper and Michael Vartan was a genius idea on this too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen episode. The writers even tossed in a little aside where Cooper (as his character Jack) says they are so close it is like they've worked together before. Clever. And there was a nice lesson learned — in a feud like this one, it is always the innocent ones who get hurt. Poor Jim in that ice chest, after his friends had previously banished him to the "idiot hole." But at least the dopey newbie who makes Woody on Cheers look worldly got the line of the night: "Can you help me get
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Stephen Collins of 7th Heaven
After 10 years as the WB's unsung savior, 7th Heaven is being sent to, well, programming heaven. The network declared the show "too expensive" to keep running and announced that this season would be the family drama's last — though there is some talk of a spin-off. In a two-part interview, TVGuide.com spoke with Stephen Collins, who since Heaven's debut has played Rev. Eric Camden, the paterfamilias of seven kids — which some might call hell, but maybe that's just us — about the show's value, its abrupt cancellation and more.
TVGuide.com: When did you find out that Heaven was canceled?Stephen Collins: [Series creator] Brenda [Ham
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Question: Last Monday you had a letter in which the writer decried the quality of today's comedies. He noted that the networks are at a disadvantage compared to HBO because of censorship. Here's my problem. The writer noted great comedies from the past 20 years, like Seinfeld, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, The Cosby Show. I can add other great comedies: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, M*A*S*H, Taxi, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy and many more. None of these great comedies needed a lack of censorship in order to be funny. Why do so many people think there has to be foul language and sex in order for a show to be good? All that's needed is quality writing, truly funny situations that people can relate to and some good acting, and you know what? You have a classic sitcom. What do you think?
Answer: I think you're right, of course. But try convincing today's generation of tone-deaf program executives to go with class over crass. You'd think
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Question: I have always wanted to know which comedy series on TV has had the largest single-episode audience in the U.S. Was it M*A*S*H, Seinfeld, Friends or another show?
Answer: That would be M*A*S*H, Johan. When CBS aired the final episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," on Feb. 28, 1983, 106 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch. Compare that with the final Cheers episode, which pulled in 80.4 million a decade later, or the Seinfeld (76.3 million) and Friends (52 million) finales, and you can see how truly impressive the M*A*S*H number is.
Amen, indeed.
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