Question: I was annoyed when ABC scheduled Emily's Reasons Why Not opposite Two and a Half Men (which is uneven but sometimes very funny). I needn't have worried. ABC couldn't produce a funny sitcom if it tried. The Watercooler review of Emily was glowing, but I think it tried too hard to be funny and the jokes were cliché. There is only one word to describe Emily: insipid. What did you think of the premiere? P.S.: Although many of your readers (and you) would disagree, I think there is only one truly funny show out there: South Park.
Answer: I would agree that South Park is one-of-a-kind funny, and if that's your standard, then everything else is bound to come up short, because no one (especially on network TV) is going to have the freedom to be that outrageous, crude and topical. But that gives way too short shrift to great comedies like Earl, Scrubs, even Two and a Half Men. As for Emily: I'm glad ABC is trying to broaden the tone of its comedies beyond the Jim-Rodney-George Lopez-
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Emily's Reasons Why NotIs it just me, or does every woman resort to voodoo dolls to release some anger? And don't we all expect a yellow parrot, aka "the love bird," after our hearts have been broken? No? OK, so anyway, this series debut left us wondering if we've got the next Carrie Bradshaw on our hands. The narration, the bad luck with men, it all sounds a bit Sex and the City. But Heather Graham's cute charm and her team of quirky sidekicks — including the token gay best friend — is definitely making this show a potential mid-season hit. Let Emily's reasons be a lesson for us all, starting with why not to smoke: Grandma Beatrice. By the way, I think so far my favorite character is Glitter, Emily's backstabbing former assistant who stole her idea to get a p
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Emily's Reasons Why NotIs it just me, or does every woman resort to voodoo dolls to release some anger? And don't we all expect a yellow parrot, aka "the love bird," after our hearts have been broken? No? OK, so anyway, this series debut left us wondering if we've got the next Carrie Bradshaw on our hands. The narration, the bad luck with men, it all sounds a bit Sex and the City. But Heather Graham's cute charm and her team of quirky sidekicks — including the token gay best friend — is definitely making this show a potential mid-season hit. Let Emily's reasons be a lesson for us all, starting with why not to smoke: Grandma Beatrice. By the way, I think so far my favorite character is Glitter, Emily's backstabbing former assistant who stole her idea to get a p
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ABC apparently found a reason why not, deciding to bump Heather Graham's just-debuted Emily's Reasons Why Not, as well as John Stamos' own ratings-anemic series, Jake in Progress, from the schedule this Monday in favor of an encore of The Bachelor's season premiere. Both comedies are expected to return Jan. 23. Also, it's an unlucky Friday the 13th for Hope & Faith, which has been benched to expand the Dancing with the Stars results show to a full, overblown hour. Speaking of which, if Master P isn't gone by 8:59 pm, I smell shark.
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Jake in ProgressDidn't UPN once have a show called Jake 2.0? Too bad. ABC could have used the title, because that's what this second-season premiere essentially was: an updated pilot for the series' new direction. What that direction is, alas, remains to be seen. John Stamos and Co. have tweaked the Jerk in Progress angle, giving Jake an ex to pine over in an effort to make him a little more vulnerable. They should have gone for a little more funny. Say what you want about Stamos (and you probably want to say something about Full House, or his hair, or the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" video), he's just a likable guy. But is likability reason enough to watch a situation comedy short on other criteria? And what was with the occasional, completely unnecessary split scree
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John Stamos of Jake in Progress
Seemingly since the day ABC and John Stamos agreed to put on a show together, Jake in Progress has been a work in progress. Originally envisioned as a real-time (i.e., 24-style, probably minus the gunplay) chronicle of a couple's first date, it dropped the gimmick in favor of a traditional single-camera take on hotshot publicist Jake Phillips' wild and woman-filled life. Now entering its second season (premiering tonight at 9:30 pm/ET), Jake has a new look (sharkskin suits out!), a new pal (Hidden Hills' Dondre Whitfield) and a "new" ex to pine for (NYPD Blue's Charlotte Ross). With those tweaks and others, everything's "jake" more than ever for the series' star, who phoned TVGuide.com last week from Miami.
TVGuide.com: I had read on Page Six or somewhere that you'd be among the bold-faced names New Year's Eve-ing in Miami. Is it strange to have your whereabouts mon
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Question: Is it just me, or are some of the new and mid-season shows just rip-offs of current/past shows? Last year, when Jake in Progress was debuting, ABC touted it as being "same city, opposite sex." (In other words, the same concept of another very successful show. Personally, I thought Jake was a cute, clever show and I look forward to its return.) Like Sex and the City, Jake is basically about the adventures of an attractive, successful person navigating the dating scene. Then, in the fall, we got Freddy, which is about an attractive, successful person navigating the dating scene. And let's not forget the regrettable Hot Properties. Now, the same network is touting yet another show, Emily's Reasons Why Not, which is about — you guessed it — an attractive, successful person navigating the dating scene. This doesn't even address CBS' shows How I Met Your Mother and the ridiculously named Love Monkey. I realize there are only so many premises to be used in sitcoms, and it seems ...
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John Stamos of Jake in Progress
Seemingly since the day ABC and John Stamos agreed to put on a show together, Jake in Progress has been a work in progress. Originally envisioned as a real-time (i.e., 24-style, probably minus the gunplay) chronicle of a couple's first date, it dropped the gimmick in favor of a traditional single-camera take on hotshot publicist Jake Phillips' wild and woman-filled life. Now entering its second season (premiering Jan. 9 at 9:30 pm/ET), Jake has a new look (sharkskin suits out!), a new pal (Hidden Hills' Dondre Whitfield) and a "new" ex to pine for (NYPD Blue's Charlotte Ross). With those tweaks and others, everything's "jake" more than ever for the series' star, who just yesterday phoned TVGuide.com from Miami.
TVGuide.com: I read on Page Six or somewhere that you'd be among the bold-faced names New Year's Eve-ing in Miami. Is it strange to have your whereabouts monitored so?J
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Question: When is Jake in Progress coming back on?
Answer: Monday, Jan. 9, also known as Charlotte Ross Day in my Outlook calendar.
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Now that the dust has settled a bit on all the 2006 mid-season changes that will be kicking in as soon as the holidays are over, here's my night-by-night scorecard of the imminent battles we'll be covering a month or so from now.
Monday
The big news is the return of 24 on Fox, with a four-hour blast January 15-16, followed by all-new episodes through the rest of the season. For the first two months, Skating with Celebrities (a rip-off of Dancing with the Stars) will be 24's lead-in. But come mid-March, Prison Break will return. What a one-two punch that promises to be!
CBS will coast along by capping off its popular comedies with
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