Bottom Line: Loads of laughs from some of TV comedy's best writers and performers.

[Janice]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/television/reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=0LxTGryGVvYNf1Llb7ZZd52rhWk2GK1bKnXv9yy89hnPhJ7VHLnR!-845377987&&rid=9846

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Back To You

Bottom Line: Loads of laughs from some of TV comedy's best writers and performers.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/images/logos/reviews/9846_1.jpg
Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton play Pittsburgh TV co-anchors Chuck Darling and Kelly Carr.

There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to new TV series, but "Back to You" is as close as it gets. Created, written, directed and acted by some of the most respected people in the shrinking world of TV sitcoms, there is only one significant question to be raised about this show: Why is it on Fox? More about that later.

Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton star as TV co-anchors Chuck Darling and Kelly Carr. Ten years earlier, he left the Pittsburgh station where they anchored the news. He had a succession of jobs in larger markets until, in Los Angeles, a much-too-candid rant with the mike on and the camera rolling got him fired. Putting the best possible face on it, he returned to Pittsburgh and his former co-anchor.

It's a new series, but in only a minute it will feel as if you've been watching it for years. Grammer and Heaton are familiar faces, and their roles, while not exactly like Frasier Crane and Deborah Romano, bear striking similarities. He is still pompous and smug; she's still controlling and rational.

At the same time, the TV newsroom is one of TV's most reliable sources of comedy and satire going back to when spunky Mary Richards was hired by Lou Grant at WJM in Minneapolis. The ultrasexy weather girl, the remote stand-up in the midst of torrential rain -- it's all in there, albeit with fresh energy.

The multicamera format adds to the show's familiar, as well as conventional, feel. It's what creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd know best, but it might be tiresome to a growing number of younger viewers. Only the superior acting and writing of "Back to You" will keep them from becoming bored by the format and annoyed with the studio laughter. Maybe we've reached the point where no comedy can revive the multicamera format and the best one can do is overcome it.

Levitan and Lloyd certainly have done that. They wrote a pilot that is packed with good lines, sometimes even great ones, and sprinkled with the right amount of sexual innuendo to create a hint of romantic tension. A second episode, also sent to reviewers, is just as smartly written.

Levitan and Lloyd also stack their deck by recruiting James Burrows, arguably TV's foremost sitcom director, as the third executive producer. They also assembled a versatile and talented supporting cast. There's irrepressible Fred Willard as the former jock sports anchor, Ayda Field as the superhot weather girl, Josh Gad as the young and easily intimidated news director and Ty Burrell as the reporter with an unpronouncable last name that dashes any hope of becoming anchor.

This is as good as multicamera gets, but in the end, it's still mostly about middle-age adults and is utterly void of flashy, animated or computer-generated gags. That makes it an unlikely addition to the Fox schedule. Some say people watch shows, not networks, and that they'll find a good show wherever it is. Maybe so, but it seems so much more likely that more viewers would find this one if it was on CBS on Mondays or NBC on Thursdays, where it seems to belong.

[Janice]

This just in: 'Back to You' is solid

http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gifhttp://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gifhttp://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif
Back to You
* * * (out of four)
http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif

By Robert Bianco (http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/reporter.aspx?id=541), USA TODAY

It's not easy to be a sitcom fan these days. Old pickings are slim, new offerings are few, and the shows that are offered often require you to meet them more than halfway, practically willing them to be better and funnier.

You'd think less work would be required with Back to You based on the stars alone: Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and Raymond's Patricia Heaton, two of the funniest pros in the business. And at its best, Back does give you hope that it could be just what we need — a reliably funny, brashly self-confident sitcom.

Now if only it were at its best more often.

Don't blame the stars, who make almost every line work — though at times they work awfully hard to do so. Grammer plays Chuck Darling, a local news anchor who weds Frasier's ego and bluster to the gruffer, less sophisticated ways of a small-time ladies man. Having left Pittsburgh for bigger pastures, he's now returned in disgrace, to the dismay of his tightly wound former co-anchor Kelly — expertly played by Heaton, who has clearly studied every affected head tilt, half-smile and vocal trick in the anchor canon.

Were their pairing not enough, they're working with yet another comedy great — Fred Willard, who, as a dim sports anchor, proves once again he has mastered the art of letting a sweet-natured insanity peek through a normal facade.

Yet as hard as they (and we) try, Back remains a stilted work in progress that too often shifts from smart to silly and, worse, smarmy. Riskier still, the show takes a sudden twist at the end that threatens to shift it from sitcom to soap, and bad soap at that.

Still, even when Back is faltering, you flash back to the skill of its stars and to moments when the show succeeds in making you laugh out loud. And you hope it will build on its strengths and put a brake on some of its smutty weaknesses.

Is that enough to make Back worth watching? Up to you.

[Janice]

http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Ellen+Gray+%7C+Fox%27s+new+%27Back+to+You%27%3A+Grown-up+%26+funny+%7C+Daily+News+%7C+09%2F18%2F2007&expire=&urlID=23979693&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Ftelevision%2F20070918_Ellen_Gray___Foxs_new_Back_to_You__Grown-up___funny.html&partnerID=168106

Fox's new 'Back to You': Grown-up & funny

LAUNCHING A successful network sitcom's been likened to catching lightning in a bottle, a metaphor that's of little comfort to the legions who've failed to be funny for 22 minutes a week.

Still, when a comedy works, it lights up the night, and and sometimes even people's lives.It also makes its creators enormously rich. (See "Seinfeld" producer Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" for details.)

So while no one can reasonably expect lightning to strike the same bottle twice, the people who make TV are bound to keep trying.

Laying in a good supply of glassware and checking the forecast for thunderstorms guarantees nothing, but it can't hurt.

Or so goes the thinking at Fox, which starting tomorrow night will have former "Everybody Loves Raymond" co-stars Patricia Heaton and Brad Garrett employed in back-to-back time slots.

Garrett's there, along with Joely Fisher, for another season of " 'Til Death," while Heaton's paired with another successful lightning rod, "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer, in the series premiere of "Back to You."

Co-created by "Frasier's" Christopher Lloyd and "Just Shoot Me's" Steven Levitan - whose resume includes a stint as a morning anchor on a Madison, Wis., TV station - "Back to You" may not be quite as classy as Heaton's and Grammer's former shows.

But compared with what Fox usually offers up in the way of live-action comedy - remember "Stacked," the show built around Pamela Anderson's breasts? - it's shockingly grownup.

And once you get past the sometimes predictable banter, sexual and otherwise, in the newsroom of Pittsburgh TV station WURG, where anchors Chuck Darling (Grammer) and Kelly Carr (Heaton) find themselves working together after a decade apart, you'll even find a grown-up dilemma at the show's core.

One I've been asked not to mention.

I'm not sure the writers of "Back to You" needed to mention it, either, at least not so soon, but that's only a quibble.

Grammer and Heaton slip easily into characters who won't be easily mistaken for Frasier Crane or Debra Barone, the writing's professional, the supporting cast dependable (and in the case of Fred Willard, another "Raymond" veteran, dependably hilarious).

It may not be lightning in a bottle, but it's at least something of a decent vintage.

Readers weigh in

To say that Reader Reviewers gave "Back to You" a warm welcome is putting it mildly. Not only did the 15 panelists I showed it to last week award it an average score of 9.2 out of 10 - they volunteered to sit through a second episode Fox had included with the pilot screener.

"Absolutely hilarious - I never laughed so hard from a Fox sitcom," wrote Rasheed Clark, of Hunting Park, one of 10 Everybody's a Critic participants to give the show a perfect 10.

"Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton were terrific together," wrote Michele Branella, of South Philadelphia. "I would definitely watch this show."

"I love the hard-biting, sarcastic humor," wrote Ernest Evans, of West Oak Lane.

"The timing is great," wrote Gwendolyn Mininall, of Nicetown.

"This show is not 'Frasier,' not 'Raymond,' and may never be," wrote Bob Johnson, of Warminster, who also found the supporting cast "kind of weak."

"But I like this show," he added. "I will watch this."

[TJL]

I'm telling Brian you're posting Back To You stuff behind his back!

:p

[Janice]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14481139&ft=1&f=1008

'Back to You' Crew: Sitcoms Are Serious Business

There's no substitute for experience, or so the saying goes. When it comes to comedy experience, the cast and crew of the new Fox sitcom Back to You have it in spades.

In fact if you were to take all of the sitcoms they've worked on, you'd have a list of just about every hit — and some of the flops — of the last three decades.

Director Jim Burrows started on The Mary Tyler Moore show in 1974. Then he worked on Newhart, Laverne & Shirley, Taxi and Will & Grace.

Between them, writers Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd (the latter of whom is not to be confused with the Back to the Future actor of the same name) boast credits including Golden Girls and Just Shoot Me — along with such lesser lights as Down Home and, er, Stacked.

"I'd like to forget that [last] one right now," jokes Levitan.

And Back to You star Kelsey Grammer? His 20 years of sitcom experience can be summed up in a single name: Frasier Crane.

For a show with so much institutional wisdom about what makes a sitcom tick, Back To You has a pretty standard storyline. Grammer plays TV news anchor Chuck Darling, who screws up big-time at his network job and has to go back to his old local station. He has a little trouble adjusting to the downscaling: On his first day, he asks the young-looking news director to park his car.

Back To You isn't the first sitcom to make its "sit" a local news station. Levitan, the show's co-creator, says it's fertile ground for comedy.

"You have people that think they're giant stars in little towns," he says, enumerating the possible sources of laughs. "You got a ticking clock, which is great for comedy — everything's happening, we're working towards a show, and we got to get it on the air. You got egos bumping up against each other, and that's all funny."

But the "sit" is irrelevant to Burrows, the show's director. He thinks the writing, pacing and the characters are a lot more important. Burrows points out that some of the best sitcoms have had very simple concepts.

"Six people sitting around a coffee shop," Burrows says, meaning Friends. "A garage in New York City, with a bunch of cab drivers (Taxi). A bar in Boston (Cheers). Wow. The execution of the sit is more important than the sit."

Burrows and Grammer have 20 years of experience working together, and it's almost as if they communicate in code, Levitan and Lloyd say. For one Back to You moment, the creative team wanted a particular kind of comic reaction from Grammer, but no one knew quite how to ask for it — no one except Burrows.

"He goes, 'Kels, gimme a No. 42 on that,'" Lloyd recalls — and Grammer knew exactly what to do.

"He went, 'I got you; I'll give you the Chagrin No. 17," Lloyd says. "And they did the scene one minute later, and he made a hilarious face, and it was exactly what we wanted."

[Janice]

I'm telling Brian you're posting Back To You stuff behind his back!

:p
Shhhhh....;)

[Ireneparalegal]

I'm telling Brian you're posting Back To You stuff behind his back!

:p
:rofl:

[Brian Damage]

LOL I love it!

[catlover79]

If this show was just Grammer, Heaton and Willard reading the phone book, it would be hilariously funny. Give Willard a bigger role!! I've always enjoyed his appearances on Jay Leno as various characters named "Willard J. Fredericks". :rofl:

[sweetdiggity]

If this show was just Grammer, Heaton and Willard reading the phone book, it would be hilariously funny. Give Willard a bigger role!! I've always enjoyed his appearances on Jay Leno as various characters named "Willard J. Fredericks". :rofl:

I've been a fan of his since he was on Roseanne. And he's GREAT on Leno!! :rofl:

[Janice]

http://tnjn.com/2007/sep/20/foxs-back-to-you-delivers-laug/

Fox`s "Back to You" delivers laughs from the news room

http://tnjn.com/content/storyimage/2007/09/21/back-to-you13.512.jpg (http://tnjn.com/content/storyimage/2007/09/21/back-to-you13.box.jpg)

There are few things that will attract me to a new sitcom.

One of them is Kelsey Grammer.

He's a legend in the world of sitcoms. He portrayed Dr. Fraiser Crane for 19 years (nine years on "Cheers," then 11 on "Fraiser"). He can play the egotistical, snobbish intellectual with great comic effect. The logical next step from the radio host Dr. Crane would be to a Ted Baxter-like news anchor.

"Back to You" gives us that character in Charles Darling. The show starts off 10 years ago when Darling (Grammer) is leaving the news desk at a local Pittsburg television station for a job in a new city. Flash forward 10 years, and he's worked his way to a Los Angeles news station. After a being caught on camera cursing at a co-worker, he's fired and returns to his old station in Pittsburg.

He is welcomed warmly by most of his old co-workers. Among these are the always funny Fred Williard ("Waiting for Guffman"). Willard is Marsh McGinley, the sports reporter who likes his jokes on the misogynistic side. The only person in the station that gives Darling the cold shoulder is his old co-anchor, Kelly Carr (Emmy Award winner Patricia Heaton).

As Darling catches up with Carr, he slowly deduces that Carr's daughter is the result of a one-night-stand from before he left. The first episode ends with Darling, a woman-chasing bachelor, adjusting to his new role as a father, even though the daughter doesn't know who he is.

The producers have a solid cast with Grammer, Heaton and Willard. The comedy is sharp and the acting on point. It will remind the older viewers of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and the younger viewers of "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy." Luckily for us all, it's a far cry from "Anchorman." It's funny, smart and it has Kelsey Grammer.

[Janice]

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/lifestyle/story.html?id=d5269658-ad3c-46d6-a5cf-15e32a561288 (http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/lifestyle/story.html?id=d5269658-ad3c-46d6-a5cf-15e32a561288)

Back to You comedy off to promising start

Friday, September 21, 2007

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- The new Fox network comedy Back to You, starring TV sitcom veterans Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, got off to a promising start as the No. 1 show in its time slot, Nielsen Media Research reported Thursday.

The TV newsroom comedy pairing two of U.S. television's best-known talents, averaged 9.4 million viewers Wednesday night to eclipse the debut of the highly anticipated -- and controversial -- reality show Kid Nation on CBS.

Back to You ranked as the night's second-most watched broadcast overall behind the NBC hit game show Deal or No Deal, which drew 9.7 million viewers.

It also tied at No. 1 with another Fox offering, chef-to-the-rescue show Kitchen Nightmares, in the night's ratings race for viewers aged 18 to 49, the group generally most prized by advertisers.

The launch of Back to You is seen in the TV industry as a key test of whether a traditional TV sitcom can thrive in an era when such shows are being crowded out by reality TV, drama-comedy hybrids and a new breed of single-camera comedies shot in a more cinematic style, without a studio audience.

The show marks an especially big gamble for Fox, a network better known for its cartoon fare such as The Simpsons, gonzo sitcoms like Married . . . With Children, edgy dramas like 24 and the hit talent show American Idol.

Grammer, who played snooty psychiatrist Frasier Crane for 20 years on Cheers and spinoff sitcom Frasier, stars on Back to You in the similarly pompous role of TV news anchor and womanizer Chuck Darling, hitting a mid-life career crisis.

After an on-camera gaffe costs him a plum job in Los Angeles, Darling lands back at his old Pittsburgh station with his former co-anchor and paramour, Kelly Carr, played by Everybody Loves Raymond veteran, Heaton.

Executives at Fox, which began as a network tailored to young viewers, say they are counting on Back to You to help build a more mainstream audience.

[Janice]

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_6935010

Can 'Back to You' save the sitcom?

SHOW HAS HELP FROM TV VETERANS IN FRONT AND BEHIND CAMERAS

San Jose Mercury News

BEVERLY HILLS - Here's all you need to know about the current state of the American television comedy: There will be just 20 live-action sitcoms this coming season; five years ago, there were twice that number. CBS and NBC - once home to TV's top sitcoms - have just four each on their fall schedules.

It's all a matter of diminishing returns.

What half-hour comedies there are on the air aren't doing particularly well. No sitcom has ranked in the Top 10 of most-watched shows since "Everybody Loves Raymond" ended its run in the spring of 2005. Last season, just one - "Two and A Half Men" - regularly ranked in the Top 20.

Still, there are comedy writers - good comedy writers - out there trying to find the one breakout hit that will revive the genre.

"It's become cool to trash the sitcom," says Steve Levitan, who has worked on "Frasier" and "Just Shoot Me" among other shows. "I understand why, because I think there have been a lot of bad shows throughout the years; some of them done by me.

"But I grew up watching 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' and 'All in the Family,' 'Mary Tyler Moore' and 'Cheers.' I know it's cool not to love (sitcoms), but I do love them."

Levitan is executive producer and co-creator of this season's highest-profile attempt to revitalize the traditional sitcom: Fox's "Back to You," which debuts at 8 tonight (Chs. 2, 35).

Back to basics

It's about as old school as you can get, including being filmed with multiple cameras before a live audience in an era when single-camera comedies with no laugh track are the norm. But if any new comedy looks like a sure thing on paper, it's Levitan's show.

His co-creator is Christopher Lloyd, one of the lead writers on "Frasier" during its heyday. Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton - returning to series TV for the first time since "Frasier" and "Raymond" - play a local news anchor team whose relationship is more than a bit rocky. Fred Willard ("Best in Show") heads the supporting cast as a cluelessly un-PC sports anchor. James Burrows - whose career dates back to "Mary Tyler Moore" - not only directed the pilot but is sticking around as the show's lead director.

It's a comedy all-star team and "it feels good to us," Lloyd says. "But there's such a low batting average in comedy that you have to go into the fight with all the weapons you can."

Grammer feels confident as well and perfectly happy with the perception of "Back to You" as a traditional piece of comedy work. "If by traditional you mean funny, yes, it's very traditional," he says with a laugh.

So far, "Back to You" has avoided one of the major problems afflicting TV comedy. Too often, network sitcoms are the product of group-think with network executives, studio bosses and researchers all weighing in on what the show ought to be. The result: a lack of singular comedic vision.

Levitan and Lloyd created "Back to You" outside the system. Before they approached a network, they wrote the pilot script, signed up Grammer and Heaton and brought in Burrows.

"We wanted to make the best show that we knew how to make," Lloyd says. "The way we went about it made that easier to do because we weren't beholden to any particular network.

"There was no sort of meddling, because it was a finished product."

Inspiration from TV news

At least in tonight's opening episode, the result is a polished bit of work with a very viable premise. Anyone who watches a lot of local news knows how often silliness seeps into the newscasts, even in major television markets. ("Back to You" is set in Pittsburgh.) That's fertile ground for laughs, without straining credulity.

Levitan, who started his career in local news, says, "This world, I always thought, was extremely ripe for a comedy. What's so funny, to me, about local news is there's this great narcissism pretending to be altruism. It's just a wonderful place for a larger-than-life character to be a big fish in a small pond."

The inspiration for Grammer's character was an anchor Levitan worked with in Madison, Wis. The night John Lennon was murdered, the anchor came on the air to lead the station's coverage - only to have things go very wrong when he somberly announced that "Lennon is survived by his wife, Topo Gigio."

Topo Gigio, unfortunately, was the name of a puppet that often appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Lennon was married to Yoko Ono.

Still, Levitan adds, the writers are working hard to make sure the show "is very accurate about the way that local news is done" - although Lloyd admits that "it wouldn't be too funny if they were totally brilliant at their jobs."

Good chemistry

What really makes the opening episode work, though, is the chemistry between Grammer - as Chuck Darling, an egotistical newsman who has returned to Pittsburgh after his career stalled - and Heaton as his uptight longtime co-anchor, Kelly Carr, who isn't thrilled by his return.

"It just seemed right. I thought, 'Oh, God, me and Kelsey together would be a lot of fun,' " says Heaton about why she decided to return to weekly television.

And their characters are different enough that Grammer and Heaton don't feel like they're reprising Frasier Crane and Debra Barone.

"Although Frasier was self-obsessed, he was trying to do the world some good," Grammer says. Chuck Darling "is trying to do himself some good. I think what makes himfunny is that he has a kind of arrogance and a comfort in his own ego."

Now that they have built it, though, the question is: Will they, the viewers, come?

Fox, which won a bidding war for the show, certainly thinks so. The creators and cast of "Back to You" think so. And fans of the sitcom - both inside and outside the TV business - are hoping so.

Back to You
*** (first episode only)

[Janice]

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/258070


Back to You heads in right direction

They say you can never go home again.

But this certainly isn't true for the sitcom characters played by Kelsey Grammer. First it was Dr. Frasier Crane, the pompous and effete psychiatrist who left a bar in Boston where everybody knew his name (Cheers) to be with his family in Seattle (Frasier). And now Grammer's new alter ego, TV anchor Chuck Darling, is returning home to Pittsburgh on Back to You (Fox, Global, 8 tonight).

Here are five things you should know about this new sitcom:

1. It's a traditional, multi-camera comedy that's filmed in front of a studio audience.

2. It co-stars Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) as anchor Kelly Carr.

3. It has a great script and clever backstory.

4. It has a talented cast.

5. It is funny.

But let's begin at the beginning – a 1996 newsclip from WURG Channel 9. It's Chuck's last day at the mid-market station in Pittsburg; he's leaving to be a smaller fish in progressively bigger ponds.

After stops in Minneapolis and Dallas, Chuck is hired by KZMB Channel 3 in Los Angeles. Alas, instead of parlaying this into a national gig, Chuck has a meltdown one night that's caught oncamera and promptly uploaded to YouTube ("L.A. Anchorman Fired After Freak Out.").

Cue the infamy. Cut to the present.

"The security guard is asleep, the hall smells like curry — I'm back!" exclaims Chuck, upon his return to WURG.

Soon, we meet Chuck's new (and new-old) co-workers.

There's Ryan Church (Josh Gad), a 26-year-old from the station's Internet division who is now the frazzled news director with perspiration issues.

Montana Diaz Herrera (Ayda Field) is the weather person who overcompensates for her emotional insecurity by slinking around the newsroom in sexpot microskirts and plunging blouses.

Meanwhile, Marsh McGinley (Fred Willard) is the ex-jock sports reporter, a dim but lovable everyman given to incorrect gibes and puzzling non-sequiturs.

And Gary Crezyzewski (Ty Burrell) is the long-suffering field reporter who dreams about becoming an anchor while covering an endless array of fires, storms, court cases, bake sales and live remotes.

So what do you have? A bit of NewsRadio, a slice of Just Shoot Me, a touch of Murphy Brown and a nod to The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

The real strength of Back to You abides in its powerhouse casting, specifically Grammer (for whom the role was written) and Heaton (who came aboard after falling in love with the character).

Whether they're perched at the anchor desk, mugging for the news cameras with polite banter and synchronized glee, or fuming behind closed doors, scowling at each other, the veteran duo possess the one intangible that every good comedy needs: chemistry.

Producers often say they don't want to hire actors that may be saddled with previous-role baggage. But that's precisely why Back to You works: when Chuck and Kelly are squabbling, it might as well be Frasier and Lilith, or Debra and Ray.

Because over the past two decades, sitcom viewers have been Pavloved to enjoy each actor's on-screen dysfunction; all it takes now is an arched brow or tremulous outburst.

Back to You was created, written and executive-produced by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, two comedy writers who worked on Frasier, among others.

And what they've done here — at least based on the two episodes sent for review – is create a hybrid comedy (part workplace, part romantic) that manages to feel fresh and old at the same time.

[Janice]

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Biz/Save-Multicamera-Comedy/800022698?rssDate=12345678 (http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Biz/Save-Multicamera-Comedy/800022698?rssDate=12345678)

Can Back to You Save Multi-camera Comedy?

Back to You

A time-period-winning 9.5 million viewers watched Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton return to prime time Wednesday in their new Fox sitcom, Back to You. Most of them surely tuned in to see two stars from two of their favorite shows, Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond. But the industry insiders are watching carefully for another reason: They’re curious as to whether the series about two over-the-hill local TV news anchors with a past can prove that the multi-camera comedy has a future. Steve Levitan, executive producer, writer and creator of the show with partner Christopher Lloyd, offered his thoughts to The Biz about meeting the challenge.

TVGuide.com: Do you feel the future of the multi-camera sitcom is riding on this show?

Steve Levitan: I hate the thought of that. We have enough pressure trying to do a funny show. But some people are saying it, and it does start to weigh on you. I’m not sure that’s fair. The No. 1 comedy on TV is a multi-camera show in Two and a Half Men. So I’m not sure it’s entirely accurate [that the genre is dying].

TVGuide.com: Why do you believe it’s going to work?

Steve Levitan: I’ll tell you why Christopher Lloyd and I wanted to do it. The way things go in Hollywood is the whole town makes a collective decision that one thing is cold and one thing is hot, and we don’t buy it. We don’t buy that audiences only want single-camera comedy. We believe audiences are starved for another multi-camera comedy that has wonderful actors and great characters and good writing. I find it impossible to believe that human nature has changed so much in the past few years since Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond and Will & Grace, you name it — and people say, no, I don’t like that form of comedy anymore. Perhaps there haven’t been enough shows that have connected.

TVGuide.com: But putting on a sitcom with such a strong cast and production auspices is something of a test as to whether there is still a real appetite out there, right?

Levitan: One agent has told me, "if this show doesn’t work, I am quitting the television business and going into movies, because I don’t get it." I think there’s a sentiment out there that if this doesn’t work, we really don’t know this business anymore.

TVGuide.com: Some people would say local TV news has seen better days, too. What makes it such an appealing setting for a sitcom?

Levitan: You’ve got stories that come in naturally. [A local TV newsroom] is looking for stories. It becomes easy for us to find ways for interesting things to happen. For example, in our second episode, one of the reporters gets tasered. We wrote it months ago and just shot it weeks ago, and what’s the biggest story in the news today? It all comes around.

TVGuide.com: What made the pilot episode immediately contemporary was showing Chuck Darling’s gaffe on YouTube. Today when you make a fool of yourself on TV, you can’t run and hide.

Levitan: If you make a mistake, the world is going to know. It’s great for us because we’ve used YouTube as a wonderful source of reporter and anchor screw-ups. The changing world affects those in TV news and they’re wrestling with the digital age. It’s just another element to play with.

TVGuide.com: There’s a lot of goodwill towards the two stars. Does that give you a lift when you’re taping in front of an audience?

Levitan: When people come to the show, they’ve said, "I feel like I’ve been watching this show for five years. I come in and feel comfortable watching this show. They all seem like they’ve been doing it for a long time together." It doesn’t feel like we have that slow, creaky start. It feels like we’ve hit the ground running from our point of view.

TVGuide.com: But it’s different because…?

Levitan: This is a very different dynamic for both of them. Kelsey didn’t really play against a single strong woman in Frasier. There were a bunch of women who would come and go. It was largely his family. Debra on Raymond was dealing with married issues. Now they are both dealing with very different things, and I think that’s what makes it fresh. But the fact that they are strong characters and great actors makes it feel reminiscent of their great shows. Hopefully, people will say it’s funny and smart like those shows were, but it’s different enough that I want to watch it. One critic suggested, "Why do we need this show when we have Raymond and Frasier?" That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Why do anything new? Should we stop making television?

[Brian Damage]

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Biz/Save-Multicamera-Comedy/800022698?rssDate=12345678 (http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Biz/Save-Multicamera-Comedy/800022698?rssDate=12345678)

Can Back to You Save Multi-camera Comedy?

Back to You

A time-period-winning 9.5 million viewers watched Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton return to prime time Wednesday in their new Fox sitcom, Back to You. Most of them surely tuned in to see two stars from two of their favorite shows, Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond. But the industry insiders are watching carefully for another reason: They’re curious as to whether the series about two over-the-hill local TV news anchors with a past can prove that the multi-camera comedy has a future. Steve Levitan, executive producer, writer and creator of the show with partner Christopher Lloyd, offered his thoughts to The Biz about meeting the challenge.

TVGuide.com: Do you feel the future of the multi-camera sitcom is riding on this show?

Steve Levitan: I hate the thought of that. We have enough pressure trying to do a funny show. But some people are saying it, and it does start to weigh on you. I’m not sure that’s fair. The No. 1 comedy on TV is a multi-camera show in Two and a Half Men. So I’m not sure it’s entirely accurate [that the genre is dying].

TVGuide.com: Why do you believe it’s going to work?

Steve Levitan: I’ll tell you why Christopher Lloyd and I wanted to do it. The way things go in Hollywood is the whole town makes a collective decision that one thing is cold and one thing is hot, and we don’t buy it. We don’t buy that audiences only want single-camera comedy. We believe audiences are starved for another multi-camera comedy that has wonderful actors and great characters and good writing. I find it impossible to believe that human nature has changed so much in the past few years since Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond and Will & Grace, you name it — and people say, no, I don’t like that form of comedy anymore. Perhaps there haven’t been enough shows that have connected.

TVGuide.com: But putting on a sitcom with such a strong cast and production auspices is something of a test as to whether there is still a real appetite out there, right?

Levitan: One agent has told me, "if this show doesn’t work, I am quitting the television business and going into movies, because I don’t get it." I think there’s a sentiment out there that if this doesn’t work, we really don’t know this business anymore.

TVGuide.com: Some people would say local TV news has seen better days, too. What makes it such an appealing setting for a sitcom?

Levitan: You’ve got stories that come in naturally. [A local TV newsroom] is looking for stories. It becomes easy for us to find ways for interesting things to happen. For example, in our second episode, one of the reporters gets tasered. We wrote it months ago and just shot it weeks ago, and what’s the biggest story in the news today? It all comes around.

TVGuide.com: What made the pilot episode immediately contemporary was showing Chuck Darling’s gaffe on YouTube. Today when you make a fool of yourself on TV, you can’t run and hide.

Levitan: If you make a mistake, the world is going to know. It’s great for us because we’ve used YouTube as a wonderful source of reporter and anchor screw-ups. The changing world affects those in TV news and they’re wrestling with the digital age. It’s just another element to play with.

TVGuide.com: There’s a lot of goodwill towards the two stars. Does that give you a lift when you’re taping in front of an audience?

Levitan: When people come to the show, they’ve said, "I feel like I’ve been watching this show for five years. I come in and feel comfortable watching this show. They all seem like they’ve been doing it for a long time together." It doesn’t feel like we have that slow, creaky start. It feels like we’ve hit the ground running from our point of view.

TVGuide.com: But it’s different because…?

Levitan: This is a very different dynamic for both of them. Kelsey didn’t really play against a single strong woman in Frasier. There were a bunch of women who would come and go. It was largely his family. Debra on Raymond was dealing with married issues. Now they are both dealing with very different things, and I think that’s what makes it fresh. But the fact that they are strong characters and great actors makes it feel reminiscent of their great shows. Hopefully, people will say it’s funny and smart like those shows were, but it’s different enough that I want to watch it. One critic suggested, "Why do we need this show when we have Raymond and Frasier?" That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Why do anything new? Should we stop making television?


Great interview! Steve Levitan is right, it does seem like the series is already been on the air for a few seasons. Credit Grammer and Heaton for that.

[Ireneparalegal]

I've been a fan of his since he was on Roseanne. And he's GREAT on Leno!! :rofl:
Willard has been on my list since Fernwood Tonight. Having him appear on Roseanne was just awesome. Seeing him on television, even on Leno, makes for great television. I swear, I always get the feeling this guy is so underrated though he has done such awesome work.

[Janice]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/ENT03/709190328 (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/ENT03/709190328)

'Back to You' packs chuckles you can trust

Grammer, Heaton are great together

BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC

The snap, crackle and pop of witty dialogue well delivered.

That is the consistently amusing, escapist pleasure of "Back to You," premiering at 8 tonight on Fox.

Thanks to the combined comic talents of Emmy winners Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, complemented by the sharp writing of producers who worked so well with Grammer on "Frasier," this is the rare, recent traditional sitcom that actually works.

Quickly finding a quality groove over its opening two episodes, "Back to You" delivers generous and genuine laughs. What a kick.

The show's TV news setup is a natural for loopy, literate good fun.

Ten years after departing to climb the career ladder, egotistical anchorman Chuck Darling (Grammer) has returned to his former Pittsburgh station in muted disgrace. A profane on-air outburst cost Chuck his big-shot job in Los Angeles and transformed him into a You Tube laughingstock.

Now he's to be re-teamed with former partner Kelly Carr (Heaton), who in his absence became ratings-beleaguered WURG-TV's No. 1 anchor. Uh-oh.

And, yes, sparks fly because Kelly is none too thrilled with this cruel twist of news casting fate. She angrily sputters to Chuck just before they go on the air, "You want the real breaking news? I cannot do this with you again, you preening gasbag!"

Of course, these two have residual emotional issues. They once had a fling.

But Kelly long ago moved on. She's been married, divorced and is busy playing single mom to a young daughter.

The comic chemistry between Grammer and Heaton as this anchor desk odd couple is instant and delightful. It's like two great comic tennis players nimbly returning every verbal volley that comes his or her way.

Better yet, "Back to You" gives the two stars plenty of amusing support with a newsroom crew that most notably includes old pro Fred Willard ("Best in Show") as sportscaster Marsh McGinley.

The nifty, gifted ensemble also includes Ty Burrell as the station's perpetually put-upon field reporter, Ayda Field as sex bomb weathercaster Montana Diaz Herrera and blissfully nutty newcomer Josh Gad as the station's overstressed, underqualified rookie news director.

So here's a chucklehead news flash: "Back to You" is blessed with that old school comic cool for a very simple reason. It's smartened up ... not dumbed down.

What a refreshing new sitcom development.

[Brian Damage]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/ENT03/709190328 (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/ENT03/709190328)

'Back to You' packs chuckles you can trust

Grammer, Heaton are great together

BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC

The snap, crackle and pop of witty dialogue well delivered.

That is the consistently amusing, escapist pleasure of "Back to You," premiering at 8 tonight on Fox.

Thanks to the combined comic talents of Emmy winners Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, complemented by the sharp writing of producers who worked so well with Grammer on "Frasier," this is the rare, recent traditional sitcom that actually works.

Quickly finding a quality groove over its opening two episodes, "Back to You" delivers generous and genuine laughs. What a kick.

The show's TV news setup is a natural for loopy, literate good fun.

Ten years after departing to climb the career ladder, egotistical anchorman Chuck Darling (Grammer) has returned to his former Pittsburgh station in muted disgrace. A profane on-air outburst cost Chuck his big-shot job in Los Angeles and transformed him into a You Tube laughingstock.

Now he's to be re-teamed with former partner Kelly Carr (Heaton), who in his absence became ratings-beleaguered WURG-TV's No. 1 anchor. Uh-oh.

And, yes, sparks fly because Kelly is none too thrilled with this cruel twist of news casting fate. She angrily sputters to Chuck just before they go on the air, "You want the real breaking news? I cannot do this with you again, you preening gasbag!"

Of course, these two have residual emotional issues. They once had a fling.

But Kelly long ago moved on. She's been married, divorced and is busy playing single mom to a young daughter.

The comic chemistry between Grammer and Heaton as this anchor desk odd couple is instant and delightful. It's like two great comic tennis players nimbly returning every verbal volley that comes his or her way.

Better yet, "Back to You" gives the two stars plenty of amusing support with a newsroom crew that most notably includes old pro Fred Willard ("Best in Show") as sportscaster Marsh McGinley.

The nifty, gifted ensemble also includes Ty Burrell as the station's perpetually put-upon field reporter, Ayda Field as sex bomb weathercaster Montana Diaz Herrera and blissfully nutty newcomer Josh Gad as the station's overstressed, underqualified rookie news director.

So here's a chucklehead news flash: "Back to You" is blessed with that old school comic cool for a very simple reason. It's smartened up ... not dumbed down.

What a refreshing new sitcom development.


:yourock:

[dlemond]

I guess it was inevitable that I was to miss the premiere, since I work 4pm-gulp, 12, but I should have set the dvd recorder.

I guess everyone is of the opinion its pretty damn good, huh?

[Brian Damage]

I guess it was inevitable that I was to miss the premiere, since I work 4pm-gulp, 12, but I should have set the dvd recorder.

I guess everyone is of the opinion its pretty damn good, huh?


It is good. Give it a chance, don't let ABC fool you! Sitcoms are desperately needed and this one is going to be top notch!

[sweetdiggity]

I guess it was inevitable that I was to miss the premiere, since I work 4pm-gulp, 12, but I should have set the dvd recorder.

I guess everyone is of the opinion its pretty damn good, huh?

You can download the Pilot ep. for free on itunes. :)

[samanddiane4eva]

At last check, it was also available to download for free on Amazon.com Unbox.

[comedyfreak]

I haven't had the chance to see the show yet, and I really want to. I'll check out the free downloads.

[Buffyboy323]

It is good. Give it a chance, don't let ABC fool you! Sitcoms are desperately needed and this one is going to be top notch!
:lol:

[Janice]

http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/back_to_you_TV_reviews.html (http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/back_to_you_TV_reviews.html)


Back to You
TV REVIEWS
by Mitchell Bard

It's Not Fair, But the Fate of the Sitcom May Be Riding on "Back to You"

Last night marked an event that was once considered routine, but now merits both celebration and close scrutiny: A traditional multi-camera sitcom had its series debut.

And not just any sitcom. It’s like the old guard of half-hour comedies decided to throw all of its resources into one mega-program to prove once and for all that the genre is not dying. “Back to You” is like the All-American team of sitcoms. Kelsey Grammer, who played Dr. Frasier Crane for 20 years in two of the most successful sitcoms of all time, “Cheers” and “Frasier,” is one of the stars, and Patricia Heaton, who spent nine years as Ray Romano’s wife on the mega-hit “Everybody Loves Raymond,” is the other lead. That’s a combined six Emmy wins and 16 nominations (that’s not even counting Grammer’s Emmy for his voice work on “The Simpsons”) on one show. The cast also features comedy legend Fred Willard, which provides “Back to You” with a kind of comedy street cred.

The luminaries behind the scenes are equally impressive. “Back to You” was created by former “Frasier” executive producer Christopher Lloyd and “Frasier” writer and “Just Shoot Me” executive producer Steven Levitan. The director is the king of sitcom directing, James Burrows (just a sampling of the shows he has helmed include, “Cheers,” “News Radio,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” and “Will & Grace”).

With so few multi-camera sitcoms on the air, the appearance of any new one causes a mixture of hope and fear. Hope that it’s good, fear that if it’s not, sitcoms will disappear from network television. That’s a lot of pressure for 22 minutes of jokes to bear.

Last night, I tuned into the pilot of “Back to You” seriously hoping it had some life, some edge, and, most of all, some laughs. There were lots of places for the show to go wrong. Grammer is so associated with the character of Frasier Crane, could he be believable and accepted as another character? While Levitan wrote for “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Frasier,” he also unleashed “Men Behaving Badly,” “Stark Raving Mad” and “Stacked” on a defenseless American public. And while Burrows is a comedy deity, he also directed “The Class” last season, which while not terrible, was very deliberate and forced, way more clinical than joyful, a trap that was potentially waiting for an all-star-laden program like “Back to You.” A stiff, lifeless sitcom is the last thing we need on the air now.

For those of you that managed to successfully avoid Fox’s media blitz promoting “Back to You” (please email me immediately with how you managed to accomplish this feat), the plot set-up is pretty simple: Grammer plays Chuck Darling, an L.A. news anchor who, after unleashing an expletive-laced attack on a co-anchor when he mistakenly thought the cameras were off, returns to the station where he got his start in Pittsburgh, and he is reunited with his nemesis and former co-anchor, Kelly Carr (Heaton), who never made it out of the small market.

As the pilot began, one element of the opening made me smile and demonstrated to me that Levitan, Lloyd and Burrows understood that the bar had been raised and they needed to bring their “A” games. Chuck’s meltdown is viewed not live, initially, but through a YouTube window, just as a majority of people would experience an embarrassing on-screen moment like that today. It’s a small thing, but it really affected the tone in a positive way. It showed that the creators could take a classic sitcom look and feel and give it enough of a 21st century jolt so that it felt fresh and current.

Most of the show works. There were more jokes-per-second in the pilot than you would find in most sitcoms, and, more importantly, the completion percentage was high. I laughed. A lot. Which, while you would think would be a given in a sitcom, is not (just watch an episode of “The Bill Engvall Show” and see for yourself). A running gag involving the reporter with anchor aspirations, Gary Crezyzewski (Ty Burrell, last seen in last year’s “Out of Practice”), landing drive-by put-downs at the expense of the libido of the weather girl, Montana Stevens (Ayda Field; good to see Jeannie of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” finding another gig so quickly), was consistently clever, even if the underlying concept has been done a million times before. Similarly, Montana’s strategic use of her Latin heritage to get what she wants is an inspired spin on the cliché of the sexy weather girl.

There were also some exceptionally sharp turns of dialogue that you wouldn’t find in the average episode of “Two and a Half Men” or “According to Jim.” When Kelly learns that Chuck thought she had fallen in love with him after their one-night stand the night before he left Pittsburgh, causing her to get pregnant, Kelly sarcastically agrees, telling him, “It was Beatlemania in my ovaries.”

"Enough about the writing," you’re probably thinking by now. "Tell me if Grammer is believable as another character!" Well, yes and no. It was shaky at first. In a scene that was used often to promote the series, Chuck and Kelly do a tease for the newscast, hurling insults at each other as soon as they are off the air. When Chuck precedes a missive with an upper crust, over-enunciated “Good Lord!”, it was straight out of the Frasier Crane vocabulary book.

But as the episode wore on, Grammer showed colors of the character that were decidedly un-Crane-like. Where Frasier was a life-long nerd, Darling exhibits far more confidence, like there isn’t a woman in American who wouldn’t want some quality time with him. And while Frasier was an intellectual, Darling is more street smart, at least if the street is Main Street in suburbia. Grammer can’t really put the ghost of Frasier totally to rest (give him a break; counting reruns, the character has been on the screen longer than most of the cast of “High School Musical” has been alive), but he is able to separate himself enough to let “Back to You” work on its own merits.

As for Heaton, I was never a “Raymond” fan, so I may not be the one to judge here, but she seems different enough in “Back to You” so that those who like her won’t be disappointed. Willard is, not surprisingly, outstanding. He was born to play the not-too-bright-but-friendly, preening, ex-jock (as he did in “Best in Show”), and his quirky, off-beat performance is a great counterweight to the more traditional sitcom leads.

Burrell and Field are also effective, avoiding overplaying the jokes and recognizing the subtleties in their potentially stock characters. The only misstep in the cast is Josh Gad as Ryan, the 26-year-old news director with an Internet background, who is so youthful in appearance that Chuck, upon his arrival, mistakes him for an intern and asks him to park his car. (Upon finding out his true position, Chuck still expects Ryan to park the car.) Gad’s Ryan seems to be on a different show than the rest of the cast, huffing and puffing around the set (with sweat stains covering most of his shirt) like some kind of nerdy fat guy cliché. It’s not Gad’s fault completely, as the exasperated, in-over-his-head news director seems like a 21st Century, dumbed down version of Miles Silverberg of “Murphy Brown.” But something will have to be done in the future with this character.
At first, I thought “Back to You” would struggle being compared to the classic newsroom sitcoms, “Murphy Brown” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (one of the greatest shows ever). It’s not fair to judge from the pilot, but “Back to You” doesn’t seem to be destined for that lofty company. Then I realized that most younger viewers have probably not seen either “Murphy” or “Mary,” so maybe that won’t even be an issue.

In the end, the real hurdle for “Back to You” is to avoid being thought of as stale and musty, and everyone seems to be working hard to prevent that from happening. There is a moment early in the pilot when Chuck and Kelly walk from the news room to the anchor desk together, and they are followed, seemingly with a Steadicam, in a shot that looked more like an episode of a single-camera half-hour like “Scrubs” or “Sports Night” than like “Frasier.” It was just a few seconds, but in that moment, it’s as if “Back to You” was reassuring its young, Fox audience, “We’re not your parents’ sitcom!”

The bottom line, though, is that “Back to You” is funny, and definitely entertaining. It has a sophistication of storytelling (there is a twist at the end that I had not seen in any of the promos this summer), and the show, though not afraid to be silly, ends on a kind of sweet note. I think there is some real potential here, and I am actually kind of excited to see where “Back to You” goes in the coming weeks.

Will it be enough? For the sake of the future of sitcoms, let’s hope so. It would be nice if the debut of a multi-camera sitcom didn’t warrant a column.

[Janice]

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/261029

Back to You proves sitcoms still alive

LOS ANGELES–Over the past 10 years, television talking head Chuck Darling has climbed the ladder of success, from the anchor desk of a local Pittsburgh affiliate all the way to the top of an L.A.-based network berth.

And then, very quickly, all the way back down, when an unguarded on-air outburst becomes an unwanted YouTube hit.

But Darling's loss is TV's gain. His fall from grace and reluctant, rocky "reunion" with long-ago co-anchor Kelly Carr may herald the triumphant return of the old-school, four-camera, videotaped "live in front of a studio audience" situation comedy.

And if anyone is up to the task, it would be these A-list veterans – indeed, it would be hard to imagine a more impressive and experienced all-star ensemble: Kelsey Grammer, the former Frasier, as the down but not deflated Chuck. Patricia Heaton, Ray Romano's feisty ex, is the territorial, grudge-bearing Kelly.

And, backing them up behind the scenes, the sitcom supreme team of show-running scribes Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan and master director James Burrows.

"I know it's sort of become cool to trash the sitcom," Levitan allows, during an interview at the recent network fall preview tour. "And I understand why, because I think there have been a lot of bad shows throughout the years. Some of them done by me.

"There was a glut, and there were a lot of bad ones, and people kind of got tired of them. But I grew up watching The Dick Van Dyke Show and All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore and Cheers – they were incredibly important shows to me. And I'm frankly sick of people trashing the form."
Back to You (Wednesdays, Fox/Global, 8 p.m.) offers empirical proof that reports of the sitcom's death have been greatly exaggerated.

"These people do it better than anybody has ever done it," enthuses Levitan. "Starting with Kelsey and Patty, who have – between them – three of the greatest shows in sitcom and television history."

He does have a point – when these two consummate pros lock comic horns, it's like watching a ballet and a prize fight rolled into one.

And, yet, this matchup made in television heaven came about in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way.

"I didn't realize Kelsey was even in it until we finished shooting the pilot," needles Heaton. "It's usually all about me when I'm working."
"Atta girl," gamely counters Grammer.

"Actually, I don't know if you know this, but we have the same agent," Heaton tells him. "And about a year or two ago, we were talking about doing something with you. It just seemed right. I thought, `Oh God, me and Kelsey together would be a lot of fun' ... and then I didn't hear anything more about it."

That is, until last pilot season, when the project was in its early stages and Grammer casually suggested Heaton – the two had met once briefly, years before, on an elevator with their respective spouses.

"I was doing this play in New York," Heaton wryly recalls, "for 600 bucks a week. And they said there's this sitcom, and I said, `Yes, whatever it is. '

"But it was with Kelsey, and then I read the script, and it was not only the funniest script that I had been offered, but the only one I had been offered. So it was that winning combination that really sold it for me."

Grammer, of course, was already on board. "I'm just thrilled to be back doing something I'm good at," he shrugs. "I like this. And what would be wrong with doing three of the greatest television shows in history?

"I took this part not because he's a news anchor, but because he was a guy who was going through something that would take him to a different place than where he started. It's a story. I'm good at storytelling. That's what I do and so that's why I'm there."

The character, he says, isn't based on anyone in particular. "Whatever I tend to be playing is created from kind of an amalgam of experience and imagination."

But Levitan begs to differ. "There was this anchorman in Madison, Wis. And when we were trying to come up with a good idea for Kelsey, this guy sort of popped into my head.

"It was the night that John Lennon was shot, and it was very sad. They went to the footage around the Dakota, and the people crying. You know it was a very big moment for him. So they came back to him, and he went, very dramatically: `Lennon is survived by his wife, Topo Gigio ...'

"That has always stayed with me. What's so funny, to me, about local news is there's this great narcissism pretending to be altruism. It's just a wonderful place for a larger-than-life character to be a big fish in a small pond."