Boston Common aired from March 1996 until April 1997 on NBC.
Wyleen ( Hedy Burress) was an enthusiastic 18 year-old from a small town in Virginia, eager to start a new life as a freshman at Randolph Harrington College in Boston. Unfortunately her old life wasn't entirely left behind. Her doting older brother Bo ( Anthony Clark), had the car, so he drove her to Boston-then took a job in the student union and moved into her small apartment, just to make sure his little sis was " all right." The backwoods handyman surprised everyone with his cleverness and charm, and indeed seemed smarter then most of the oddballs who populated Harrington. Joy ( Traylor Howard) was a ditzy grad student studying southern culture for whom Bo had eyes; she, however was taken with young professor Jack ( Vincent Ventresca), who in turn was in love mostly with himself. Leonard ( Steve Paymer) was the dour college archivest who hung out at their apartment, and Tasha ( Tasha Smith), the surly administrative assistant. Other students and faculty members stumbled, fumbled, and leered their way through various episodes during the series 2 season run.
A Review from Variety
Boston Common
By TONY SCOTT
Boston Common (Thur. (21), 8:30-9 p.m., NBC) Filmed at CBS Studio Center by Komut Entertainment and Castle Rock Entertainment. Executive producers/creators/writers, David Kohan, Max Mutchnick; co-executive producers, Jason M. Solomon, Marco Antonio Cuadros; producers, Tim Kasier, Suzy Mamann Greenberg; director, James Widdoes.
Cast: Anthony Clark, Fred Applegate, Hedy Burress, Traylor Howard, Steve Paymer, Tasha Smith, Patrick Fabian, Anthony Russell, Zoaunne LeRoy, D.C. Douglas, Shonda Whipple, Deborah Levin. Slated for a six-week run in hopes of latching on, David Kohan and Max Mutchnick's energetic new comedy may develop into a stay-around if likable Anthony Clark, as country boy Boyd Pritchett from Virginia, holds the pace and they keep feeding him sharp dialogue. Premise is good, characters are fresh and loopy, and the cast shows off comic talents; seems like a good combo.
Couple of good chuckles do not a sitcom make, but the creators have set up an impressively loony-yet-possible Randolph Harrington College in Boston as locale and have intro'd Boyd's little-traveled sister Wyleen (Hedy Burress) as a new freshman excited about being out on her own. Trouble is, Boyd, at loose ends, takes up an offer to work as a handyman at Harrington.
Where else for him to live but at her small apartment? A dour neighbor, Leonard (Steve Paymer), slouches in and out of their room, which is straight sitcom style. Boyd's got his eye on attractive grad student Joy Burns (Traylor Howard), who's a nut about Southern mores. But not yet about Boyd. Blase Tasha King (Tasha Smith) sits at the reception desk, and other snappy types appear as director James Widdoes successfully marshals his forces.
Boyd is a winning character, and standup comic Clark nimbly works funny bits into the storyline and triumphs with sly facial expressions and styling.
Other performers, especially Burress, as irrepressible Wyleen, and Howard, as Joy, are solid.
Director Widdoes keeps up the peppy pace for the pilot, and art director Bruce Ryan supplies a good look.
Success depends on sustaining this quality of writing, on Clark maintaining the high-octane perf and the company keeping up the fast pace. If program's positioned right, its future looks good.
An Article on the 1996 Fall TV Season from the Virginia Pilot
GOT THE RERUN BLUES? NEVER FEAR, A NEW FALL LINEUP IS ALMOST HERE
REJOICE, SOFA slugs. Rejoice.
It's August at last. My ``Debbe Dunning Tool Time Girl Calendar'' tells me that the long, hot spell of reruns is about to end.
If Fox shows ``Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?'' one more time, I'll scream.
There is new programming just over the horizon. Approaching fast from the direction of the Peach Pit is the gang from ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' on the verge of being seniors - again.
The 1996-97 broadcast networks' TV season begins unofficially on Sunday, when NBC breaks out four fresh episodes of ``Boston Common'' in its new timeslot - Sunday at 8:30 p.m., after ``3rd Rock From the Sun.''
Fox launches the new season of ``Beverly Hills 90210'' - the final college year for Brandon and his pals - and ``Party of Five'' on Aug. 21. Eight days later, ``Living Single'' starts its fourth year on Fox, followed by the season premiere of ``New York Undercover,'' with co-stars Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo, who are signed and no longer talking mutiny.
The Warner Brothers network said it will give viewers a sneak peak at its new season - WB has high hopes for ``The Steve Harvey Show'' - on Aug. 25.
Wondering about the ``Seinfeld'' season premiere? It's Sept. 19.
``Boston Common'' is the better-than-most sitcom with an actual Virginian (Anthony Clark) playing a Virginian (Boyd Pritchett) who accompanies his sister, Wyleen, to college in Boston, leaving Lynchburg far behind. The show was a hit in a cushy timeslot on NBC's must-see-TV night (Thursday), but now faces an uncertain future on Sunday night.
The new time period is fine with Clark, who has been in six feature films, appeared on Broadway and worked years as a stand-up comic but wasn't even close to being famous until ``Boston Common.'' Sunday night is a huge night for television-watching, Clark said. He sees a big potential audience for his little show.
``We'll be up against dramas on CBS, ABC and Warner Brothers. So we should have the sitcom audience pretty much to ourselves,'' he said. (Whoa, Anthony. You forgot ``Ned and Stacey'' on Fox).
Clark's a bright guy - an Emerson College grad - who has resisted pressures to dumb down and turn his character into a fugitive from the ``Hee Haw'' corn patch. ``There have been several times when I've seen a line of dialogue in a script and said, `I can't say this. I'm not doing a joke about sleeping with my cousins.'
``Some people in this business feel that sitcom characters from the South must all wear bib overalls and have chickens flying around their living rooms. We get pushed into a corner with Gomer Pyle. In fact, we're doing sharp, sophisticated, pointed dialogue on our show.''
However, Clark will do nothing to lose his accent. Or his Southern ways. This Virginian has charmed the cold, cruel hearts in show biz.
``My proper upbringing has helped me to get ahead,'' said Clark. ``People are impressed when you say , `Yes, sir,' and `No, ma'am.' ''
That wows network bosses.
``Boston Common'' is going over quite nicely with his family and friends in Virginia, said Clark when he he met with TV writers in Southern California not long ago. ``Back home, my relatives have neighbors over when the show is on, and throw parties and stuff.''
Clark is not alone in being annoyed by how Southerners have been portrayed on TV. Cybill Shepherd, who stars in the CBS sitcom ``Cybill,'' has experienced in her career what she calls the ``Hee Haw'' attitude.
``When I first went to New York City to do modeling in 1968, I had a thick Southern accent which led people to think I was stupid. Just because Southern women are friendly, kind and extend hospitality does not mean they are stupid or weak. We're iron butterflies.''
Here is more of what the TV stars had on their minds when they mixed with the TV press recently:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, soon to be seen in the NBC movie ``London Suite,'' on the future of ``Seinfeld'': ``It would be fine with me if I played Elaine for the rest of my life. I'll soon sit down with the others in the cast and we'll decide if we want to go on beyond this year.''
Heather Locklear of Fox's ``Melrose Place'' on life at home: ``I don't do dishes. I don't scrub the floors. I don't sort the laundry. I do none of that.''
Peter Strauss of the new CBS drama ``Moloney,'' which goes up against ``Seinfeld'' Thursday night at 9: ``In that time slot, everyone assumes we're doomed.''
Scott Bakula, formerly of ``Quantum Leap,'' who stars in a new action-adventure show (``Mr. and Mrs. Smith'') on CBS: ``I'm drawn to this kind of a show because I have a fantasy about being Indiana Jones or James Bond.''
Conan O'Brien, who hosts the late, late show on NBC which has been renewed through 1997: ``When we began, 98 percent of the critics said emphatically, `We do not like this show!' When that happens, and the ratings are low, the show usually goes away. But despite all that, we're still here.''
Brooke Shields, star of the NBC sitcom ``Suddenly Susan'' on bad reviews: ``I just don't read them.''
Mel Harris of the new NBC sitcom ``Something So Right'' on the possibility of a ``thirtysomething'' reunion: ``I'm often asked that question, and my honest answer is that I don't know if it will happen. Trying to get the cast together again will be like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. It could happen. I never say never.''
Kevin Bacon, who worked with his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, on the Showtime movie, ``Losing Chase'': ``We're not actively pursuing a chance to work together again. We'd like to keep work separate from our marriage. When you work together, you are obsessed with the work 24 hours a day. There's not much left to give to the kids.''
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