Adamantium
01-21-2008, 08:23 PM
I’ve been going through old Entertainment Weekly’s lately. I figured, for fun, I’d post the 1996 Fall TV Preview here.
Just remember these are not my words. These are the words of whoever wrote these in the September 13, 1996 issue of Entertainment Weekly. A lot of these sound as if the writer is a very angry person who doesn’t like sitcoms. But whatever. I’m posting this for nostalgia sake. I’m not doing all the shows, just hand-selected ones.
First up, NEW SHOWS
Cosby
CBS, 8-8:30pm (Starts Sept. 16) *Mondays*
Concept: The Cos as a codger without a cause.
Scoop: CBS is ballyhooing Bill Cosby as a beloved familiar face who’ll spearhead it’s big Monday lineup and bolster the network’s ratings. “I hope [Cosby] tickles people’s funny bones,” says executive producer Dennis Klein (The Larry Sanders Show). “But it’s not my job to save CBS.” Klein notes to Cosby’s character, a cranky premature retiree, “I think it’s about time that the world was made safe for somebody with strong and nasty opinions about things.” But playing a man in his 60s who gripes incessantly, Cosby (who’s also executive producing) tends to leave costars Phylicia Rashad and Madeline Kahn with far fewer lines and diddly to do.
Bottom Line: If the star can prevent Cosby from turning into an old-age ego trip, the show will no doubt attract millions of the fans of his beloved 1984-92 sitcom.
Men Behaving Badly *Wednesdays*
NBC, 9:30-10pm (Starts Sept. 18)
Concept: Er, men behaving badly.
The Scoop: ER’s Ron Eldard and SNL’s Rob Schneider star as guys’-guys guys; Justine Bateman is Eldard’s long-suffering girlfriend. Talk to the folks involved in this reworking of a big British TV hit, and you get a lot of canine comparisons. Executive producer Matthew Carlson says the show is about “what men are capable of doing… it’s not necessarily that men are pigs, it’s just men are capable of being idiots. And, I think, more dogs than pigs.” Eldard barks, “Men are very much like big grown dogs… they can be trained really well in other areas but you never know when they’re going to lick themselves with company in the room.”
Bottom Line: To switch metaphors: As the overripe cheese in the tasty NewsRadio-Law & Order hoagie, Men should perform goodly.
Suddenly Susan *Thursdays*
NBC, 9:30-10pm (Starts Sept. 19)
Concept: Brooke Shields as a pretty, funny magazine writer.
The Scoop: They scrapped the pilot, in which Shields was a pretty, funny book editor (she was pretty funny, too). They also scrapped the supporting cast, ditching Elizabeth Ashley’s romance novelist and bringing in Judd Nelson as Shields’ editor and possible romancer. But the Susan character remains the same: a solid, strong woman. “She feels as if she’s been either a daughter or a girlfriend her entire life,” says Shields, who might well be describing her own history. “She’s really taking charge now.”
Bottom Line: The cushiest slot in TV-between Seinfeld and ER - guarantees Susan instant success, but that won’t last if this much-fussed-over show ain’t funny.
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch *Fridays*
ABC, 8:30-9pm (Starts Sept. 27)
Concept: The comic-book witch (dis)embodied by Clarissa Explains It All’s Melissa Joan Hart.
The Scoop: Let’s get right down to it: How does Sabrina levitate? “It’s like they put my body in plaster of paris and they made a mold of my back, the whole back side of me,” says Hart. “And they attached it to a pole. They’re going to just lift me and drop me and… well, like, I wake up in the middle of the night, and I’m levitating, and I reach over to turn off my alarm clock, and I fall out of bed. Stuff like that.” Cool. Additionally cool: Sabrina’s dad is played by Robby Benson, who also directed the first episode.
Bottom Line: A smart way to bolster ABC’s faltering TGIF ratings.
Everybody Loves Raymond *Fridays*
CBS, 8:30-9pm (Starts Sept. 13)
Concept: Charming, goofy guy, father of three Raymond (Ray Romano); nice wife (Patricia Heaton); amusingly dumbbell brother (Brad Garrett); Peter Boyle as Raymond’s dad-we love this show!
The Scoop: Stand-up comic Romano is the freshest, funniest new face of the fall season. He’s also smart enough to worry about his supernatural competition: “My daughter’s already said, ’Daddy, if your show is on and it’s one I’ve already seen, I’m going to watch Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,’” says Romano. “That’s the show that’s gonna take us down.”
Bottom Line: Hey, CBS-move this show fast so everybody really can love Raymond.
**One of the new shows, got an article to itself, and so I’ll now post that for you. It’s “Spin City.”**
Spin City
MICHAEL J. FOX CAMPAIGNS FOR A SITCOM COMEBACK AS A SPIN CITY POLITICO
Michael J. Fox knows exactly where he was when he first started thinking about returning to television: New Zealand. The actor spent seven months there last year filming The Frighteners-and dreaming about a steady job Stateside near his wife, ex-Family Ties costar Tracy Pollan, and their three kids. “I was thinking, F---, that sounds great,” says Fox. “And you can only watch so many documentaries about kiwis before you go crazy, so people were sending me tapes of all the new Seinfelds and Frasiers and Friends. I saw all this great writing I hadn’t seen in features for seven years.” Fox’s new ABC sitcom, Spin City, wasn’t the first TV comeback vehicle he considered. He had been approached by the creators of Home Improvement to star in a comedy about an ex-hockey player, and the skate-happy actor was initially intrigued. But when Fox read the pilot script, he passed. “I wanted to do something a little more edgy and adult,” he says.
Enter Fox’s old friend Gary David Goldberg. The Family Ties executive producer’s deal with DreamWorks had so far yielded only last season’s ABC airball Champs. Goldberg was eager to reunite with Fox for a sitcom about a deputy mayor of New York City. Fox had only one reservation: He didn’t want the character to be too similar to the Stephanopoulosian adviser he had just played in the feature film The American President.
But after Goldberg and co creator Bill Lawrence faxed Fox the first act of Spin City’s script, he was sold. “The movie character was so friggin’ earnest,” says Fox. “This guy is borderline reprehensible. He’s a very different animal.”
Fox and Goldberg admit that Spin City’s Mike Flaherty is not very different, however, from Family Ties’ Alex P. Keaton. “Both have a certain egocentricity and a can-do attitude with a lack of any introspection,” says Fox. “But there’s a certain weight to the decisions this guy makes as opposed to ones that Alex was in the position to make.” Adds Goldberg, “Somebody said to me, ‘My God, it’s Alex Keaton with Power!’ That’s kind of scary.”
Spin City also reunites Fox with another former colleague-sort of. Carla Gugino (who plays Flaherty’s city hall reporter girlfriend) and Fox provided voices for a pair of amorous dogs in this year’s Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, but they had never met. “We had love scenes,” says Gugino. “Well, licking scenes.” Jokes Fox, “There were outtakes where we had to be separated by a hose to make the G rating.”
Spin City would never earn that rating - the words orgasm and erection are uttered in the pilot. Yet Fox says he’s not worried about airing after the family-friendly Home Improvement, even though The Dana Carvey Show came under fire for doing blue humor in the same slot last season. “I promise not to suckle anybody,” says Fox, referring to Carvey’s lactating Bill Clinton sketch. “This is the pledge I’ve made.” Besides, “if there’s somebody in front of the television at 9:30 p.m. who has never heard the word erection before, then they should go to bed.”
ABC seems more concerned Spin City might offend viewers with a different kind of adult content. “If it gets too political, it’ll turn people off-it’s not going to be the issue of the week,” says network scheduling vice president Jeff Bader. Agrees Goldberg, “We’re basically a romantic comedy in the political arena. We’re not Lou Grant.” In fact, only one person seems interested in turning Spin City into a political satire - Barry Bostwick, who not coincidentally, plays the mayor. “I hope it becomes more about the inner workings of city politics,” says Bostwick. “Personal relationships have been done to death - they’re going to have to be really damn clever to make that fresh.”
But politics are taking a backseat on Spin City; thus far, the scripts haven’t even revealed if the mayor is a Republican or a Democrat. “I picture him as a Giulianesque rogue elephant,” says Fox. “Because what is [New York City mayor Rudolph] Giuliani? If he’s a Republican, he’s a disenfranchised one. They hate his guts - which really recommends him to me.”
Careful Michael. You don’t want to offend all those Republican viewers. (Sept. 17) - Bruce Fretts
RETURNING SHOWS
3rd Rock from the Sun
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Sundays*
Expect lots of Independence Day gags as Dick (John Lithgow) and his fellow space invaders go see a sci-fi movie and decide aliens are unfairly stereotyped by Hollywood. Also, Dick’s romance with Dr. Albright (Jane Curtain) hit’s a snag when he discovers she’s not a virgin, Sally (Kristen Johnston) takes some temp jobs, Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) joins a garage band, and Harry (French Stewart) gets amnesia. “The show’s like a toddler now,” says co creator Terry Turner of the sophomore (and often sophomoric) sitcom. “It’s going to open a few drawers you hope it doesn’t.” That means more bodily-function humor. Adds Turner, “Hopefully, we’ll continue to make people angry.” Shouldn’t be a problem. (Sept. 22)
The Simpsons
FOX, 8-8:30pm *Sundays*
Crossover alert: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson lend their monotones to an upcoming X-Files parody, which will feature Leonard Nimoy. Also joining the roster of guest voices: Jack Lemmon, Johnny Cash, John Waters, and Rodney Dangerfield (as the bastard son of Mr. Burns). In other plotlines, neighbor Ned Flanders suffers a nervous breakdown, Lisa has her first romance, and Bart gets a job - working in a strip joint. And in the annual Halloween episode, aliens Kang and Kodos kidnap Clinton, Dole and Homer in a misguided quest to take over the U.S. presidency. Doing such a timely story line (it’s set to air about a week before the election) makes executive producer Bill Oakley a little nervous: “If Perot becomes a serious candidate, then we’ll have to redo it.” (Oct. 27)
Roseanne
ABC, 8-8:30pm *Tuesdays*
Rumors of Dan Conner’s death have been greatly exaggerated. In the ninth season, “Dan is alive and well,” head writer Dan Palladino confirms of John Goodman’s character. His marriage to Roseanne is also healthy, despite last season’s finale. “Dan and Roseanne make up, because, well, America wants them to,” says Palladino. Goodman and Johnny Galecki will appear sporadically, like Sara Gilbert, who’ll still figure prominently in plotlines: Darlene is pregnant. Sarah Chalke returns as Becky, replacing Lecy Goranson, who replaced Chalke, who replaced Goranson. (Any questions?) Is this Roseanne’s final season? Says Palladino, “It’s whatever Roseanne wants.” Hope she wants a good show again. (Sept. 17)
Mad About You
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Tuesdays*
The sitcom gets yet another new night, and eventually another new character. That’s right - Jamie (Helen Hunt) is pregnant. But “she’s going to keep the pregnancy a secret for the first trimester,” says executive producer Larry Charles. “Which causes some tension - how do you not tell people you’re pregnant when you’re behaving so strangely?” She’ll search for a new gynecologist (Richard Kind, who played her old OB-GYN, has left to do Spin City) and experience morning sickness. “But we’ll make it a component of a quintessential Mad About You plot,” promises Charles. “It’s not simply going to be throwing up.” Adding to the stress: Paul (Paul Reiser), still unemployed after being fired, tries to make an independent film. Maybe he can pick up a few pointers from Mel Brooks, who’ll guest-star as his uncle. (Sept. 17)
Frasier
NBC, 9-9:30pm *Tuesdays*
With Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman tied up on Another Network, don’t anticipate the return of Sam or Carla. But Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) will reappear in a Thanksgiving episode set in Boston. Niles (David Hyde Pierce) will continue to experience marital problems with Maris - and infatuation with Daphne (Jane Leeves), even as her former fiancé (Scott Atkinson) tries to rekindle their relationship. Meanwhile, Kelsey Grammer’s character will be “getting enthusiastic about things and getting slapped in the face for it,” says executive producer Christopher Lloyd. “In other words, what’s worked for us in the first 80 episodes.” (Sept. 17)
Home Improvement
ABC, 9-9:30pm *Tuesdays*
Oh, that Tim! Having wreaked havoc on the Marines, Tim Allen’s Mr. Know-It-All now takes on the Navy, pushing all the wrong buttons on an aircraft carrier. Wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) gets a new sports car, the Taylor boys become men (including a voice chance for Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Tool Time girl Debbe Dunning (who’s pregnant in real life) gives birth for February sweeps. While Wilson (Earl Hindman) won’t come out from behind his fence, we will meet his brother. All this plus a Thanksgiving special with a five-minute Claymation sequence! (Sept. 17)
Caroline In the City
NBC, 9:30-10pm *Tuesdays*
Lea Thompson insists she’s not nervous about her sitcom moving away from it’s cozy Thursday-night home for it’s second season: “When you’re out shopping at the 99 Cents store, the public will pretty much tell you what they feel. And I’ve gotten a really warm feeling from people about how they like the show.” What do they like best? The romantic tension between Caroline (Thompson) and her crabby assistant, Richard (Malcolm Gets). According to executive producer Fred Barron, “The internet is crawling with that stuff.” Still, Gets says he isn’t ready for Richard to settle down. “He’s got five or six more years on the couch before that can happen.” (Sept. 17)
Ellen
ABC, 8-8:30pm *Wednesdays*
Still in search of an identity, Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom gets serious this season. Ellen starts therapy again after her parents split, sells Buy the Book to a corporation, and purchases her own house. “She goes on a personal journey where everything collapses around her,” says DeGeneres. “She finds out who she is, which is what I think the audience wants to know - I can’t tell you who she is.” And for the first time, there are no cast changes: Joely Fisher, Jeremy Piven, David Anthony Higgins and Clea Lewis are all coming back. (Sept. 18)
The Nanny
CBS, 8-8:30pm *Wednesdays*
Guest stars galore as the sitcom tries to become CBS’ first Wednesday-at-8 hit since The Jeffersons: There’s Jason Alexander as a blind man who falls for Fran (Fran Drescher) in the season premiere; Rosie O’Donnell as herself when she offers Fran a weekly segment on her show; and Joan Collins as Maxwell’s step mom. Romantic tension continues to flare between Fran and Maxwell (Charles Shaughnessy) - and may heat up between butler Niles (Daniel Davis) and annoying C.C. (Lauren Lane). Not that she’s his first choice: “I’ve always played it that Niles has an attraction for Miss Fine himself,” says Davis. “But he realizes she’s beyond his reach.” So what about last year’s cliff-hanger, with Fran and Maxwell aboard a plunging airplane? Says executive producer Rob Sternin, “Obviously, the plane doesn’t crash.” Well duh. (Sept. 18)
Wings
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Wednesdays*
“The biggest thing is that this is not the last year of Wings,” says executive producer Mark Reisman. Is that a promise or a threat? The sitcom’s seventh season starts with an insurance investigator (Chicago Hope casualty Roma Maffia) probing the fire that burned down the house of Brian (Steven Weber) and Casey (Amy Yasbeck) in May’s finale. The homeless couple bunks with Joe (Tim Daly) and Helen (Crystal Bernard). And in her ongoing campaign to be even more overexposed than Qwynneth Paltrow, MTV’s Jenny McCarthy will soon have a guest fling with Brian. (Sept. 18)
The Drew Carey Show
Apparently, breaking up isn’t so hard to do. Drew (Drew Carey) and Lisa (Katy Selverstone) shack-up - then just as quickly part. Simultaneously, Kate (Christa Miller) splits with her boyfriend (Robert Torti), opening up the possibility that she and Drew may become more than platonic pals. Meanwhile, Drew keeps busy with work, marketing a home-brewed beer and dealing with a new boss at the department store. Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects), who provided the intercom voice of Drew’s old boss, made a surprise appearance in last season’s finale, but “it cost us so much money to actually see him,” says Carey, “we got a cheaper, English guy.” (Sept. 18)
Murphy Brown
CBS, 9-9:30pm *Mondays*
Now that Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) has abandoned FYI, the big question is, Who’s the boss? The season premiere will answer that with one of the year’s savviest casting moves: Lily Tomlin as Kay Carter-Shepley, a former game-show producer and Murphy’s new sharp-as-a-Ginsu opponent. “Kay can threaten people with their lives,” muses Brown star Candice Bergen. “At first you think she’s kidding, but then you realize there’s actually a possibility she might take them.” So what did it take for the Laugh-In grad to return to a weekly television series? A hard sell from the part-time Sprint spokeswoman, says Tomlin: “Candace started faxing me cute stuff like, ‘What can I give you to come on the show? Do you have a long distance carrier?’”
Friends
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Thursdays*
Tom Selleck is gone - yay! - but Monica (Courtney Cox) will still be dealing with Richard’s departure. “We’re not handling this as a hey-we’re-back-everybody’s-fine TV thing,” says executive producer David Crane. “When you really break up with somebody, it’s hard.” Meanwhile, Chandler (Matthew Perry) has gotten back together with his shrewish ex-girlfriend (Maggie Wheeler), and new jobs are in store for Matt LeBlanc’s Joey (as a soap-opera acting teacher), Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe (she’s becoming an entrepreneur), and Jennifer Anniston’s Rachel (in the fashion industry). Regarding Rachel’s romance with Ross (David Schwimmer), there’s “a bumpy road ahead,” says Crane. “Something that good can’t last forever.” Sadly, the same could be said of Friends should it not recover from its creative slump. (Sept. 19)
Family Matters
ABC, 8-8:30pm *Fridays*
The French worship Jerry Lewis, so it only makes sense they’d love Urkel, too (Matters is quite popular in France, where it’s called Une Vie de Famille). And they’ll get a close-up look at Jaleel White’s geek when he invents a device that transports the cast to Paris for an hour-long season premiere. The show translates all over the world, however, as star Reginald VelJohnson found out: “This guy from Togo, Africa, ran down the streets of Paris to grab my coattails. He said I was like a king in his country.” (Sept. 20)
Boy Meets World
ABC, 9:30-10pm *Fridays*
“The kids grew up over the summer - they’re 16 and they look it,” reports executive producer Michael Jacobs. “The stories are less youth oriented through biological necessity.” Does this mean Cory (Ben Savage) will be losing his virginity? “We’ll definitely deal with that,” says Jacobs. “But I don’t want to do it in a standard sitcom way.” Boy Meets World standard? Never. (Sept. 20)
Coach
ABC, 9-9:30pm *Saturdays*
Like anyone cares. (Sept. 28)
Married…With Children
FOX, 9-9:30pm *Saturdays*
As TV’s longest-running sitcom moves to a new night, “It’s back to Bundy basics,” says executive producer Pamela Eells. If you don’t know what that means, here’s a hint: Peg (Katey Sagal) and Kelly (Christina Applegate) start a mother-daughter country-music act - the Juggs. ‘Nuff said. (Sept. 28)
**Here are the two returning shows that got articles to themselves, rather than just a couple paragraphs like the other shows.**
NewsRadio
THE DISH ON NEWSRADIO’S CRAZY EIGHT: NO ONE’S A STAR, THEY DON’T GO ON STRIKE, AND THEY’RE ALL STILL FRIENDS.
“It’s aggravating to be shifted around,” admits Phil Hartman about the time-period juggling that NewsRadio has endured to become an important player in NBC’s killer-sitcom lineup. After airing on Tuesdays and then on Sundays, the adroitly written ensemble show about shenanigans at an all-news radio station moves to Wednesdays at 9. There the network hopes it will lure more viewers to the less popular series now preceding it (The John Larroquette Show) and the new sitcom after it (Men Behaving Badly, starring Hartman’s former Saturday Night Live colleague Rob Schneider). “We wanted to put together comedies that would fit together, that would be somewhat broad, zany, and with a little bit more male appeal,” says Preston Beckman, NBC senior VP of programming. “And we felt NewsRadio could anchor the night. It has always done a good job of holding whatever young audience it was given - it generally built on that audience. And going into its second full season, there are still no signs of erosion - unlike its competition, Grace Under Fire, which lost, like, 30 percent of it’s audience last year.”
Hartman, who plays news anchor Bill McNeal - “a stupid but articulate man,” as the actor describes his character - says he hasn’t noticed any big changes in the smart, intricate tone of the new NewsRadio scripts he’s seen so far this season. “I guess there was a worry that, in order for us to become an even bigger hit on Wednesdays, we’d have to make it more ‘accessible,’ whatever that means, or start emphasizing one character instead of the ensemble.” Hartman pauses. “So far none of that has come to pass. In the show we just finished taping, Bill is described as ‘adequate’ in a review, and he tries to turn it into a great compliment, going around saying things like, ‘I’ll be doing things with my usual adequisivity’ and ‘I’m bursting with adequatulance.’ So obviously, Bill is as aggressively stupid as ever, and I’m happy.”
NewsRadio’s creator-executive producer Paul Simms, says a few things will be rejiggered. “We finished last season thinking that we’d spent too much time on the romantic relationship between Dave [Dave Foley] and Lisa [Maura Tierney]. There are about 15 other places on television where you can see that kind of thing. So this year, they’ll still be a couple, going out, but we won’t make a big deal out of it all the time.”
Any other office romances that will be a big deal?
“Yeah, we also wish we’d given more time last season to Catherine [the co-anchor, played by Khandi Alexander] and Joe [the stalwart electrician played by Joe Rogan]. So this year, they’ll have a fling.”
Behind the scenes, NewsRadio will get a new regular director - Tom Cherones, who oversaw so many memorable adventures of Seinfeld during his five-year tenure. “Last year it seemed we had a different director every week,” says Simms. “Tom did three episodes last season, and he has a real feel for the show, so we’re lucky to have him guiding things.” Simms also notes that there’ll only be “one or two” new writers: “It’s a small staff, and I like to keep all veteran sitcom hacks far away. One new guy wrote briefly for that Tea Leoni thing before he came to his senses, but that’s it.”
So NBC isn’t pressuring Simms to throw in lots of “special guest stars” to boost ratings? “Oh, there’s always talk about stunt-casting that would be promotable for sweeps periods. And we’re not opposed to that. It’s just that our idea of stunt-casting is a little different from NBC’s.”
Like?
“Like we’ve been trying to get David Lee Roth forever,” says Simms. “But he’s always busy - you know, playing Vegas one day, back in Van Halen the next. Johnny Cash is on my wish list. In one upcoming show, Andy Dick’s character gets obsessed with that comic strip Dilbert, and we got the guy who created Dilbert, Scott Adams, to do a brief appearance. But I don’t think people are going to be saying ‘Hey, I gotta get home to watch NewsRadio - they’re gonna have that Dilbert guy on!’” (Sept. 18) - Ken Tucker
Seinfeld
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS MOUTHS OFF ABOUT SEINFELD’S DARK HUMOR, WHAT MIGHT BE THE SERIES’ LAST SEASON, HER MOVIE CAREER, AND YES, HER HAIR.
Here’s how Julia Louis-Dreyfus would like to see NBC’s No. 1 sitcom end: Jerry and Elaine fall deeply, madly in love. George wins the lottery. Kramer finds his calling as a minister. In other words, after years of being TV’s most pathetic losers, the four New Yorkers find that things are finally working out. So they pile into a car for a celebratory ride into the sunset - and smash headfirst into a propane truck, Kaboom! Roll credits. Louis-Dreyfus smiles sweetly: :I think it would be awfully funny… I’m a big fan of very, very dark humor.” Good thing she’s on Seinfeld, then. The show’s increasingly nihilistic tone - most acutely displayed in last May’s season ender (in which George’s fiancée dies from licking poisoned envelopes and no one seems to care) - may have alienated a few fans. Louis-Dreyfus, however, revels in the new nastiness, calling the final episode “hilarious” and perfectly in keeping with Elaine’s evolution from adorable eccentric to, as she puts it, “cuckoo.” “She should have her tubes tied,” laughs Louis-Dreyfus. “She’s a miserable, decrepit old wretch.”
The 35-year-old actress is currently flopped on a cushy sofa, more exhausted than wretched. After a late-night taping of Seinfeld, Louis-Dreyfus has taken an early morning flight from L.A. to Reno to resume shooting Father’s Day, a broad comedy co-starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams and her first movie since 1994’s disappointing North. In her sparse Reno trailer, she’s downing some “pretzelly munchy things” and musing on her burgeoning career, in high gear now that her son, Henry, has turned 4. “I’m much busier this year than I ever cared to be before,” she says. In addition to Father’s Day, there is Woody Allen’s fall project, tentatively titled Woody Allen’s Fall Project (“He won’t even tell me what the title is”), and Neil Simon’s NBC movie London Suite (to air Sept. 15), in which she appears opposite The Single Guy’s Jonathan Silverman as, get this, a neurotic newlywed.
Speaking of neurosis, in the eighth season of Seinfeld, look for more financial disappointment for George (he’ll find out his dead fiancée was worth millions), more falls for Kramer (he’ll take up karate and swoon over one of Jerry’s pals), and more commitment phobia for Jerry (he’ll slither out of his engagement to guest star Janeane Garofalo). Meanwhile, Elaine becomes even more unhinged (dare we say unlikable?) when she takes charge of the J. Peterman catalog following the nervous breakdown of its lock jawed founder. In the season’s first episode, we will see her design an ill-fated sombrero and puff away on a cigar the size of a burrito - a detail inspired by Louis-Dreyfus’ real-life penchant for a good stogie. “We own a humidor,” says Louis-Dreyfus’ husband of 10 years, Brad Hall, an executive producer for The Single Guy. “But we found out it’s hip, so we’ll have to stop.”
Also on the series’ to-do list: an episode concerning Louis-Dreyfus’ coveted, curly mass of brown hair - which one could call America’s most wanted. “I follow [the hair] pretty closely,” deadpans costar Jerry Seinfeld. “But I haven’t gotten today’s newsletter.” Well, Jerry, here’s the update: Those locks recently got voted best hair on TV in a TV Guide reader poll; got straightened for her role in Father’s Day; and may get dyed blond for a future movie. “It’s really ironic,” says Louis-Dreyfus. “I always hated my hair, you know? When I was young, it was not cool to have curly hair. It’s been a source of anxiety, and now it’s causing this ruckus.”
Louis-Dreyfus swears the cast has yet to decide whether this will be Seinfeld’s last year. It all depends on how everything goes now that morose co-creator Larry David has quit, leaving Seinfeld the responsibility-laden task of guiding the sitcom alone. “I can see it in his face,” says Louis-Dreyfus. “He takes the gig very seriously.” When Seinfeld does close shop, don’t expect to watch Elaine!; despite rumors to the contrary, Louis-Dreyfus firmly denies a possible spin-off sitcom. “She’s part of this foursome. She couldn’t make it on her own.” So what will the actress do? “I really don’t know,” she says languidly. “I may take a few years off. Get my toenails done. Eat a few bonbons. Get nice and fat.” - A.J. Jacobs.
Just remember these are not my words. These are the words of whoever wrote these in the September 13, 1996 issue of Entertainment Weekly. A lot of these sound as if the writer is a very angry person who doesn’t like sitcoms. But whatever. I’m posting this for nostalgia sake. I’m not doing all the shows, just hand-selected ones.
First up, NEW SHOWS
Cosby
CBS, 8-8:30pm (Starts Sept. 16) *Mondays*
Concept: The Cos as a codger without a cause.
Scoop: CBS is ballyhooing Bill Cosby as a beloved familiar face who’ll spearhead it’s big Monday lineup and bolster the network’s ratings. “I hope [Cosby] tickles people’s funny bones,” says executive producer Dennis Klein (The Larry Sanders Show). “But it’s not my job to save CBS.” Klein notes to Cosby’s character, a cranky premature retiree, “I think it’s about time that the world was made safe for somebody with strong and nasty opinions about things.” But playing a man in his 60s who gripes incessantly, Cosby (who’s also executive producing) tends to leave costars Phylicia Rashad and Madeline Kahn with far fewer lines and diddly to do.
Bottom Line: If the star can prevent Cosby from turning into an old-age ego trip, the show will no doubt attract millions of the fans of his beloved 1984-92 sitcom.
Men Behaving Badly *Wednesdays*
NBC, 9:30-10pm (Starts Sept. 18)
Concept: Er, men behaving badly.
The Scoop: ER’s Ron Eldard and SNL’s Rob Schneider star as guys’-guys guys; Justine Bateman is Eldard’s long-suffering girlfriend. Talk to the folks involved in this reworking of a big British TV hit, and you get a lot of canine comparisons. Executive producer Matthew Carlson says the show is about “what men are capable of doing… it’s not necessarily that men are pigs, it’s just men are capable of being idiots. And, I think, more dogs than pigs.” Eldard barks, “Men are very much like big grown dogs… they can be trained really well in other areas but you never know when they’re going to lick themselves with company in the room.”
Bottom Line: To switch metaphors: As the overripe cheese in the tasty NewsRadio-Law & Order hoagie, Men should perform goodly.
Suddenly Susan *Thursdays*
NBC, 9:30-10pm (Starts Sept. 19)
Concept: Brooke Shields as a pretty, funny magazine writer.
The Scoop: They scrapped the pilot, in which Shields was a pretty, funny book editor (she was pretty funny, too). They also scrapped the supporting cast, ditching Elizabeth Ashley’s romance novelist and bringing in Judd Nelson as Shields’ editor and possible romancer. But the Susan character remains the same: a solid, strong woman. “She feels as if she’s been either a daughter or a girlfriend her entire life,” says Shields, who might well be describing her own history. “She’s really taking charge now.”
Bottom Line: The cushiest slot in TV-between Seinfeld and ER - guarantees Susan instant success, but that won’t last if this much-fussed-over show ain’t funny.
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch *Fridays*
ABC, 8:30-9pm (Starts Sept. 27)
Concept: The comic-book witch (dis)embodied by Clarissa Explains It All’s Melissa Joan Hart.
The Scoop: Let’s get right down to it: How does Sabrina levitate? “It’s like they put my body in plaster of paris and they made a mold of my back, the whole back side of me,” says Hart. “And they attached it to a pole. They’re going to just lift me and drop me and… well, like, I wake up in the middle of the night, and I’m levitating, and I reach over to turn off my alarm clock, and I fall out of bed. Stuff like that.” Cool. Additionally cool: Sabrina’s dad is played by Robby Benson, who also directed the first episode.
Bottom Line: A smart way to bolster ABC’s faltering TGIF ratings.
Everybody Loves Raymond *Fridays*
CBS, 8:30-9pm (Starts Sept. 13)
Concept: Charming, goofy guy, father of three Raymond (Ray Romano); nice wife (Patricia Heaton); amusingly dumbbell brother (Brad Garrett); Peter Boyle as Raymond’s dad-we love this show!
The Scoop: Stand-up comic Romano is the freshest, funniest new face of the fall season. He’s also smart enough to worry about his supernatural competition: “My daughter’s already said, ’Daddy, if your show is on and it’s one I’ve already seen, I’m going to watch Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,’” says Romano. “That’s the show that’s gonna take us down.”
Bottom Line: Hey, CBS-move this show fast so everybody really can love Raymond.
**One of the new shows, got an article to itself, and so I’ll now post that for you. It’s “Spin City.”**
Spin City
MICHAEL J. FOX CAMPAIGNS FOR A SITCOM COMEBACK AS A SPIN CITY POLITICO
Michael J. Fox knows exactly where he was when he first started thinking about returning to television: New Zealand. The actor spent seven months there last year filming The Frighteners-and dreaming about a steady job Stateside near his wife, ex-Family Ties costar Tracy Pollan, and their three kids. “I was thinking, F---, that sounds great,” says Fox. “And you can only watch so many documentaries about kiwis before you go crazy, so people were sending me tapes of all the new Seinfelds and Frasiers and Friends. I saw all this great writing I hadn’t seen in features for seven years.” Fox’s new ABC sitcom, Spin City, wasn’t the first TV comeback vehicle he considered. He had been approached by the creators of Home Improvement to star in a comedy about an ex-hockey player, and the skate-happy actor was initially intrigued. But when Fox read the pilot script, he passed. “I wanted to do something a little more edgy and adult,” he says.
Enter Fox’s old friend Gary David Goldberg. The Family Ties executive producer’s deal with DreamWorks had so far yielded only last season’s ABC airball Champs. Goldberg was eager to reunite with Fox for a sitcom about a deputy mayor of New York City. Fox had only one reservation: He didn’t want the character to be too similar to the Stephanopoulosian adviser he had just played in the feature film The American President.
But after Goldberg and co creator Bill Lawrence faxed Fox the first act of Spin City’s script, he was sold. “The movie character was so friggin’ earnest,” says Fox. “This guy is borderline reprehensible. He’s a very different animal.”
Fox and Goldberg admit that Spin City’s Mike Flaherty is not very different, however, from Family Ties’ Alex P. Keaton. “Both have a certain egocentricity and a can-do attitude with a lack of any introspection,” says Fox. “But there’s a certain weight to the decisions this guy makes as opposed to ones that Alex was in the position to make.” Adds Goldberg, “Somebody said to me, ‘My God, it’s Alex Keaton with Power!’ That’s kind of scary.”
Spin City also reunites Fox with another former colleague-sort of. Carla Gugino (who plays Flaherty’s city hall reporter girlfriend) and Fox provided voices for a pair of amorous dogs in this year’s Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, but they had never met. “We had love scenes,” says Gugino. “Well, licking scenes.” Jokes Fox, “There were outtakes where we had to be separated by a hose to make the G rating.”
Spin City would never earn that rating - the words orgasm and erection are uttered in the pilot. Yet Fox says he’s not worried about airing after the family-friendly Home Improvement, even though The Dana Carvey Show came under fire for doing blue humor in the same slot last season. “I promise not to suckle anybody,” says Fox, referring to Carvey’s lactating Bill Clinton sketch. “This is the pledge I’ve made.” Besides, “if there’s somebody in front of the television at 9:30 p.m. who has never heard the word erection before, then they should go to bed.”
ABC seems more concerned Spin City might offend viewers with a different kind of adult content. “If it gets too political, it’ll turn people off-it’s not going to be the issue of the week,” says network scheduling vice president Jeff Bader. Agrees Goldberg, “We’re basically a romantic comedy in the political arena. We’re not Lou Grant.” In fact, only one person seems interested in turning Spin City into a political satire - Barry Bostwick, who not coincidentally, plays the mayor. “I hope it becomes more about the inner workings of city politics,” says Bostwick. “Personal relationships have been done to death - they’re going to have to be really damn clever to make that fresh.”
But politics are taking a backseat on Spin City; thus far, the scripts haven’t even revealed if the mayor is a Republican or a Democrat. “I picture him as a Giulianesque rogue elephant,” says Fox. “Because what is [New York City mayor Rudolph] Giuliani? If he’s a Republican, he’s a disenfranchised one. They hate his guts - which really recommends him to me.”
Careful Michael. You don’t want to offend all those Republican viewers. (Sept. 17) - Bruce Fretts
RETURNING SHOWS
3rd Rock from the Sun
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Sundays*
Expect lots of Independence Day gags as Dick (John Lithgow) and his fellow space invaders go see a sci-fi movie and decide aliens are unfairly stereotyped by Hollywood. Also, Dick’s romance with Dr. Albright (Jane Curtain) hit’s a snag when he discovers she’s not a virgin, Sally (Kristen Johnston) takes some temp jobs, Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) joins a garage band, and Harry (French Stewart) gets amnesia. “The show’s like a toddler now,” says co creator Terry Turner of the sophomore (and often sophomoric) sitcom. “It’s going to open a few drawers you hope it doesn’t.” That means more bodily-function humor. Adds Turner, “Hopefully, we’ll continue to make people angry.” Shouldn’t be a problem. (Sept. 22)
The Simpsons
FOX, 8-8:30pm *Sundays*
Crossover alert: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson lend their monotones to an upcoming X-Files parody, which will feature Leonard Nimoy. Also joining the roster of guest voices: Jack Lemmon, Johnny Cash, John Waters, and Rodney Dangerfield (as the bastard son of Mr. Burns). In other plotlines, neighbor Ned Flanders suffers a nervous breakdown, Lisa has her first romance, and Bart gets a job - working in a strip joint. And in the annual Halloween episode, aliens Kang and Kodos kidnap Clinton, Dole and Homer in a misguided quest to take over the U.S. presidency. Doing such a timely story line (it’s set to air about a week before the election) makes executive producer Bill Oakley a little nervous: “If Perot becomes a serious candidate, then we’ll have to redo it.” (Oct. 27)
Roseanne
ABC, 8-8:30pm *Tuesdays*
Rumors of Dan Conner’s death have been greatly exaggerated. In the ninth season, “Dan is alive and well,” head writer Dan Palladino confirms of John Goodman’s character. His marriage to Roseanne is also healthy, despite last season’s finale. “Dan and Roseanne make up, because, well, America wants them to,” says Palladino. Goodman and Johnny Galecki will appear sporadically, like Sara Gilbert, who’ll still figure prominently in plotlines: Darlene is pregnant. Sarah Chalke returns as Becky, replacing Lecy Goranson, who replaced Chalke, who replaced Goranson. (Any questions?) Is this Roseanne’s final season? Says Palladino, “It’s whatever Roseanne wants.” Hope she wants a good show again. (Sept. 17)
Mad About You
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Tuesdays*
The sitcom gets yet another new night, and eventually another new character. That’s right - Jamie (Helen Hunt) is pregnant. But “she’s going to keep the pregnancy a secret for the first trimester,” says executive producer Larry Charles. “Which causes some tension - how do you not tell people you’re pregnant when you’re behaving so strangely?” She’ll search for a new gynecologist (Richard Kind, who played her old OB-GYN, has left to do Spin City) and experience morning sickness. “But we’ll make it a component of a quintessential Mad About You plot,” promises Charles. “It’s not simply going to be throwing up.” Adding to the stress: Paul (Paul Reiser), still unemployed after being fired, tries to make an independent film. Maybe he can pick up a few pointers from Mel Brooks, who’ll guest-star as his uncle. (Sept. 17)
Frasier
NBC, 9-9:30pm *Tuesdays*
With Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman tied up on Another Network, don’t anticipate the return of Sam or Carla. But Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) will reappear in a Thanksgiving episode set in Boston. Niles (David Hyde Pierce) will continue to experience marital problems with Maris - and infatuation with Daphne (Jane Leeves), even as her former fiancé (Scott Atkinson) tries to rekindle their relationship. Meanwhile, Kelsey Grammer’s character will be “getting enthusiastic about things and getting slapped in the face for it,” says executive producer Christopher Lloyd. “In other words, what’s worked for us in the first 80 episodes.” (Sept. 17)
Home Improvement
ABC, 9-9:30pm *Tuesdays*
Oh, that Tim! Having wreaked havoc on the Marines, Tim Allen’s Mr. Know-It-All now takes on the Navy, pushing all the wrong buttons on an aircraft carrier. Wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) gets a new sports car, the Taylor boys become men (including a voice chance for Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Tool Time girl Debbe Dunning (who’s pregnant in real life) gives birth for February sweeps. While Wilson (Earl Hindman) won’t come out from behind his fence, we will meet his brother. All this plus a Thanksgiving special with a five-minute Claymation sequence! (Sept. 17)
Caroline In the City
NBC, 9:30-10pm *Tuesdays*
Lea Thompson insists she’s not nervous about her sitcom moving away from it’s cozy Thursday-night home for it’s second season: “When you’re out shopping at the 99 Cents store, the public will pretty much tell you what they feel. And I’ve gotten a really warm feeling from people about how they like the show.” What do they like best? The romantic tension between Caroline (Thompson) and her crabby assistant, Richard (Malcolm Gets). According to executive producer Fred Barron, “The internet is crawling with that stuff.” Still, Gets says he isn’t ready for Richard to settle down. “He’s got five or six more years on the couch before that can happen.” (Sept. 17)
Ellen
ABC, 8-8:30pm *Wednesdays*
Still in search of an identity, Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom gets serious this season. Ellen starts therapy again after her parents split, sells Buy the Book to a corporation, and purchases her own house. “She goes on a personal journey where everything collapses around her,” says DeGeneres. “She finds out who she is, which is what I think the audience wants to know - I can’t tell you who she is.” And for the first time, there are no cast changes: Joely Fisher, Jeremy Piven, David Anthony Higgins and Clea Lewis are all coming back. (Sept. 18)
The Nanny
CBS, 8-8:30pm *Wednesdays*
Guest stars galore as the sitcom tries to become CBS’ first Wednesday-at-8 hit since The Jeffersons: There’s Jason Alexander as a blind man who falls for Fran (Fran Drescher) in the season premiere; Rosie O’Donnell as herself when she offers Fran a weekly segment on her show; and Joan Collins as Maxwell’s step mom. Romantic tension continues to flare between Fran and Maxwell (Charles Shaughnessy) - and may heat up between butler Niles (Daniel Davis) and annoying C.C. (Lauren Lane). Not that she’s his first choice: “I’ve always played it that Niles has an attraction for Miss Fine himself,” says Davis. “But he realizes she’s beyond his reach.” So what about last year’s cliff-hanger, with Fran and Maxwell aboard a plunging airplane? Says executive producer Rob Sternin, “Obviously, the plane doesn’t crash.” Well duh. (Sept. 18)
Wings
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Wednesdays*
“The biggest thing is that this is not the last year of Wings,” says executive producer Mark Reisman. Is that a promise or a threat? The sitcom’s seventh season starts with an insurance investigator (Chicago Hope casualty Roma Maffia) probing the fire that burned down the house of Brian (Steven Weber) and Casey (Amy Yasbeck) in May’s finale. The homeless couple bunks with Joe (Tim Daly) and Helen (Crystal Bernard). And in her ongoing campaign to be even more overexposed than Qwynneth Paltrow, MTV’s Jenny McCarthy will soon have a guest fling with Brian. (Sept. 18)
The Drew Carey Show
Apparently, breaking up isn’t so hard to do. Drew (Drew Carey) and Lisa (Katy Selverstone) shack-up - then just as quickly part. Simultaneously, Kate (Christa Miller) splits with her boyfriend (Robert Torti), opening up the possibility that she and Drew may become more than platonic pals. Meanwhile, Drew keeps busy with work, marketing a home-brewed beer and dealing with a new boss at the department store. Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects), who provided the intercom voice of Drew’s old boss, made a surprise appearance in last season’s finale, but “it cost us so much money to actually see him,” says Carey, “we got a cheaper, English guy.” (Sept. 18)
Murphy Brown
CBS, 9-9:30pm *Mondays*
Now that Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) has abandoned FYI, the big question is, Who’s the boss? The season premiere will answer that with one of the year’s savviest casting moves: Lily Tomlin as Kay Carter-Shepley, a former game-show producer and Murphy’s new sharp-as-a-Ginsu opponent. “Kay can threaten people with their lives,” muses Brown star Candice Bergen. “At first you think she’s kidding, but then you realize there’s actually a possibility she might take them.” So what did it take for the Laugh-In grad to return to a weekly television series? A hard sell from the part-time Sprint spokeswoman, says Tomlin: “Candace started faxing me cute stuff like, ‘What can I give you to come on the show? Do you have a long distance carrier?’”
Friends
NBC, 8-8:30pm *Thursdays*
Tom Selleck is gone - yay! - but Monica (Courtney Cox) will still be dealing with Richard’s departure. “We’re not handling this as a hey-we’re-back-everybody’s-fine TV thing,” says executive producer David Crane. “When you really break up with somebody, it’s hard.” Meanwhile, Chandler (Matthew Perry) has gotten back together with his shrewish ex-girlfriend (Maggie Wheeler), and new jobs are in store for Matt LeBlanc’s Joey (as a soap-opera acting teacher), Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe (she’s becoming an entrepreneur), and Jennifer Anniston’s Rachel (in the fashion industry). Regarding Rachel’s romance with Ross (David Schwimmer), there’s “a bumpy road ahead,” says Crane. “Something that good can’t last forever.” Sadly, the same could be said of Friends should it not recover from its creative slump. (Sept. 19)
Family Matters
ABC, 8-8:30pm *Fridays*
The French worship Jerry Lewis, so it only makes sense they’d love Urkel, too (Matters is quite popular in France, where it’s called Une Vie de Famille). And they’ll get a close-up look at Jaleel White’s geek when he invents a device that transports the cast to Paris for an hour-long season premiere. The show translates all over the world, however, as star Reginald VelJohnson found out: “This guy from Togo, Africa, ran down the streets of Paris to grab my coattails. He said I was like a king in his country.” (Sept. 20)
Boy Meets World
ABC, 9:30-10pm *Fridays*
“The kids grew up over the summer - they’re 16 and they look it,” reports executive producer Michael Jacobs. “The stories are less youth oriented through biological necessity.” Does this mean Cory (Ben Savage) will be losing his virginity? “We’ll definitely deal with that,” says Jacobs. “But I don’t want to do it in a standard sitcom way.” Boy Meets World standard? Never. (Sept. 20)
Coach
ABC, 9-9:30pm *Saturdays*
Like anyone cares. (Sept. 28)
Married…With Children
FOX, 9-9:30pm *Saturdays*
As TV’s longest-running sitcom moves to a new night, “It’s back to Bundy basics,” says executive producer Pamela Eells. If you don’t know what that means, here’s a hint: Peg (Katey Sagal) and Kelly (Christina Applegate) start a mother-daughter country-music act - the Juggs. ‘Nuff said. (Sept. 28)
**Here are the two returning shows that got articles to themselves, rather than just a couple paragraphs like the other shows.**
NewsRadio
THE DISH ON NEWSRADIO’S CRAZY EIGHT: NO ONE’S A STAR, THEY DON’T GO ON STRIKE, AND THEY’RE ALL STILL FRIENDS.
“It’s aggravating to be shifted around,” admits Phil Hartman about the time-period juggling that NewsRadio has endured to become an important player in NBC’s killer-sitcom lineup. After airing on Tuesdays and then on Sundays, the adroitly written ensemble show about shenanigans at an all-news radio station moves to Wednesdays at 9. There the network hopes it will lure more viewers to the less popular series now preceding it (The John Larroquette Show) and the new sitcom after it (Men Behaving Badly, starring Hartman’s former Saturday Night Live colleague Rob Schneider). “We wanted to put together comedies that would fit together, that would be somewhat broad, zany, and with a little bit more male appeal,” says Preston Beckman, NBC senior VP of programming. “And we felt NewsRadio could anchor the night. It has always done a good job of holding whatever young audience it was given - it generally built on that audience. And going into its second full season, there are still no signs of erosion - unlike its competition, Grace Under Fire, which lost, like, 30 percent of it’s audience last year.”
Hartman, who plays news anchor Bill McNeal - “a stupid but articulate man,” as the actor describes his character - says he hasn’t noticed any big changes in the smart, intricate tone of the new NewsRadio scripts he’s seen so far this season. “I guess there was a worry that, in order for us to become an even bigger hit on Wednesdays, we’d have to make it more ‘accessible,’ whatever that means, or start emphasizing one character instead of the ensemble.” Hartman pauses. “So far none of that has come to pass. In the show we just finished taping, Bill is described as ‘adequate’ in a review, and he tries to turn it into a great compliment, going around saying things like, ‘I’ll be doing things with my usual adequisivity’ and ‘I’m bursting with adequatulance.’ So obviously, Bill is as aggressively stupid as ever, and I’m happy.”
NewsRadio’s creator-executive producer Paul Simms, says a few things will be rejiggered. “We finished last season thinking that we’d spent too much time on the romantic relationship between Dave [Dave Foley] and Lisa [Maura Tierney]. There are about 15 other places on television where you can see that kind of thing. So this year, they’ll still be a couple, going out, but we won’t make a big deal out of it all the time.”
Any other office romances that will be a big deal?
“Yeah, we also wish we’d given more time last season to Catherine [the co-anchor, played by Khandi Alexander] and Joe [the stalwart electrician played by Joe Rogan]. So this year, they’ll have a fling.”
Behind the scenes, NewsRadio will get a new regular director - Tom Cherones, who oversaw so many memorable adventures of Seinfeld during his five-year tenure. “Last year it seemed we had a different director every week,” says Simms. “Tom did three episodes last season, and he has a real feel for the show, so we’re lucky to have him guiding things.” Simms also notes that there’ll only be “one or two” new writers: “It’s a small staff, and I like to keep all veteran sitcom hacks far away. One new guy wrote briefly for that Tea Leoni thing before he came to his senses, but that’s it.”
So NBC isn’t pressuring Simms to throw in lots of “special guest stars” to boost ratings? “Oh, there’s always talk about stunt-casting that would be promotable for sweeps periods. And we’re not opposed to that. It’s just that our idea of stunt-casting is a little different from NBC’s.”
Like?
“Like we’ve been trying to get David Lee Roth forever,” says Simms. “But he’s always busy - you know, playing Vegas one day, back in Van Halen the next. Johnny Cash is on my wish list. In one upcoming show, Andy Dick’s character gets obsessed with that comic strip Dilbert, and we got the guy who created Dilbert, Scott Adams, to do a brief appearance. But I don’t think people are going to be saying ‘Hey, I gotta get home to watch NewsRadio - they’re gonna have that Dilbert guy on!’” (Sept. 18) - Ken Tucker
Seinfeld
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS MOUTHS OFF ABOUT SEINFELD’S DARK HUMOR, WHAT MIGHT BE THE SERIES’ LAST SEASON, HER MOVIE CAREER, AND YES, HER HAIR.
Here’s how Julia Louis-Dreyfus would like to see NBC’s No. 1 sitcom end: Jerry and Elaine fall deeply, madly in love. George wins the lottery. Kramer finds his calling as a minister. In other words, after years of being TV’s most pathetic losers, the four New Yorkers find that things are finally working out. So they pile into a car for a celebratory ride into the sunset - and smash headfirst into a propane truck, Kaboom! Roll credits. Louis-Dreyfus smiles sweetly: :I think it would be awfully funny… I’m a big fan of very, very dark humor.” Good thing she’s on Seinfeld, then. The show’s increasingly nihilistic tone - most acutely displayed in last May’s season ender (in which George’s fiancée dies from licking poisoned envelopes and no one seems to care) - may have alienated a few fans. Louis-Dreyfus, however, revels in the new nastiness, calling the final episode “hilarious” and perfectly in keeping with Elaine’s evolution from adorable eccentric to, as she puts it, “cuckoo.” “She should have her tubes tied,” laughs Louis-Dreyfus. “She’s a miserable, decrepit old wretch.”
The 35-year-old actress is currently flopped on a cushy sofa, more exhausted than wretched. After a late-night taping of Seinfeld, Louis-Dreyfus has taken an early morning flight from L.A. to Reno to resume shooting Father’s Day, a broad comedy co-starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams and her first movie since 1994’s disappointing North. In her sparse Reno trailer, she’s downing some “pretzelly munchy things” and musing on her burgeoning career, in high gear now that her son, Henry, has turned 4. “I’m much busier this year than I ever cared to be before,” she says. In addition to Father’s Day, there is Woody Allen’s fall project, tentatively titled Woody Allen’s Fall Project (“He won’t even tell me what the title is”), and Neil Simon’s NBC movie London Suite (to air Sept. 15), in which she appears opposite The Single Guy’s Jonathan Silverman as, get this, a neurotic newlywed.
Speaking of neurosis, in the eighth season of Seinfeld, look for more financial disappointment for George (he’ll find out his dead fiancée was worth millions), more falls for Kramer (he’ll take up karate and swoon over one of Jerry’s pals), and more commitment phobia for Jerry (he’ll slither out of his engagement to guest star Janeane Garofalo). Meanwhile, Elaine becomes even more unhinged (dare we say unlikable?) when she takes charge of the J. Peterman catalog following the nervous breakdown of its lock jawed founder. In the season’s first episode, we will see her design an ill-fated sombrero and puff away on a cigar the size of a burrito - a detail inspired by Louis-Dreyfus’ real-life penchant for a good stogie. “We own a humidor,” says Louis-Dreyfus’ husband of 10 years, Brad Hall, an executive producer for The Single Guy. “But we found out it’s hip, so we’ll have to stop.”
Also on the series’ to-do list: an episode concerning Louis-Dreyfus’ coveted, curly mass of brown hair - which one could call America’s most wanted. “I follow [the hair] pretty closely,” deadpans costar Jerry Seinfeld. “But I haven’t gotten today’s newsletter.” Well, Jerry, here’s the update: Those locks recently got voted best hair on TV in a TV Guide reader poll; got straightened for her role in Father’s Day; and may get dyed blond for a future movie. “It’s really ironic,” says Louis-Dreyfus. “I always hated my hair, you know? When I was young, it was not cool to have curly hair. It’s been a source of anxiety, and now it’s causing this ruckus.”
Louis-Dreyfus swears the cast has yet to decide whether this will be Seinfeld’s last year. It all depends on how everything goes now that morose co-creator Larry David has quit, leaving Seinfeld the responsibility-laden task of guiding the sitcom alone. “I can see it in his face,” says Louis-Dreyfus. “He takes the gig very seriously.” When Seinfeld does close shop, don’t expect to watch Elaine!; despite rumors to the contrary, Louis-Dreyfus firmly denies a possible spin-off sitcom. “She’s part of this foursome. She couldn’t make it on her own.” So what will the actress do? “I really don’t know,” she says languidly. “I may take a few years off. Get my toenails done. Eat a few bonbons. Get nice and fat.” - A.J. Jacobs.