Philadelphia's Daily News review of "Back to You"-Just minor criticisms"

[TVFactFan]

1. Better than what you normally see on Fox

2. Not really a classy comedy

3. Banter is predictable



Overall Ellen Gray states the show is grown-up and funny and that the writing is professional along with the nice supporting cast.

philly.com

[Brian Damage]

Back to You." Tomorrow night at 8, Fox.

When it comes to standard four-camera sitcoms taped before an audience, they just don't make them like they used to.

Not even when "they" are the same people who made some of the best sitcoms ever. "Back to You," a Fox sitcom premiering tomorrow night at 8, isn't a lost cause. There's too much talent in front of and behind the camera, and you can see sparks of chemistry, wit and promise in the pilot.

So many parts of the pilot, though, seem dumbed down or sacrificing character for punch lines, you wonder why things weren't retooled in time for launch.

Kelsey Grammer, returning to series TV after two decades of success on "Cheers" and "Frasier," plays Chuck Darling, a local news anchor who rose from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles - then fell quickly, returning a decade later to the same station, opposite the same co-anchor. The understandably resentful anchor, Kelly Carr, who has other issues with Darling as well, is played by Patricia Heaton, returning to TV after a long run on "Everybody Loves Raymond."

You want other high-octane talent? The sports anchor, then and now, is played by Fred Willard, a veteran at playing deadpan TV vapidity ever since "Fernwood 2 Night" in the 1970s. The jealous reporter who lost the co-anchor opportunity to a disgraced Darling is played by Ty Burrell, a scene-stealer in "Out of Practice."

And behind the scenes, "Back to You" is directed James Burrows ("Friends," "Will & Grace," "Cheers," "Taxi") and created and written by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, both of "Frasier."

Even more frightening to Fox, that network this summer presented the reality series "Anchorwoman," a supposedly realistic look at the off-camera tensions at a local TV news operation - and pulled it, for lack of viewer interest, after airing a single episode.

Heaton, Grammer, Willard and Burrell all have moments in "Back to You," but almost all of them have been squeezed dry by overuse in network promos. "Back to You" doesn't seem grounded in any credible reality, which is where, for all the laughs, "Frasier" and "Raymond" always lived. There's time to fix things, given this roster, but the ball's in their court. Back to you, folks.

[Brian Damage]

It sure is fun to see two sitcom pros strutting their stuff on-screen. If only the same could be said of their behind-the-camera colleagues.

Thus are Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton left high anddry in Fox's much-anticipated, new live-audience comedy "Back to You." As warring Pittsburgh news anchors with a past - a tiresome, predictable past - the Emmy winners from "Frasier" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" can still snap off a line like nobody's business. Heaton lets him have it as sharply as she did Ray Romano, and Grammer retains his corner on self-centered prissiness. Both can skate from silliness to sentiment in a heartbeat without creating "very special episode" mush.

But the rest of "Back of You" feels like the final nail in the coffin of the studio-audience sitcom, a wonderfully immediate art form nobody in Hollywood seems remotely able to execute anymore. This case is particularly painful considering the show's pedigree. It's created by "Frasier" writer-producer Christopher Lloyd and "Just Shoot Me's" Steven Levitan, a talented twosome here exhibiting every hackneyed trick they've ever encountered. Even stalwart director James Burrows, whose credits stretch back to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and forward through "Will & Grace," has fallen into ba-dum-bum punch-line pushiness.


There's the "caliente Latina" weather girl always trilling her rrrrrr's (Ayda Field). And the resentful reporter passed over for the anchor gig (Ty Burrell), who also has a hee-lariously "unpronounceable" Polish name. The agitated young news director (Josh Gad) gets mistaken for the station gofer. Double entendres fly regarding diaphragms (corporeal and contraceptive) and the phonetic resemblance of Latina, mispronounced as La-tie-na, to a woman's private parts.

Are we convulsed yet?

If not, we aren't likely to be, as "Back to You" continues telegraphing everything it's about to do, then restating what it's done. (Don't think it's only tonight's pilot. Next week's episode exerts itself over a "pumpkin festival" gag with the stacked weather chick.) This is not a winning strategy in an era when single-camera comedies such as "The Office" and "30 Rock" - even the animation of "The Simpsons" - trust us to find the laughs for ourselves.

There's just too much shtick and not enough personality, especially when the stars' previous hits found their funny in relatable human behavior. While the second episode of "Back to You" has a snappier pace and sharper timing, it's applied to stories about a goldfish that keeps getting killed, a reporter who gets hee-lariously Tasered, and the fixation of sportscaster Fred Willard (whose off-the-wall weirdness is a matter of taste) on figuring a magic trick involving an orange in a guy's pants.

Sorry, Fox. Back to the drawing board.

BACK TO YOU. Sitcom faves Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton are mired in formulaic quicksand as TV anchor ad- versaries suddenly reunited professionally and reawakened personally. Sitcom premieres Wednesday at 8 on Fox/5.

[TVFactFan]

Damm, I wasn't expected those reviews-lol

[Janice]

Don't get discouraged. We have to judge for ourselves. I can't tell you how many movies that I've loved, that critics savaged. It's early too. Most new shows have kinks that need to be worked out.

[Skywalker]

Another Bad Review for BTY.




http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695210873,00.html

How disappointing — 'Back to You' does not live up to even low expectations

By Scott D. Pierce

I could review "Back to You" as the show I wish it was — a sitcom with stars from "Frasier" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" and producers whose credits include "Frasier" and "Just Shoot Me" that's one of the most anticipated new shows of the season.

Or I could review "Back to You" (Wednesday, 7 p.m., Ch. 13) the way it is — a huge disappointment.

I really, really wish I could do the former, but I can't.

I really, really wanted to like "Back to You." But, instead, I was sort of aghast at just how bad the show is.

One of the biggest problem is that "Back to You" is a new show that feels like an old show. And not a good old show — a tired old show.

Kelsey Grammer stars as Chuck Darling, a Frasier-ish, egomaniacal anchorman. After leaving Pittsburgh behind a decade ago, he jumped to bigger market after bigger market until an on-air gaffe sent him plummeting back to Pittsburgh.

He's reteamed with his old co-anchor, Kelly Carr (Patricia Heaton of "Raymond"), who has been in Pittsburgh all these years — and she harbors no small amount of resentment toward Chuck. Which might work if Grammer and Heaton had any chemistry, but they don't.

"Back to You" has all the rhythms of a standard sitcom — set-up, punch line; set-up, punch line. Not that there's anything wrong with that if the punch lines are funny. But the vast majority of them aren't even mildly amusing.

Chuck delivers lines like, "She'd wade through a pool of piranha to get in front of a camera," as if he's Noel Coward. And the hyped-up studio audience guffaws despite the fact that it's not funny.

The supporting cast is full of characters who feel more like caricatures. Marsh McGinley (Fred Willard) is the tank-brained, sexist sports anchor; Gary Crezyzewski (Ty Burrell) is the overworked reporter who thinks he should be the anchor; Ryan Church (Josh Gad) is the too-young, underqualified news director; Montana Diaz Herrera (Ayda Field) is the unqualified sexpot/weather forecaster; and Gracie (Laura Marano) is Kelly's 10-year-old daughter.

They, too, all look like they stepped out of other sitcoms. And the banter seems lifted from old shows, too.

"Back to You" also seriously underestimates the intelligence of viewers. There's a "big surprise" in the final moments of Wednesday's pilot episode that is absolutely no surprise at all. I won't give it away, but it's so clearly telegraphed from the opening moments of the episode that it's an insult to viewers to pretend anyone could possibly be surprised.

I really, really would have liked to tell you how much I loved this show. But I'm not that good a liar.

SHUFFLE OFF: It remains to be seen how well "Back to You" does in the national ratings, but don't look for it to be a big hit in Buffalo.

"The premise of the show is a guy who is climbing the ladder and nothing matters to him more than just reaching the top," said executive producer Christopher Lloyd. "He reaches almost the top, has sort of a flameout and then free-falls and lands someplace where he has to feel like he's got some climbing to do.

"We originally set it in Buffalo and — no offense to any Buffalonians here — but we thought that might have been too far for him to fall."

"That's going to cost us, Chris," executive producer Steve Levitan interjected.

"There goes the Buffalo market," Grammer added.

Chuck made it to the No. 2 market, Los Angeles, before taking his fall. And falling to No. 22 Pittsburgh seemed more acceptable than falling to No. 47 Buffalo.

"Pittsburgh felt like the right place for these two people to be," Levitan said. "I believe these people in Pittsburgh more than I believe this team in Buffalo, for some reason, and that could maybe just be my own bias."

"They're a little too polished to believe that they're in Sioux Falls," Lloyd said. "And now I've offended people from Sioux Falls."

BETTER THAN NOTHING: Heaton said she had tried to develop a sitcom with Grammer that would cast both of them as college professors and it didn't work out. "And then I was doing this play in New York for 600 bucks a week, and they said there's this sitcom, and I said, 'Yes, whatever it is."'

My, that's quite a recommendation for "Back to You," isn't it?

[Mr. Cranky]

Keep the faith Brian. A lot of shows struggle in the beginning.

[sweetdiggity]

Originally Posted by Janice

Don't get discouraged. We have to judge for ourselves. I can't tell you how many movies that I've loved, that critics savaged.

Exactly! We have to judge for ourselves.
The critics are just doing their jobs. It doesn't matter what they think. All that matters is what the viewers think.

Take the King of Queens and Arrested Development for example. The critics never loved the KoQ, and yet millions of fans loved it and it was on tv for 9 years. Critics loved Arrested Development, but there were hardly any viewers, and it was cancelled after a few seasons.

Critics don't determine the success of a show. Viewers do, so who really cares what they say?

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by sweetdiggity

Exactly! We have to judge for ourselves.
The critics are just doing their jobs. It doesn't matter what they think. All that matters is what the viewers think.

Take the King of Queens and Arrested Development for example. The critics never loved the KoQ, and yet millions of fans loved it and it was on tv for 9 years. Critics loved Arrested Development, but there were hardly any viewers, and it was cancelled after a few seasons.

Critics don't determine the success of a show. Viewers do, so who really cares what they say?

Sometimes they do but not all the Time

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by KingofTVResearch

1. Better than what you normally see on Fox

2. Not really a classy comedy

3. Banter is predictable

1. Is that a yay or a nay? FOX is awful.

2. I like trashy as much as I like classy.

3. I'm sure Kelsey and Patty deliver that "predictable" banter like nobody's business.

And it's kind of crappy hearing all these negative reviews. Oh well, I watched "American Idol" for 6 years, so I know a thing or 2 about crap. I'll judge "Back To You" when there's actually enough episodes to really judge it.

[Mr. Television]

Their are still more positive reviews than negative ones out there. It's less then 10 minutes until airtime.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by sweetdiggity

Exactly! We have to judge for ourselves.
The critics are just doing their jobs. It doesn't matter what they think. All that matters is what the viewers think.

Take the King of Queens and Arrested Development for example. The critics never loved the KoQ, and yet millions of fans loved it and it was on tv for 9 years. Critics loved Arrested Development, but there were hardly any viewers, and it was cancelled after a few seasons.

Critics don't determine the success of a show. Viewers do, so who really cares what they say?

SO DAMN TRUE!!!!^^^^^^^^

I can't think of a time where I actually paid attention to what a critic said abt a show or movie. It is my time to do with what I want, and if I want to watch a show that may bring back sitcoms to television, then by golly, that is what I will do DAMNIT!!!!!!!

CORNER GAS & BACK TO YOU....RULEZ!!!!!!!

[TVFactFan]

I was disappointed to see a CHILD toward the end of the show. This show was promoted as an adult comedy not a workplace/family comedy

[TJ]

I don't know how big a part the daughter is even going to have in the show. She's not even in the second episode.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by TJ

I don't know how big a part the daughter is even going to have in the show. She's not even in the second episode.

Well that's good news