Boston Common Article From The New York Times (Apr. 18, 1996)

[Skywalker]

A Hayseed in the Groves of Academe
By CARYN JAMES
Published: April 18, 1996


The time slot following "Friends" is foolproof, and sure enough, NBC has filled it with a fool. Boyd, the country-boy hero of "Boston Common," drove his younger sister to college in Boston and stayed because he fell for a sweet graduate student named Joy. "If you say it really fast, it sounds like you're a pogo stick," he say dreamily about her name. "Joy-joy-joy." We're not talking about debonair sophistication here. Monica from "Friends" wouldn't give a bumpkin like Boyd a second glance.

But Boyd is a wise fool, who can outsmart the intellectuals around him with plain old common sense, and his down-to-earth style is a major part of the series' success. Among last month's crop of mid-season replacements on all the networks, "Boston Common" is the only certain hit. Its current run ends next week, but new episodes will appear in August, and the show will continue in the fall, though its regular-season time slot has not been announced.

With its Southern hero and college setting, the show offers welcome relief from the New York-bound clones of "Friends" (especially the wan "Single Guy," which it replaced). But "Boston Common" succeeds because of the cleverly conceived and smartly written battle at its core, pitting eggheads against the salt of the earth.

Tasha (Tasha Smith), a smart-mouthed woman who works with Boyd at the student union of the fictional Randolph Harrington College, is skeptical about his infatuation. "Love comes to Forrest Gump!" she says. But "Boston Common" is not really like "Gump," whose hero has miraculous luck. The show takes its cue from "Frasier," in which the lovable but pretentious brothers, Frasier and Niles, are usually oblivious to the common sense of their father, a former policeman, and Daphne, the live-in help. Boyd mooning over Joy is a reverse image of Niles pining for Daphne.

This conflict is more unusual in sitcoms than it might seem. Phoebe on "Friends" and Kramer on "Seinfeld" are ditsy, but they belong to the same social circle as the shows' other characters. There is stress in the blue-collar worlds of "Roseanne" and "Grace Under Fire." But few shows are built around the collision of social worlds. The strategy can pay off. An earlier mid-season phenomenon, "Third Rock From the Sun," offers the ultimate social collision, between earthlings and aliens. But the concept calls for a tricky balance. Each side must have its satirized yet likable heroes.

Anthony Clark, a stand-up comic, plays Boyd with goofiness, sincerity and a healthy dose of physical humor. Boyd lives in one room with his sister, Wyleen (Hedy Burress), and is driving her crazy. On tonight's episode, Wyleen asks him to go to the college therapist with her. He reacts by folding his arms, as if he's wearing a straitjacket, and rolling around on the bed. Academe and psychiatry are ideal upscale targets.

Yet the eggheads have their charms. Joy (Traylor Howard) studies the homey subje't of American dialect and storytelling. Boyd's sad-sack neighbor, Leonard (played hilariously by Steve Paymer), is an archivist and an endearing misfit. The villain is Joy's fatuous professor-boyfriend, Jack (Vincent Ventresca), who in an earlier episode wanted to discuss the resurgence of the Luddites while Boyd joked about slogans on license plates. "Can't we elevate the conversation?" Jack asked. "O.K., let's talk about bumper stickers," said Boyd.

Yet Boyd regularly outsmarts Jack with reverse psychology. Jack is so smart he's stupid. Boyd is so stupid he's smart. Together they allow "Boston Common" to pull off a funny and promising stupid-people trick.



http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...2+Clark&st=nyt