"Back to You" Deserved to Be Back

[Janice]

http://media.herald-dispatch.com/blog/tuned/2008/05/back-to-you-deserved-to-be-back.html

"Back to You" Deserved to Be Back

You know I was not a fan of “Back to You,” the recently cancelled FOX sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton.

But after watching the last 10 minutes of the series finale, I am more convinced than ever that it deserved another chance…

“Back” should have been a huge smash, but the mega-watt stars couldn’t overcome the show’s ill-conceived premise--the recently reunited feuding news co-anchors shared a child.

But in the finale the premise that doomed the show actually opened the door for a creative renaissance…

Chuck (Grammer) and Kelly (Heaton) finally told their daughter, Gracie, who her father was, but they decided they couldn’t tell anyone else. Why? Because the television station where they worked had recently kicked off the ad campaign, “Chuck and Kelly do it again.” And an admission of a child would give that phrase a whole new meaning…

But when Gracie is hurt by their desire to keep the secret, Chuck does the right thing and tells everyone live during a newscast. When they return to the newsroom, everyone applauds and congratulates them.

However, the final scene shows Chuck and Kelly trying to stay awake during “Good Morning, Pittsburgh” apparently having been demoted from their evening news spots.

This new development could have led to some good comedy as Chuck and Kelly tried to get back to the top.

But unfortunately, we’ll never find out where it was headed…

I understand the show was just too expensive to justify saving it, but couldn’t FOX have cut the budget for something else to find the money? Like say, by firing Randy Jackson from “American Idol”…

[JulieSomoski]

Chuck and Kelly didn't get promoted from the evening news slots, they just had to do double-duty with the morning show. Still, it would have been funny to see again in the second season.