"manitou" wrote:
To recap, difficult to view the new show without ghosts from the past
haning heavily. 'Chuck' is so similar to Frasier, it's hard to know
>>where one starts and the other ends.
Interesting. I thought I recognized a lot of Frasier in Chuck too. But
Peter
said he thinks one drawback of the show is Chuck is a much less likable
character than Frasier. He said he thinks there's something about a
pompous,
erudite snob that's a lot more endearing than a womanizing, ego-inflated,
unintellectual jerk.
>>And Patricia Heaton's character is like a combo of Roz, Kate Costas
plus take-your-pick from dozens of dates-go-bad from Frasier's past.
I'd say her character needs another female character to play off ---
and someone a lot more interesting than the bimbo weather girl ---
otherwise it's just going to be a formulaic battle of the ***es.>>
I had that thought too. Roz and Daphne were such strong characters and
both
were multi-dimensional and integral to the ensemble. The Hispanic,
over***ed
weather lady doesn't strike me as having anywhere interesting to go w/ her
character, and she's not much of a foil to the female co-anchor.
>>And I saw the surprise revelation coming, the moment Heaton mentioned
the daughter.>>
Good for you! I didn't. I don't know why...I just didn't pick on it. Only
when the age thing came up did I realize it's intended to give Chuck the
idea the child could be his. Which of course made his speech funny. But I
assumed it was just the plot of the pilot and would not pan out. I assumed
he'd find out she wasn't his. Only when the mother went into a panic to
get
Chuck out of the house did I realize the girl really is his. After the
show,
I said I couldn't see why the woman panicked so, as though Chuck would see
the girl looked like him and she doesn't. Peter said he thinks we're
supposed to assume the girl *does* look like him, even though the actress
is
unrelated to KG and doesn't look like him at all. I guess.
>>But, the show did make me laugh and smile many times, which is a good
sign. James Burrows' direction was a lot less forced than what Mr.
Burrows was churning out during the later seasons of "Will & Grace".
Hard to see where the story can go. I don't sense the presence of so
many extraordinary characters we had from the start on FRASIER.>>
I reminded Peter that the pilot of "Frasier" wasn't all that funny either.
It showed potential, but it gave no clue how delightfully funny it was
going
to be. Peter agreed and said that's the problem with a pilot...it has to
do
all this set-up in under a half hour for who the characters are and what
it's going to be. It really can't get down to the tough business of clever
bits and dialogue and jokes until it lays the necessary groundwork first.
I
think that's fairly true, although "All in the Family", for instance, had
me
LOL hysterically in its pilot. But that kind of thing is truly rare.
>>Of the remaining cast, I liked Ty Burrell (excellent in "Out Of
Practice"). If the producers are looking for feedback, my advice is
focus on Chuck and Ty's character. The other people at the station
were too clichéed to be compelling IMO >>
I liked Fred Williard's character...I think he has potential. The nervous,
sweaty, kid news director shows little promise. Ditto for weather lady.
>>I'd like the show to succeed, but it's too early to tell if it will.
I had the feeling about it that I did w/ the Out of Practice pilot.
Something there but does it have the legs to run? And we all know how that
turned out. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised, though. I'll defnitely
look
at it next week. That's something.
Nat
(add sbc before global to email)
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