'Courting Alex,' returning to romance
New CBS sitcom steps beyond stale formulas
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jan 20, 2006
Jenna Elfman should be thanking the agents for John Goodman, Jason Alexander and Jon Lovitz that all three were otherwise engaged this season. They were thus not available to drag down “Courting Alex” into the muck of sitcom sameness that has dominated network comedy in recent years.
Elfman, unburdened, rises to her role, and out of that comes the first attractive, intelligent, single female to carry a CBS show in years, seemingly going back as far as the Mary Tyler Moore years, if not in fact at least in spirit.
The show premieres Monday at 9:30 p.m. in the enviable post-“Two and a Half Men” slot, and that tells you two things. First, that CBS really believes in "Alex.” But also, and perhaps more important, it tells you how far CBS has come around. This was a network whose idea of fun was long pairing pretty women such as Jami Gertz, Patricia Heaton and Leah Remini with shockingly inappropriate--inadequate works here too--mates like Mark Addy, Ray Romano and Kevin James.
That was the premise for six of CBS’s comedies the past two years, mostly uninspired variations on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Of those six, only “King of Queens” is still performing decently. The others have either been canceled or will be soon.
Even more encouraging, "Alex” speaks to a new era of sitcoms, and at a time when the genre had been written off by so many for its utter staleness. "Alex” joins “Desperate Housewives,” “My Name is Earl,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Jake in Progress” and “Crumbs” in that regard. And while perhaps not as witty or creative as the best of them, it works because of Elfman’s credibility as the harried career woman and because of clever writing. "Alex” rarely stoops to the obvious joke.
It helps too, for the presumably female audience CBS is looking to woo, that Elfman and her male suitor, Josh Randall ("Ed"), might actually belong together. They show more chemistry in one brief on-screen kiss than Gertz and Addy of "Still Standing" have generated in four seasons.
Think about it. How many sitcoms have we watched with smart, attractive women whose entire lives seem bent on serving as emotional anchors for rudderless, clueless men? What anger does that speak to?
New CBS sitcom steps beyond stale formulas
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jan 20, 2006
Jenna Elfman should be thanking the agents for John Goodman, Jason Alexander and Jon Lovitz that all three were otherwise engaged this season. They were thus not available to drag down “Courting Alex” into the muck of sitcom sameness that has dominated network comedy in recent years.
Elfman, unburdened, rises to her role, and out of that comes the first attractive, intelligent, single female to carry a CBS show in years, seemingly going back as far as the Mary Tyler Moore years, if not in fact at least in spirit.
The show premieres Monday at 9:30 p.m. in the enviable post-“Two and a Half Men” slot, and that tells you two things. First, that CBS really believes in "Alex.” But also, and perhaps more important, it tells you how far CBS has come around. This was a network whose idea of fun was long pairing pretty women such as Jami Gertz, Patricia Heaton and Leah Remini with shockingly inappropriate--inadequate works here too--mates like Mark Addy, Ray Romano and Kevin James.
That was the premise for six of CBS’s comedies the past two years, mostly uninspired variations on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Of those six, only “King of Queens” is still performing decently. The others have either been canceled or will be soon.
Even more encouraging, "Alex” speaks to a new era of sitcoms, and at a time when the genre had been written off by so many for its utter staleness. "Alex” joins “Desperate Housewives,” “My Name is Earl,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Jake in Progress” and “Crumbs” in that regard. And while perhaps not as witty or creative as the best of them, it works because of Elfman’s credibility as the harried career woman and because of clever writing. "Alex” rarely stoops to the obvious joke.
It helps too, for the presumably female audience CBS is looking to woo, that Elfman and her male suitor, Josh Randall ("Ed"), might actually belong together. They show more chemistry in one brief on-screen kiss than Gertz and Addy of "Still Standing" have generated in four seasons.
Think about it. How many sitcoms have we watched with smart, attractive women whose entire lives seem bent on serving as emotional anchors for rudderless, clueless men? What anger does that speak to?
