Same Story
<br>By Douglas Wernert
Daily Arts WriterSeptember 18th, 2003
This past week, UPN debuted four new sitcoms for the fall season in an attempt to grab viewers before the other big network premieres. With familiar faces and new concepts, the network hoped to establish itself as a reliable source for nighttime entertainment. The end result, however, was standard new-series fare, with one very notable, yet despicable exception. "Eve," featuring the female rapper of the same name, made its well-received appearance Monday night. Eve plays a woman named, of course, Shelly, a fashion designer looking for a man. With her two partners in tow (Natalie Desselle and Ali Landry), she meets and has a less-than-perfect first date with leading man JT (Jason Winston George). On-screen chemistry between the two is missing, and unfortunately for Eve, she lacks the "it" factor to make the audience care deeply about her character. In addition, the supporting cast, aside from Desselle's Janie serving as the voice of reason, only exists to divide up the laughs. The next offering, "All of Us," chronicles Robert James (Duane Martin, "Above the Rim"), a young, suave soon-to-be-divorced man with a son. This is loosely based off the real life story of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, with the focus on the tension between James' "baby mama" and current girlfriend. The sweet little boy in the middle of all this leads to some touching father-and-son scenes, but the laughs among the adults are too few and too far between. The big disadvantage for the two preceding shows is the fact they are on UPN, a network already full of similarly hokey sitcoms with paper-thin premises. Most viewers will soon realize if you've seen one crappy situational comedy, you've seen them all. To counter this, Dan Cortese ("Veronica's Closet") returns to television with "Rock Me Baby," a show about Jimmy, a "hip" disk jockey getting used to having a newborn in the house. Wife Beth (Bianca Kajilch) is a typical first-time mom and quick-witted Carl (Carl Anthony Payne II) is a snide co-host, leading to plenty of laughs and good entertainment, but the characters do need some development beyond their original roles. If Cortese can expand beyond the party guy that's trying to settle down, UPN may have a welcome change of pace on Tuesday nights. For every step forward UPN takes, they come up with a show like "The Mullets" to send them two steps back. Dwayne and Danny Mullet are two redneck roofers with the outlandish mullet hairstyle, which seems to be the redeeming quality of the show. A wealthy, beer-drinking mom (Loni Anderson, "WKRP in Cincinatti") and dim-witted friends only add more foolishness to the mix, making the viewer wonder if there is a so-called "straight man" in all of this. Dwayne and Danny's stepfather serves as one, but it happens to be the actor who played Mr. Peterman on "Seinfeld" (John O'Hurley), losing all hope of taking that character seriously. It is best to watch this show with your brain turned off. "The Mullets" notwithstanding (that show being, in a word, awful), UPN has three sitcoms that have a chance to survive, but each is lacking something, whether it is compelling stars, funnier writing or a better story. The network tried, but still needs some variety to grab a cut of the ratings from CBS and NBC. And let's make one thing perfectly clear: mullets, or any other hairstyle for that matter, do not equal ratings. The New Line-up on UPN Eve - Mondays at 8:30 p.m. All of Us - Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. Rock Me Baby - Tuesdays at 9 p.m. The Mullets - Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m.
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:51:39 -0500