Comments on: TV reviews: ‘Back to You,’ ‘Gossip Girl’

By: Eric Herman

Eric Herman — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:09:44 +0000

For being a premiere/pilot, me and the Mrs. were impressed with “Back to You”. We had high hopes with missing “Frasier” so much and being fans of all three leads, but also low expectations because it was a pilot, and because let’s face it, there have been a lot of new comedy shows that have come and gone featuring big names. I think the problem is that they don’t often surround the stars with decent supporting characters. In this case, I generally liked the anchor wannabe and the news director (even though he is essentially playing Chris Farley) and the weather girl. Yeah, they’re pretty much one-dimensional, but a lot of comedy characters are, and I can see them being good comedic fodder for the show.

My wife worked for a few years at a news station and enjoyed a lot of the little details about that kind of environment. For example, the anchors where she worked both did the same kind of bizarre vocal warmups before every broadcast. I agree it could have been funnier, but it did have quite a few good moments, and again, premieres and pilots of even the funniest shows are often very weak compared to what they become (Seinfeld, Arrested Development, The Office are all examples of that). There’s just too much exposition and character introduction. I thought the show got quite a few jokes in, though, and showed a lot of promise, so we’ll keep watching for now, at least.

By: Turkey

Turkey — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:28:43 +0000

But laughtracks tell the stupid and humor-impared when to know something is funny. Otherwise, they’ll just stare blankly at the screen and then the show will be cancelled *cougharresteddevelopmentcough*.

By: Savvy Veteran

Savvy Veteran — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:48:24 +0000

I love Fred Willard. Very unintentionally funny. But I wish they could change the format of the show (and of all shows, in fact) and eliminate the laugh track. I hate laugh tracks with a passion.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:12:13 +0000

Same for me for “Back to you”: I wanted it to be better than it was. I thought Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton had good chemistry though: they provided all the funniest moments. I felt like the rhythm was a little off the rest of the time though, so maybe this will improve a little with age.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:04:45 +0000

I also watched “Back to You”, and though I was eager to cheer for it, I was less than dazzled. I got the feeling they were pushing to get all that clunky exposition out of the way so we can get on with the Anchorman-o-rama. I expect it to be less zany than the movie, but with essentially all the same character types, I was hoping it would be funnier.

By: Lowdogg

Lowdogg — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:11:19 +0000

I had a similar reaction to Back to You. I won’t DVR it either, but I enjoyed it and with such likeable leads I hope it sticks around.