TVSquad

Anyone who thinks that the lame, traditional, laugh-track-laden sitcom is dead hasn't seen Gary Unmarried yet. Unfortunately, I have. And I've got to tell you, it's probably the worst sitcom since the undead According to Jim first infected our airwaves in 2001. It's too bad, given the talent involved.

And when I mention "talent," I don't mean series creator Ed Yeager, who helped foist Still Standing on the American public for four years. I'm talking about stars Jay Mohr, Paula Marshall, Ed Begley Jr., and Jaime King, as well as esteemed sitcom director James Burrows. They're talented people stuck in a show that contains the same wacky plots and "setup-joke" rhythm that has led many to think the multi-camera sitcom is as dead as disco.

In July, I was at a sitcom writing seminar in which Sam Simon (who helped develop The Simpsons) declared: "the sitcom is dead." Veteran comedy writer Ken Levine (who hosted that sitcom seminar), however, disagrees. Ken believes the traditional multi-camera sitcom might be on a respirator, but still has a pulse. Levine said, "I would amend Sam's statement and say that yeah, the bad, stale, family sitcom with tired rhythms, forced laughs, and bogus characters is dead."

I guess if you're trying to revive the dying sitcom, a good way to start is by assembling a top-notch team. And Fox's new Wednesday night comedy, Back to You, does just that.

Iconic TV director James Burrows has joined the FOX series Back to You as an executive producer and the main director for at least the first season.

While I've personally never been a huge fan of the sitcoms Burrows has been involved with (Cheers, Friends, Dharma and Greg, Will and Grace, Fraiser, Two and a Half Men, countless others), it's no secret the man has a way of propelling sitcoms to new heights, which is undoubtedly what the hope is for Back to You. Also, let me quickly add that I understand the appeal of many of Burrows' series, I'm just not wired for their style of humor. It could be a factory defect, I don't know.

Back to You stars Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton and Fred Willard as members of a news team in Pittsburgh who reunite after their main anchor, played by Grammer, returns after being disgracefully fired from his position in a bigger market.

One of the problems I've had, and continue to have, with The Class since it premiered this past fall was that the show had just too many characters and too many stories. Sure, the storylines with Lina and Richie were sweet and had the most dramatic impact, and the stories with Kat and Ethan were often very funny. But the Duncan and Nicole storyline seemed right out of the Friends playbook and the Kyle/Holly/GayButNotGay Husband story? Ugh... the less said about it, the better.

But it looks like the show's creators, David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, are getting the message. According to this AP article, they have decided to create more epsiodes where the group is together, rather than the disparate storylines that dominated the first ten or so episodes of the season. They admit that, while having a soapy, separate-thread structure for the show was a novel concept for a sitcom, it just wasn't working. And the actors wanted to do more scenes together, too, so it seems like going back to a traditional format is working better for everyone.

When I previewed rough-cut pilot of The Class (premieres Monday, Sept. 18 at 8 PM ET) back in June, I had my doubts about whether the loose association of the characters in the show would be able to withstand the rigors of a long-term series. The finished pilot didn't change my mind. But CBS was nice enough to include the second episode on the same screener as the pilot, and I'll tell you this: the show has potential. It seems an especially good companion for How I Met Your Mother, which it will preceed on Mondays, since both cater to the same late-20s crowd. But The Class does so without the cutsiness that can sometimes seep into HIMYM.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the same folks who give us the Emmys) announced the inductees to their Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1984. The class consists of William Shatner, former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, and Regis ("the Reege") Philbin. Of course, all three have been on our TVs for decades and are pretty obvious inductees. Also in the group are veteran sitcom director James Burrows (Cheers, Will & Grace) and producer and former network executive Leonard Goldberg (Hart to Hart). Induction ceremonies are yet to be scheduled.

Adam's post about Herman's Head (which was one of my favorite shows during my college years, by the way) got me thinking of the FOX Sunday lineup in those heady days when The Simpsons was still considered subversive and FOX was as small as The CW. Ironically, between Bart and Co., Married... With Children, and Herman's Head, the lineup was probably a lot stronger then than it is now, even though FOX is now a bigger network with more resources to create quality programming.

Part of that early-nineties Sunday lineup was Flying Blind (1992-93), which starred (a very red-headed and very hot) Téa Leoni and Corey Parker as a mismatched couple making their way through the early days of their relationship. Leoni played the firery ingenue Alicia, full of life and adventurous as hell. Parker was nebbishy Neil, who seemed to fumble and stumble over every sentence but was devoted to Alicia. I mean, who wouldn't? She was just about perfect. So perfect, in fact, that I always wondered why she was ever with Neil to begin with.

(S08E23) There are those who are die-hard fans of Will & Grace, which premiered on the NBC schedule back in 1998. Then there are those who despise the show, which is about the relationship between Grace Adler (Debra Messing) and her gay friend Will Truman (Eric McCormack). The fans love the back-and-forth between the two characters and the dynamic of their relationship. Those who hate the show may be uncomfortable with the subject matter (homosexuality) or the cartoon-ish characterizations of Will and Grace's friends Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and Karen Walker (Megan Mullally ), or the fact that it's just not funny.

I fall under neither category. I liked Will & Grace, but was not a huge fan. I'd watch it if I happened to see something interesting going on, and I'd laugh at a few of the lines (not as heartily as I would laugh during an episode of Scrubs, though). Yet, Jack annoyed me sometimes and the influx of guest stars on the show was somewhat distracting. In fact, over the last few years I didn't really follow it at all.

However, as this would be the last episode of the series, I decided to give it a review. My opinion on the last show of the series? Meh.

Goldie Hawn, who turned 97 recently, will be honored at the 12th Annual US Comedy Arts Festival this Spring along with James Burrows, the TV heavyweight who brought to life such shows as Cheers, Frasier, NewsRadio, and Friends. The Comedy Arts Festival should not be confused with the Comedy Arts and Crafts Festival, which involves comedians weaving baskets and carving small figures from balsa wood. Of course, like Mel Brooks so wisely pointed out many years ago, the idea of a comedy award is kind of foolish, since comedians are supposed to make fun of things like that. Still, it's nice to get your props.