TVSquad

I think Gary Unmarried might just be the new Yes, Dear. Remember that show? It lasted for several seasons even though no one talked about, and just when we thought it had gone away it came back for several more episodes. I think this Jay Mohr comedy might be in the same category: it's a sitcom that, before you know it, is going to be in season five.

Gary has a new job as a radio host. Did you watch it? Is this show any good? Is it an ignored comedy gem we should all be watching? It is produced and directed by James Burrows, after all. I watched the first two episodes and it's not terrible, but it just seems to be a lesser sitcom.

[You can watch clips of Gary Umarried at SlashControl and judge for yourself.]

While it's still waiting to find out if it might get renewed for next season, Gary Unmarried creator Ed Yeager and fellow exec producer Ric Swartzlander have already bolted for greener pastures. Apparently it was the old "creative differences" standby that caused the problem. Now normally I'd say that a creator leaving a show would be cause for serious concern, but Gary Unmarried is a fairly traditional family-oriented sitcom, so I should think someone else could steer that ship.

The show was entertaining enough when I watched it, but I never felt particularly compelled to come back the next week and watch it again. I can't help but think that this may be enough to doom the show. CBS has a lot of new shows to look at, and with Gary just so-so in the ratings they might want to throw something else against the wall and see if they can't improve on just so-so. If it does get yanked, they can have Jay Mohr return to the just renewed Ghost Whisperer. He's a better foil for Melinda than the still awkward Jamie Kennedy anyway.

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.

It won't be a surprise if I admit that I watch a lot of TV. Maybe even a bit too much. Amongst all the series I watch, there were no spooky or horror series until last May. That's when, looking for something new to me to watch during the days since I was working from home, I decided to give CBS's Ghost Whisperer a try. The series's first and second seasons where airing daily on a local specialized channel last spring.

Since the series premiere of GW, I've kept in the loop as to what the show was about and what was going on (spoilers column obliges). However, I never felt compelled to tune in mostly because I get scared quite easily by TV series and movies that deal with ghosts. You will never catch me watching Ghost Hunters. Never. And until the special black and white episode of Supernatural last week, I never watched a full episode of the series. Actually, I turn the TV off five minutes in the series premiere.

Surprisingly to me, I ended up not only watching the reruns of seasons one and two of the series but also made sure to catch up with the CBS reruns of the third season in order to be ready for September.

Hello! My name is Isabelle and I'm now a fan of Ghost Whisperer. Here's why.

Jay Mohr moonlights away from his regular gig on Ghost Whisperer to star as Gary Brooks in this traditional sitcom. CBS has paired Gary Unmarried with The New Adventures of Old Christine, which creates an interesting dynamic. First, you have Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a divorced woman trying to live her own life while dealing with her ex and their kid. Then you get Jay Mohr as a recently divorced man trying to live his own life while dealing with his ex and their kids.

In fact, this seems to be almost the same show, only from the ex-husband's point of view rather than the ex-wife's point of view. Husband is a bit more lax with the kids while mom is overbearing and a bit crazy. I do like that in this variation, the kids have more distinct and important personalities. In fact, Gary (premiering tonight at 8:30 PM ET) has a much wider cast altogether. Both spouses have new relationships and Gary's girlfriend has a kid of her own.

The show Ghost Whisperer is no stranger to major changes in its status quo. They wrapped up their first season by having Jennifer Love Hewitt's Melinda Gordon lose her best friend Andrea (Aisha Tyler), only to have to deal with her spirit to launch the second season. It made for an emotionally powerful episode and a tragedy that drove Melinda into that new year.

Michael Ausiello, who is generally pretty spot-on with his rumors, dropped a pretty big bombshell of some possible happenings early on in this upcoming season. Now I've already admitted on this very site that Ghost Whisperer is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I've had the joy of growing up with Jennifer Love Hewitt from her days on Party of Five and she's still just too gosh-darned cute to stop watching now. And dammit if the writers don't know how to pull the heartstrings in almost every episode, too. But now ... well, we'll talk about it after the jump.

First they changed the title from Project Gary to Gary Unmarried, and now we have another change coming to Jay Mohr's new CBS sitcom.

Ed Begley, Jr. has been cast as the therapist who treated Mohr and his ex-wife, played by Paula Marshall. The role of the therapist in the pilot was played by comic Larry Miller, who just did a guest turn on Burn Notice (maybe this will give him time for more appearances on that show).

... and I think it's a terrible idea. I have a small fascination with the titles of TV shows. They are never the total cause of a show's failure, but I do believe they can play a part. That's why my ears perked up this weekend when CBS ran a spot for Project Gary. At least, it looked like a spot for Project Gary, but my TV was now telling me it was for Gary Unmarried. What the heck is that?

It gave me a bit of deja vu. Suddenly I flashed back to September 2006 when I wrote a post about bad show titles, prompted by the name change of Let's Rob Mick Jagger. As you'll recall, that one became The Knights Of Prosperity, and things didn't work out so well. Not all name changes are bad. The CW changing Surviving The Filthy Rich to Privileged actually sounds like a good idea, but Gary Unmarried, no. I don't think the new name is going to sink them, but when combined with the fact that they didn't land in the safe harbor of the Monday night comedy block, I'm starting to get nervous for Gary.

In a move as big as his executive producing Living with Fran, Jamie Kennedy has decided to return to series television. In fact, Jay Mohr's loss is Jamie's gain. Jamie Kennedy has signed on to the CBS psychic drama Ghost Whisperer. It's not a guest role or a mini-arc, he's a regular. Yes, Jamie Kennedy will be a regular and will play a dramatic role. Okay, he'll try to play it straight. Perhaps this will be the ultimate Jamie Kennedy experiment?

Jay Mohr was the college connection with whom Melinda consulted on Ghost Whisperer, but now that he's getting his own sitcom on the networks, Project Gary, GW needs a new character to provide the same kind of insight. Jamie will play Eli, a college grad student.

I suppose most people would lead with the fact that Jay Mohr has signed on to Ed Yeager's untitled comedy pilot for CBS. After all, Jay does have that regular gig on Ghost Whisperer. In a nutshell, Mohr and Paula Marshall play a couple that has recently divorced, after fifteen years of marriage. The funny is scheduled to arrive as we watch Mohr's character try to juggle his ex-wife, their two kids, and his new girlfriend, played by Jaime King.

That's all well and good. For me though, the far more interesting bit is Paula Marshall's involvement. I find her career fascinating. She's been on a bunch of great shows. The Wonder Years, Seinfeld, Nash Bridges (don't laugh, Nash was very successful), Spin City, Sports Night, Just Shoot Me, Nip/Tuck, and Veronica Mars, to name a few. Yet, for whatever reason, whenever she gets a starring gig, it all seems to go to hell. See Cupid, Snoops, Hidden Hills, and Out Of Practice. I don't get it. I like everything she's ever done, but it just doesn't work. So, I don't have high hopes for this production. However, it does offer a thought. It's quite possible that Paula was all set to star in a great new show for Tim Minear. Unfortunately, the sheer power of their combined abilities to kill shows sent the series itself back in time, canceling itself before the idea even came to be.

On Thursday October 18th, I attended a blogger event for CBS at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. After waiting a surprisingly long time to clear security (all the while the security guard kept my driver's license with him), I finally started my tour of the Ghost Whisperer stages. Along with a tour of the show's set, the press event also included interviews with the executive producers, a sneak preview of the Halloween episode (airing October 26th), and a tour of the show's back lot (in the context of the Universal Studios R.I.P. experience). Completely unrelated to Ghost Whisperer but interesting all the same, we got a sneak preview of How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills and an interview with writer/director Seth Grahame-Smith.

(S05E09) Remember that story about The Doors? The one where Ed Sullivan told them that they could only be on his show if they changed the lyrics of Light My Fire? They agreed, but when they went on Jim Morrison not only said the original lyric, but emphasized it. The message he was trying to send to Ed Sullivan and the network was that no amount of television exposure was worth selling out his integrity.

Watching Last Comic Standing tonight made me wish that Jim Morrison was still alive. And a stand-up comic. And on this show. I'd bet he'd have had something to say about jester costumes....

Jay Mohr, comedian and sports fan, will be providing twenty-minute video segments for FoxSports.com this month. The series, called The Alternative With Jay Mohr, will mix remote segments, monologues and comedic sketches. Mohr will also pen a weekly column for the sports site.

Sports fans shouldn't be too surprised to see Mohr in this capacity. The comedian/actor, who currently appears on CBS' Ghost Whisperer, hasn't exactly hidden his love of sports, having appeared as a guest host on Jim Rome's Sirius Satellite Radio program, not to mention frequent appearances on The Best Damn Sports Show Period and NFL Sunday Morning.

Actors Jay Mohr and John Cho have both joined separate untitled comedy pilots for CBS.

Mohr's comedy pilot, from Will and Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, centers on two friends and writing partners, Mohr (the straight one) and Brian Austin Green (the gay one). The pilot is based somewhat on the professional relationship of Kohan and Mutchnick. Jessica Capshaw and Vanessa Lengies round out the cast.

Something isn't right in Sorkinland. In last Monday's episode, Matt Albie and Andy Mackinaw are feeling nostalgic. In a scene early in the show Andy asks Matt if he remembers his first office . . . the one that was so small that you could write on both walls if you reached your arms out with pencils in your hands. Matt mentioned that was his second office, and that his first was actually the floor in the middle of the hallway.

Now, the reason methinks something is afoot is because I just finished reading Gasping For Airtime, the excellent Jay Mohr autobiography that chronicles his two year stint on Saturday Night Live in the mid-1990's. In this book he talks about the dressing room that he had during his second season on the show. . . the one that was so small that he could take a pencil in each hand, stretch his arms out, and write on the walls. He also mentioned a conversation he had with SNL alum Mike Myers about his first office. It turns out that it was on the floor in the middle of the hallway.

Hmmm.