For this tripe ABC benched "Sports Night"?
If "Talk to Me" gets better ratings than "Sports Night," it will only prove that Americans get the kind of television programming they deserve.
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| | TV review: "Talk to Me" When: 9:30 tonight on ABC.
Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, Nicole Sullivan. | | |
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Kyra Sedgwick stars as Janey Munro, a female Howard Stern coming off a bad breakup with a boyfriend. She lives with her "professional volunteer" sister Kat (Nicole Sullivan) and spars at work with Dr. Debra (Beverly D'Angelo), an oh-so-obvious nod to Dr. Laura.
Tonight at 9:30, Janey learns to "take it like a man" in dealing with her breakup blues, meaning she picks up a guy for sex without commitment.
At work she's surrounded by her radio show sidekicks, including Max Baker who, if you're lucky, you won't remember from his role as Nibblet on UPN's "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer."
Sedgwick, a fine film actress, is way too broad and manic here. Watching her gave me that embarrassed feeling you have when you see someone trying too hard.
Sullivan, who broke out from the ensemble on Fox's "Mad TV," acquits herself better than Sedgwick. The few funny moments in "Talk to Me" come from Sullivan's cockeyed performance.
"Talk to Me" comes from Hostage Productions. That makes sense. I felt like a hostage while watching next week's episode just in case "Talk to Me" improves. I assure you, it does not.
"Sports Night" wasn't a perfect show, often uneven -- one week excellent, the next week not-so-great. But it made an effort to be something better than the typical, standard-issue sitcom. "Talk to Me" doesn't even approach the mediocre level.
"Talk to Me"? Please don't.
Rob Owen can be reached at 412-263-2582 or rowen@post-gazette.com. Post questions or comments about TV to www.post-gazette.com/tv under PG Online Talk.
