gregorybmowery

There are fewer actors as funny as Nathan Lane, I was really looking forward to this series, but if it goes forward to a second season, it has to take a more creative turn. I can't believe the producing team that brought us WILL & GRACE has delivered this heavy-handed series that does nothing for the terrific cast. Nathan Lane plays a successful manufacturer of women's bras. He's living in semi-retirement in Palm Springs. His two best friends, a former fashion executive from New York (Nathan Lee Graham), and a handsome flight attendant are visiting for a funeral. They have enjoyed their visit so much that Lane suggests they share his big house with his mother (Linda Lavin). So like THE GOLDEN GIRLS, you have four characters with big personalties. The problem is the scripts. The situations are beyond superficial, and while a few of the jokes land, this cast has to work way to hard to sell 'em. Only Linda Lavin rises above the material, delivering the lines like the pro she is. This is not to say the rest of the cast is lacking in comic chops. But the thing that made WILL & GRACE and THE GOLDEN GIRLS such era-defining classics is the one-two punch of situations and great comic dialogue. It would help if the writers stopped writing tired gay one-liners. WILL & GRACE had some of the sharpest, funniest gay dialogue on TV and never resorted to cliches. They have the cast to deliver the goods. Sadly Linda Lavin has died, but we still have wonderful comic actresses to slip easily into her shoes.

Only Shonda Rhimes could produce a riveting new show about the murder of AB Wynter, Chief Usher of the White House, as a showcase for the emergence of Cordelia Cupp, one of the most electric, eccentric and riveting detectives in TV history. Paul Davies has created a dazzling series that I gobbled up in two sittings. Uzo Aduba is a riveting and commanding presence as Ms. Cupp, who spends her down time studying rare birds. At work she is a smart cookie, flying under everybody's radar. And anyone with any kind of connection to the White House could be a suspect. She is brilliantly abetted by an outstanding cast of scene stealers from the President's top advisor to the White House, plus the chef, the new chief usher, the pastry cook, the backstairs maid, the house plumber, the social secretary, or some stranger who happened to sneak into the White House and nab a seat at the state dinner for the prime minister of Australia. Look for Bronson Pinchot, Jane Curtain, Giancarlo Esposito, and ironically Al Franken in supporting roles. Randall Park, makes a wonderful impression as the long-suffering FBI agent assigned to keep and eye on the eccentric Ms. Crupp.

Some of have argued here that the series is long-winded. Nonsense. I was riveted from beginning to end. And what's with the relationship between the President and Barrertt Foa? You figure it out. I already have, and it's a sly touch. As for the rest of the minority who complain, you simply have a short attention span. Hysterically funny, complex, well-written, superbly acted, I hope Ms. Rhimes and Mr. Davies find a fresh new case for Ms. Crupp ASAP!