TV unleashes a bit of dog-days fun
By Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 3, 2003
LOS ANGELES - Hot fun in the summertime, finally.
While network reruns and reality show clones cast long shadows, sizzle can be found on television at last.
Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, a makeover series in which gay men teach style to hapless heterosexuals, is proving a fresh and witty addition to the risk-taking Bravo channel.
The same can't be said for Bravo's new gay dating show Boy Meets Boy, which may represent social change but is no breezy summer fling. Its blend of earnestness and triteness is too similar to the tone of other reality shows.
"If you could pick just one genre of music to listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be?" our bachelor asks his potential soul mates, really digging deep, on the 9 p.m. Tuesday show that precedes Queer Eye. Dating game over. Please.
Spontaneity, not staleness, is what we're after. Happily, two other shows deliver big by drawing on the art of improvisational comedy.
One is 3 Non-Blondes a Candid Camera-like show that breathes new life and charm into the format. The BBC America series, featuring three black female comics (the title's "nonblondes"), debuts at 9 p.m. Aug. 10.
With hidden cameras rolling, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Ninia Benjamin and Tameka Empson take turns surprising people throughout Britain with oddball requests or actions. Nothing awful or injury-causing a la Jackass; it's wacky but not mean-spirited.
(It also stands as a bit of commentary. Series producer Gary Reich has said he felt women comedians could get away with more, and that people would especially respond to black women to avoid seeming racist.)
Empson, dressed as a police officer, offers unsolicited advice to passersby. "Sir, can I just remind you that, remember, smoking can kill," she tells one confused man. "As you were," she orders, sending him on his way.
The show moves quickly from one brief setup to another, so hang on if one leaves you cold. The next will draw a guffaw.
Even more likely to provoke hysterics is Reno 911! on Comedy Central, the brainchild of series co-stars Robert Ben Garant, Kerri Kenney and Thomas Lennon.
Reno 911! (10:30 p.m. Wednesdays) spoofs the cinema-verite style of Fox's Cops as it pretends to reveal the inner workings, or malfunctioning, of the Reno sheriff's department.
Inept deputies accidentally shoot each other, deliberately insult one another and find lots of time for hanky-panky. The show, armed with intelligent silliness and bawdiness, earns a big brass star.
"My favorite thing about being a cop is that I get to slap men around. . . . You know what I'm saying?" says Deputy Raineesha Williams (Niecy Nash).
"I love someone that has to say, "You know what I'm saying' after everything she says," Deputy Clementine Johnson (Wendy McLendon-Covey) grouses to the camera. "Because quite honestly, no, I don't know what she's saying, nor do I care."
Many in the uniformly excellent cast, which also includes Carlos Alazraqui and Cedric Yarbrough, have improv backgrounds.
Upcoming guest stars include Cheryl Hines (an Emmy nominee for Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Michael Ian Black (Ed).
The series, with only a bare outline of a story for each episode and largely improvised, "is a Trojan horse just hiding a sketch show," Lennon said in an interview.
Originally developed for Fox, the Reno 911! pilot was shelved for two years until Comedy Central resurrected it and ordered a 13-episode run.
Entertainment headlines
Just try to look away
TV unleashes a bit of dog-days fun
Calendar
Taylor sued for firing employee
