Toob Talk

One of the big-deal sitcoms hitting the small screen this season is Fox’s Back to You, a newsroom comedy starring long-time heavy hitters Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton.

Grammer plays Chuck Darling, an ego-centric news anchor who finds himself back at the station he left ten years ago. That, of course, happens after he made it big and then screwed up and got fired. Heaton is Kelly Carr, his former co-anchor who stayed at the station and has carved out a nice comfortable life.

If you can’t guess where the comedy comes in–or what “amazing” plot twists come up–you haven’t watched sitcoms before.

My first thought on hearing about this show was Good Morning Miami meets Murphy Brown–a blending of the silly comedy of the former with the quality cast of the latter. Well, both of those shows had something that Back to You lacks: heart.

What passes for creativity in this show is little more than re-packaged stereotype and easy jokes. The too-young-to-be-taken-seriously news director (played by Josh Gad who is clearly channeling a Chris Farley character from Saturday Night Live). The sexy Latina weather girl (who is, perhaps the most appalling of all the characters so far–a definite step down for Ayda Field after being on Studio 60). The ever-hopeful next-in-line reporter who lost his chance at the anchor position when Darling came back. There’s even Fred Willard playing, well, the same character he always plays.

Both Grammer’s and Heaton’s talent is wasted on this show unless they get some much better writers. Writer/Producer Steve Levitan continues the downward spiral started by Stacked. He’s come a long way from Fraiser and Wings, that’s for sure.

That all said, I’m pretty sure this show’s going to be a big hit. If generic and downright bland crap like the blissfully now gone Yes, Dear can last for six seasons, something the Grammer and Heaton’s star power can probably go at least that long.

I’m also pretty sure I’ll be able to find something else to watch. Which, really, is kind of a shame because ‘Til Death fills out the second half of he hour and it’s a pretty good show.

The new season of Beauty and the Geek has hit the CW.

Anyone who knows me, knows that this is one of the few reality shows that I actually think is worth watching. It’s one of the few that doesn’t encourage every-man-for-himself backstabbing. The show is actually about personal development and learning about others.

You can pick out those shows. They’re the ones where the people who leave aren’t upset because they’re not going to get to split that quarter-million dollar prize, but because they’re actually going to miss the people they’ve been living with.

The previous three seasons of the show have never failed to hit close to home for me. Looking at the geeks in the show (infinitely better representations of that particular species than what you’ll find in shows like Chuck), I see a lot of myself–especially a lot of my younger self. And I look at the beauties and I see so many people I’ve had crushes on over the years.

By the end of a season, we see both the beauties and the geeks grow. The geeks become more socially sure of themselves, more aware of the world around them. The beauties discover a different kind of self-confidence–one based not on their outer appearance, but on their actual capabilities (reminding me, of course, of so many of the beautiful and intelligent women I know now).

The key to the show is putting people in a position where they learn just how true it is that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Even more importantly, they learn to better read themselves and those around them, helping them to understand the richer story each has.

Out here in the real world, we have no producers or $250,000 prize to encourage us to do that. No camera crew helping the world watch us, no chance to obtain instant fame or infamy. Here in the real world, it’s up to us to put ourselves in those situations. We have to take the time to look beyond the covers of those around us.

Most importantly, we have to learn to look beyond our own cover and learn how to find the Pulitzer Prize winning material in our own pages.

Luckily, for the next handful of weeks, you’ll be able to watch other people do that. There’s even a bit of an inclusive twist this season as they’ve added a male beauty and a female geek (a first for the show). Maybe you can pick up some tips on how to do it on your own.