BACK TO YOU

Veteran sitcom writers (i.e. over 25) are looking at the producers of BACK TO YOU as if they’re Davy Crockett & bunch holding down the Alamo. They’re the last protectors of the multi-camera format. As if it’s not hard enough to do a good show anyway.

I say count the laughs, not the number of cameras.

I really liked BACK TO YOU. Yes, I know most of the people involved, and yes it isn’t groundbreaking, but so what? It made me laugh. It was a pleasure watching Kelsey Grammer and Patty Heaton together. They’re a master class in comic acting and timing.

Trust me, you have no idea. There are so many painfully mediocre actors out there (many forced upon showrunners by the networks). Not reacting to anyone else in the scene, stepping on laughs, crunching jokes, zero physical skills, and even in a few cases sneaking quick peeks to see if they’re on their mark. I watch shows, I spot these people and cringe. And some of them are household names. Many writing staffs spend 3/4 of their time just trying to hide these enemies of comedy. So to have the privilege of seeing two of the very best perform at their prime, that’s sure worth 22 minutes of my week.

And here’s where BACK TO YOU really won me over: There’s a point where Chuck (Kelsey) and Kelly (Patty) are about to go on-air live and Chuck learns he has a daughter by Kelly from one wild night. Two seconds later he launches into a pre-written commentary on coming back to Pittsburgh. And now, everything he says has a double meaning, “I left a part of me here”…”I was like a lone Allegany warrior, separated from his tribe, riding bareback and unprotected”, etc. I thought, that’s damn clever writing. Worthy of tuxedo shows (my expression for Emmy recognized shows).

And the fact that it has a very retro feel to it ironically makes it stand out. Why can’t audiences enjoy THE OFFICE and BACK TO YOU?

I haven’t seen any future episodes and like I said yesterday, the real key to a show’s success is how it evolves. But I’m rooting for it.

And they won’t have to hold down the Alamo very much longer. Reinforcements are on the way. Networks are developing a lot more multi-camera shows for next season.

Maybe they figured out, after the twentieth bad expensive “edgy” KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY that when you look through the history of television, with very few exceptions (MASH being one), the classic sitcoms we still enjoy today were all multi-camera. I LOVE LUCY, THE HONEYMOONERS, PHIL SILVERS SHOW, DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, ALL IN THE FAMILY, MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, TAXI, ODD COUPLE, COSBY, CHEERS, FRASIER, FRIENDS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, even SEINFELD -- all multi-camera. Count the laughs.

And by the way, not everyone died in the Battle of the Alamo. A few went on to write features.