Back to the future?
Kelsey
Grammer will forever be linked to Frasier; in the same
way as his counterparts Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) and
Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond). And like Seinfeld
and Romano, he’s taken his time finding his feet after the
end of his successful show. But now he’s back in the saddle
with Back to You. And - speaking of Everybody Loves
Raymond - he’s paired with Patricia Heaton, who played
Ray’s long-suffering wife in that series.
Grammer and Heaton play a pair of news anchors reunited
after several years at the newsdesk at fictional station WURG
in Pittsburgh. Grammer portrays the unlikely-named Chuck Darling,
a former go-getter who scaled the heights of network news in Los
Angeles but is now back where he started. Heaton’s character
is Kelly Carr, who doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere. The
big-star-comes-home scenario is given some extra spice by the
revelation that Chuck and Kelly shared a steamy tryst some years
earlier – a relationship that has produced a child.
That makes it sound like we could be in soap territory,
but this is determinedly a sitcom. Like many sitcoms, it’s
not particularly subtle; but there are at least a few laughs to
be found here. Many of them come from the supporting cast, notably
Fred Willard as the witless sports guy Marsh McGinley.
Actually, the series looks and sounds a lot like
the feature film Anchorman, which starred Will Ferrell.
Obviously, it’s rather more PG than the raunchy Anchorman,
and Grammer’s character is a lot less manic than Will Ferrell’s;
but the basic elements are still there. The core is the banter
between the two leads, while the supporting cast add colour.
I guess the biggest problem with Back to You
is that it’s not as smart as Frasier, nor is it
as funny as Everybody Loves Raymond. The jokes are pretty
much telegraphed well in advance, and the presence of a laugh
track tells you all you need to know about just how hilarious
(or not) they are.
Grammer tries hard in the lead role, but let’s
face it, he’s no Will Ferrell. He’s not really suited
to the kind of boor Chuck Darling aspires to be. Heaton too struggles
to play against her wholesome stereotype as Kelly. Fred Willard
– well-known from Christopher Guest’s movies –
provides the high point of the casting as McGinley. His timing
is impeccable, making him easily the most interesting of the characters.
Back to You is hopefully going to be one
of those stepping-stone shows for Grammer and Heaton. Their track
record deserves better than this. While it’s an inoffensive
show for the most part, it never lights up the small screen. Hopefully,
they can leverage the show into something bigger and better.
Phil James
