A Televisual Feast

Who knew Thomas Calabro was so funny. He guests as Stacey’s New Year’s Eve date and he’s fantastic, excellent timing, good delivery. His portions of the episode are some of the best, as are those featuring the drunken doorman or Rico and Amanda’s attempts at having an evening to themselves. The problem comes at the […]

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Even though the episode ends on a reasonably funny note, it’s still a mess. It opens fine, with the quartet at the restaurant, then Ned inexplicably goes up to the bar with Amanda–only so she can introduce him to the guest star.
It’s a strange scene, obvious about the contrivance, something I assumed no sitcom writer […]

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A sitcom not ending on a laugh–and not a “very special” episode either… It’s like Weithorn realized it at the last minute and tried to pull it around but couldn’t. Schmaltzy. It was a schmaltzy end.
Otherwise, the episode starts strong, peaks early and then the bicycle goes down the hill. The episode opens the morning […]

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As a pilot episode, “Ned and Stacey” is awkward. While it does introduce the characters well, even getting in all the members of the supporting cast, the problem has to do with the show concept. Thomas Haden Church playing a jerky ad exec who marries Debra Messing’s liberal journalist (who’s more than a little materialistic) […]

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