TV Bulletin Board (Jan. 31)
01/31/07 10:04
By ED BARK
***Quickly rebounding from ABC's cancelation of Help Me Help You, comedy stalwart Ted Danson will give drama a shot in a new, still untitled FX pilot starring Glenn Close.
Production begins next week in New York, with Close as high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes, who specializes in liquidating rogue corporate titans. Danson, who has committed to a full season, is cast as corporate heavyweight Arthur Frobisher, ensnared in a class action suit instigated by Close's character. FX officially hasn't committed to a series yet, but that seems like a foregone conclusion.
The two last teamed in 1984's acclaimed TV movie Something About Amelia, in which Danson played a sexually abusive father, with Close as his traumatized wife.
***Looks like a no-brainer for Fox, which is going ahead with a class action series titled Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Half-hour previews will get plush post-American Idol slots on Feb. 27-28 before the show moves to Thursdays at 8 p.m. central, where it will follow special results editions of Idol.
Produced by reality maestro Mark Burnett, Are You Smarter puts adults to the test with stuff they learned in elementary school. Real-life kids will be available as help-mates when Daddy Dummy gets stuck. Fox says a sample question is, "What are the names of the five Great Lakes?"
Hmm, being a Midwesterner, Uncle Barky should know that without looking it up. So that would be Michigan, Superior, Erie, Ontario and um, uh, um . . . Dopey?