Still in play with new episodes -- but not for long
11/14/07 10:45 AM
By ED BARK
Fox has just two comedies that aren't cartoons, unless you count the network's pre- and post-game NFL shows.
Both air on Wednesday nights, but Back to You and Til' Death are down to just a small handful of new episodes before the ongoing writers' strike rings in the reruns. So catch this fresh produce if you can. Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton and company again are masters of crisp comedy timing in tonight's "Something's Up There" episode (7 p.m. central). Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher follow with a barbed "Bedtime Stories" outing that's not as funny but still suitably sharp.
Back to You continues to yield a high return of laugh-out-loud moments. This episode pretty much stays out of the WURG-TV newsroom, instead gathering the cast at co-anchor Kelly Carr's home for the 11th birthday party of her daughter, Gracie. A raccoon afoot in the attic requires an intervention, but Back to You's male foursome barely amounts to two-and-a-men, if that. It's a really funny episode spiked with goofball sight gags and screwball one-liners.
Til' Death, in its second season, thrives on the stark exchanges between veteran spouses Eddie and Joy Stark. This time they square off over new bedside lamps. His works, hers doesn't. And of course he could care less.
It all builds to another Honeymooners-style verbal brawl followed by the inevitable cool-down. But the writing is punchy, as are the performances by Garrett and Fisher. They're working very well together. Not quite as well as Heaton and Ray Romano did on Everybody Loves Raymond. But definitely getting there.
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