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From: New York Now | Television |
Monday, November 02, 1998
Danson (and Dissin')
As Fast as He Can
Ted
turns tables as 'Becker,'
a doctor in a diner
BECKER. Tonight, 9:30, CBS.
In "Cheers," Ted Danson stood at
the bar and served while customers came in and said outrageous things. For his new sitcom,
"Becker," Danson bellies up to the other side of the bar.
This time he's the one with a regular barstool and plenty of opinions.
Okay, so it's not a bar, it's a diner in the Bronx. And unlike the patrons of "Cheers," who came and went while we stayed at the bar, Danson's John Becker allows us to follow him to his regular job — as an excellent though outspoken family physician.
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| Ted Danson as 'Becker' |
But make no mistake about it. "Becker," which premieres tonight at 9:30 on CBS, running in from the bench to replace the quickly yanked "The Brian Benben Show," is patterned in part after "Cheers." And a bit after "As Good as It Gets," too, with a little "Fawlty Towers" and "Buffalo Bill" thrown in for good measure.
Whether its sum will ever echo the superb quality of those parts, though, remains to be seen — if, that is, CBS will allow "Becker" to remain on its schedule.
Monday night, after all, is where Danson's post-"Cheers" sitcom effort, "Ink," was dismissed ignominiously after one shortened season. And where another new CBS sitcom featuring a big TV star, Tom Selleck's "The Closer," died on the vine even more quickly.
It's also a risk because in "Ink," Danson played an opinionated newspaper columnist, but no one cared much about either his opinions or his character. This time, in "Becker," the hope is that we'll care more about his character because his opinions are always outspoken and often outrageous.
At the office, when he asks his head nurse, Margaret (Hattie Winston), about the next patient, an elderly woman, Margaret remarks that at least this time she remembered her teeth.
"Thank God for that," he replies. "Otherwise, it's like talking to a sock puppet."
He ridicules his overweight patients, acts like he wants to be anywhere else, and can't even remember the name of his oddball new nurse's aide, Linda (Shawnee Smith, who's adorable).
Then, when he slips out of work and goes to the diner, he's too busy arguing with the new owner (Terry Farrell, fresh from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and finally allowed to smile) or teasing the understanding guy (Alex Desert) who runs the newsstand and is blind.
It's a very strong cast, and Danson as Becker plays off everyone nicely. He also plays well, so to speak, with others: In tonight's pilot, the best scene of all is when he angrily debates a homeless man about the precise definition of "spare change."
Yet, while Becker is given license to be nasty at times, in the fine tradition of John Cleese's innkeeper Basil Fawlty and Dabney Coleman's TV star Bill Bittinger, the producers hedge their bets by making him almost saintly underneath. So saintly, in fact, that he tosses away money earmarked for a new car to finance a young patient's treatments at a special clinic.
The short-term question here is whether "Becker" is a good enough fit, between "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "L.A. Doctors," to attract and maintain viewers while the sitcom establishes itself and its characters. If so, maybe "Becker" will be brave enough to show us more of its title character's horns, and less of the halo.
In comedy, at least in this one, the humor is in the horns.
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