`BRASHER' LACKS ERIN'S ZIP.Byline: - David Kronke Think ``Erin Brockovich'' (on an earnest, downsized TV level) meets ``Gilmore Girls'' (without the chemistry between mom and teen progeny) and you've got ``Kate Brasher,'' ho-hum feel-good (or would that be, feel ho-hum?) fodder stranding a talented cast in a terribly programmatic drama. Mary Stuart Masterson This biographical article or section needs additional references for verification. Please help [ to improve this article] by adding additional sources. Unverifiable material about living persons must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. stars as Kate, who, like Erin, barely squeezes by despite her obvious intelligence and wherewithal (in a diner, she anticipates her every customer's request; where others see a strange bag lady, she sees a woman communicating through charades gestures). She has two sons with whom she's unable to spend much quality time, one of whom is perilously close to becoming in thrall to his high school's bookie (really now, what's the over/under on someone making a lot of scratch taking bets on a high-school track meet?), but she's always there when they need her most. When a seedy bowling alley owner stiffs her on payment for janitorial services, Kate heads to a community advocacy center cluttered with the detritus detritus /de·tri·tus/ (de-tri´tus) particulate matter produced by or remaining after the wearing away or disintegration of a substance or tissue. de·tri·tus n. pl. of the urban forgotten, passionately if ham-fistedly run by Joe Almeida (Hector Elizondo), where she meets your standard-issue feisty attorney, Abbie Schaeffer (Rhea Perlman Rhea Perlman (born March 31, 1948 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American 4-time Emmy Award winning actress, best known for her role as Carla Tortelli on the sitcom Cheers. ). Joe, sensing her street-smarts and commitment, offers her a job; after a bit of an ostensibly os·ten·si·ble adj. Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity. wacky kerfuffle kerfuffle Noun informal a noisy and disorderly incident [Scots curfuffle, carfuffle] Noun 1. kerfuffle over parking, he grandiosely moans, ``If I survive this, it's gonna be a miracle,`` a line apparently forced into TV pilots by congressional decree. Stuart Masterson is a fine actress, but needs to bring more than stolid stol·id adj. stol·id·er, stol·id·est Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; impassive: "the incredibly massive and stolid bureaucracy of the Soviet system" earnestness to her role; she also is hardly credible as a mother, exchanging her lines with her sons as if she had just met the young actors. Elizondo and Perlman chew scenery agreeably, but the show's going to require a lot more oomph and a smidgen more credibility if Kate's going to make rent for next month. ``KATE BRASHER'' What: New drama about a struggling single mom working at a community advocacy center. The stars: Mary Stuart Masterson, Hector Elizondo, Rhea Perlman. Where: CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. (Channel 2). When: 9 tonight. Our rating: Two stars CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Veteran TV actors Rhea Perlman and Hector Elizondo join Mary Stuart Masterson, center, in ``Kate Brasher.'' |
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