ABC BRINGS BACK A 'JOB' MEDIUM-WELL DONE.Byline: - David Kronke All evidence to the contrary, there is a sitcom with laughs on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. - ``The Job,'' Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Leary's caustic comedy about New York's Finest's worst behavior. Returning for a second year after a brief run as a midseason replacement last spring, ``The Job'' offers not just Leary's Mike McNeil misbehaving, but the entire precinct - cops masquerade as priests to hear perps' confessions, get soused souse 1 v. soused, sous·ing, sous·es v.tr. 1. To plunge into a liquid. 2. To make soaking wet; drench. 3. To steep in a mixture, as in pickling. 4. with suspects, use inside mob information to bet the ponies and even vie against one another for a primo apartment after the tenant has been murdered (desultorily des·ul·to·ry adj. 1. Moving or jumping from one thing to another; disconnected: a desultory speech. 2. Occurring haphazardly; random. See Synonyms at chance. noting, of course, that the blood stains will be difficult to remove). As amusing as the setups are, the payoffs tend to be a little on the predictable side, and McNeil doesn't seem as wickedly amoral and rudderless as he was last season. He has a very funny scene in tonight's premiere in which he impatiently takes questions from a pampered pam·per tr.v. pam·pered, pam·per·ing, pam·pers 1. To treat with excessive indulgence: pampered their child. 2. private-school kid during a ride-along - he blithely tells the girl he prefers shooting unarmed suspects because it's not nearly as dangerous as shooting at those with guns - but that's the evening's best scene by a long shot. Some of the material lunges more obviously for its shock value than for real laughs. Bits with a ``hot nun'' who flirts salaciously sa·la·cious adj. 1. Appealing to or stimulating sexual desire; lascivious. 2. Lustful; bawdy. [From Latin sal with her interrogators tonight and potential cannibalism cannibalism (kăn`ĭbəlĭzəm) [Span. caníbal, referring to the Carib], eating of human flesh by other humans. in a future episode are all set up with not enough follow-through. But at least Leary, co-creator Peter Tolan and the cast are willing to try to stretch considerably beyond the usual sitcom conventions, even though, in the end, they usually end up somewhere fairly predictable. The show's probably fairly off-putting to a lot of timorous viewers as is, in its semi-compromised state, but it's really at its most twistedly funny when it's testing network TV's boundaries both in situations and character development. ``THE JOB'' What: Denis Leary's dark comedy about the life of New York cops. The stars: Denis Leary, Bill Nunn, Lenny Clarke, Diane Farr, Adam Ferrara, John Ortiz. Where: ABC (Channel 7). When: 9:30 tonight. Our rating: Three stars CAPTION(S): photo Photo: LEARY |
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