CRIT-O-MATIC.Byline: - David Kronke ``Crumbs'' (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. Channel 7; 9:30 tonight) Logline: Dysfunctional family dysfunctional family Psychology A family with multiple 'internal'–eg sibling rivalries, parent-child– conflicts, domestic violence, mental illness, single parenthood, or 'external'–eg alcohol or drug abuse, extramarital affairs, gambling, du jour. Closeted clos·et·ed adj. Being In a state of secrecy or cautious privacy. gay failed screenwriter Mitch (Fred Savage) returns home to contend with his demented, pill-popping mom (Jane Curtin), who is having an affair with her psych-ward orderly (Reginald Ballard); his womanizing wom·an·ize v. woman·ized, woman·iz·ing, woman·iz·es v.intr. To pursue women lecherously. v.tr. To give female characteristics to; feminize. brother (Eddie McClintock); and his deceptively genial father (William Devane), who abandoned the family. Their family restaurant serves, improbably, as both a neutral zone and a war zone. Pros: The laughs are dark indeed, and often heartfelt, and Curtin is scarily funny as the crazy matriarch. Others in the cast play more familiar sitcom figures. Cons: There's a bizarre cognitive dissonance between what is obviously creator Marco Pennette's deeply personal writing and the hysterical reactions registered on the laugh track - jokes this bone-cutting about a family in crisis merit rueful rue·ful adj. 1. Inspiring pity or compassion. 2. Causing, feeling, or expressing sorrow or regret. rue , knowing chuckles, not outlandishly zany, steroidally juiced See Joost. See also juice. trills of merriment. And a line like, ``OK fine - keep the money, but you're paying me back every dime,'' seems like it was spliced from two drafts - and no one noticed because they were too busy bothering to make sure the studio audience was uproariously entertained. In a nutshell: A genuinely interesting show undone by its tonal inconsistencies. Our rating: Two and one half stars Why 'Beauty/Geek' works The WB's reality series ``Beauty and the Geek'' is improbably high-concept - combining dim-bulb babes and nerdy brainiacs in a competition requiring both sets of participants, ahem, ``skills'' - yet manages something surprisingly deeper. Conceived, equally improbably, by ``Punk'd'' auteur auteur (ōtör`), in film criticism, a director who so dominates the film-making process that it is appropriate to call the director the auteur, or author, of the motion picture. Ashton Kutcher, it manages, obviously, to eke a lot of laughs out of both groups' social shortcomings and, more impressively, to divine more from their obvious stereotypes. ``Beauty and the Geek's'' second season mixes and matches more lovely ladies and lovable losers doing silly - and surprisingly serious - stuff, in a shockingly humane fashion, at 9 tonight on Channel 5. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) no caption (``Crumbs'') (2) no caption (``Beauty and the Geek'') |
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