HUMOR, ANXIETY ARE HIGH IN `BIG DAY'.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic The title sequence of ``Big Day'' perfectly captures the show's skewed wit. George Michael's ``Faith'' plays on the soundtrack as we see a factory assembly line crank out smiling plastic wedding-cake couples that glide and then plummet off a conveyor belt. High emotions can make any couple's wedding day fairly traumatic, but ABC's new comedy ``Big Day'' applies Murphy's Law (humour) Murphy's Law - (Or "Sod's Law") The correct, *original* Murphy's Law reads: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for lusers. to a ``24''-style conceit conceit, in literature, fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. The Elizabethan poets were fond of Petrarchan conceits, which were conventional comparisons, imitated from the love songs of Petrarch, in which the beloved was compared to a flower, a garden, or the like. The device was also used by the metaphysical poets, who fashioned conceits that were witty, complex, intellectual, and often startling, e.g. -- an eventful, disaster-strewn day plays out over the course of one season -- for a series that boasts a farcical, eager-to-amuse energy. ``Big Day'' examines the efforts of sweetly high-strung Alice (Artificial LInguistic Computer Entity) A chat bot designed by Dr. Richard Wallace. It is an open source program written in Java that can be modified using AIML (AI Markup Language). ALICE was first written in SETL and released in 1995. See AIML and SETL. (Marla Sokoloff) and goofy neo-slacker Danny (Josh Cooke) to survive their wedding day, which has been precision-planned to within an inch of its life by Alice's anal-retentive anal-retentive adj. mother, Jane (Wendy Malick, using every weapon in her comic repertoire). Indicating personality traits, such as meticulousness, avarice, and obstinacy, originating in habits, attitudes, or values associated with infantile pleasure in retention of feces. Unbeknownst to Alice, Jane has surreptitiously changed a number of the event's details, including changing the reception menu from Alice's beloved Caesar salad to baby greens. The ensuing consternation is played at the same high pitch as when Jack goes rogue on ``24.'' Jane defames the Caesar: ``It's heavy, it's creamy and (incredulous pregnant pause) ``croutons? We have people flying in from Canada!'' It may not scan on the page, but Malick's line reading is absolutely priceless. Salads, alas, will soon become the least of the day's worries. Alice's father, Steve (a droll Kurt Fuller), doesn't think his daughter should be marrying a doofus such as Danny, whose own father (Stephen Tobolowsky) turns out to be an even bigger eccentric. Alice's sister, Becca (a very wry Miriam Shor), after spending the night with Danny's best friend, Skobo (Stephen Rannazzisi), accidentally drinks from a water glass water glass n. containing his contacts, effectively blinding him; his subsequent disinterest in her has them at each other's throats. See soluble glass. ``Give me a basic level of common courtesy,'' Becca implores Skobo. Skobo replies, ``And you don't think that sounds clingy?'' Moreover, wedding guests have issues of their own with the happy couple, the wedding planner (Stephanie Weir) is perpetually on the brink of a meltdown, and the unpredictable weather threatens to transform ``Big Day'' into a big disaster. And that's just three episodes' worth of mayhem. At times, the plotting feels more like piling on, and so far each episode has Alice and Danny bickering before making up anew, a trope TROPE - Trial Ocean Prediction Experiment that could get tiresome if repeated throughout the season. But even when ``Big Day'' threatens to stumble into coarse slapstick, the deftly funny cast strives to ensure that this is the best comic evocation of a worst-cast scenario. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com BIG DAY - Three and one half stars What: A young couple's amusingly disastrous wedding day plays out over the course of a season. Where: ABC (Channel 7). When: 9 tonight. In a nutshell: Occasionally too broad but nicely performed and often funny. |
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