IF YOU'RE BORED, NEW IMPROV SHOW COULD MAKE YOU SMILE.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic 'Thank God You're Here" is a show aimed at everyone who misses "Whose Line Is It, Anyway," an earlier series that featured improvised comedy and taped long and hard enough until the featured performers came up with material that was actually funny. Here, dispensable dis·pen·sa·ble adj. Capable of being dispensed, administered, or distributed. Used of a drug. host David Alan Grier David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1955) is an American actor and comedian known for his work on the sketch comedy television show In Living Color. Biography Early life and unnecessary judge David Foley oversee the proceedings as a series of comic actors are thrown into ridiculous costumes and are plunged, ostensibly unprepared, into comic vignettes with other actors in which the first line of the sketch is, invariably, "Thank God you're here This article is about the original Australian version. For the franchised American version, see Thank God You're Here (US TV series). For the forthcoming British version, see Thank God You're Here (UK TV series). ." Tonight, these vignettes range from "Seinfeld's" Wayne Knight extemporaneously ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous adj. 1. Carried out or performed with little or no preparation; impromptu: an extemporaneous piano recital. 2. essaying a snake-oil salesman peddling dietary supplements on a morning show, to Jennifer Coolidge portraying a vapid beauty contestant, to E! personality Joel McHale playing an archeologist at a cataclysmic cat·a·clysm n. 1. A violent upheaval that causes great destruction or brings about a fundamental change. 2. A violent and sudden change in the earth's crust. 3. A devastating flood. dig to, most inspired, Brian Cranston embodying a moronic rocker at a business meeting. Like all reality/game shows, this feels a little over- padded with unnecessary explication of its fairly simple concept. And the more empathetic among us may wonder at just how much flotsam A name for the goods that float upon the sea when cast overboard for the safety of the ship or when a ship is sunk. Distinguished from jetsam (goods deliberately thrown over to lighten ship) and ligan (goods cast into the sea attached to a buoy). the studio audience had to sit through before the performers achieved something vaguely worthy of network television. Still, what's on screen is amusing enough, though rarely raucously so. "Thank God You're Here" is an amiable time-killer for folks with plenty of time on their hands, and at least more entertaining than the spate of brain-dead game shows proliferating in prime time. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke(at)dailynews.com THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE - Three stars What: Improv comedy show. Where: NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. (Channel 4). When: 9 tonight. In a nutshell: Amiable time-killer. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Jennifer Coolidge portrays a vapid beauty contestant in one vignette from the "Thank God You're Here" pilot. |
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