There is a god. And he watches sitcoms! Or he could be Kelsey Grammer.Merely a minute and a half into my viewing of Back To You,I was already laughing at something he said.
Chuck Darling (Kelsey Grammer) and Kelly Carr (Patricia Heaton, Everybody Loves Raymond) play news anchors who are reunited after 10 years. Chuck, who tried his luck in LA but was eventually fired for blowing his top on air (as documented on YouTube), returns to his old news team only to feel slightly unwelcomed by his former partner, Kelly. The reason? It turns out he fathered Kelly's beautiful daughter (who used to be on Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, by the way) ten years ago and did not know about it.
If that sounds soap opera-ish to you, well, it's not. And alright, the premise may
sound a little ridiculous and tired but Kelsey Grammer and to some extent, Patrica Heaton (both award-winning sitcom veterans) have made the show really, really funny! If it weren't for them, I do think the show will not be worth watching.And as with any pilot episode --- there are some bumps and it isn't flawless, but I do think there is still plenty of room for improvement for this sitcom in terms of 1) its weak writing and 2) a weak supporting cast (I've seen the same bunch of misfits before). Although in fairness, I thought the supporting cast was fairly okay. But working alongside Kelsey and Patricia, they really need to step up because they pale in comparison... and it shows.
But as its initial offering? It's fairly better than I expected. Decently better. I made the right call when I said I was going to be watching this show this season. The first episode of this series isn't a Murphy Brown, nor News Radio, not even Frasier on radio...but I have a feeling it will be in the same league as these other series.
Verdict: Yay for multi-camera sitcom! Back To You may just have revived it.
[Back To You], [Kelsey Grammer], [Patricia Heaton]
