Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 20, 1993 TAG: 9308200118
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
One, "The Building," deserves a slot in the fall schedule. The other, simply put, is a dog.
The title of "The Boys," which airs at 9 p.m., refers to three men who are old enough for their advancing age to be a relentless, and tiresome, source of humor.
Ned Beatty, a wonderful actor most recently seen in NBC's acclaimed dramatic series "Homicide," wastes his time and ours here as a surly retired fireman who gets together with his two fellow "boys" each week to squabble and play Monopoly.
Drafted into their social circle is Doug (Chris Meloni), a young novelist who has moved to the country and into the former home of a deceased man named Ed - who used to be the fourth member of this boys' club.
If all this sounds like a flimsy idea for a series, it is. In Monopoly parlance, "The Boys" should barely have time to pass Go on its way to disappearing.
"The Building," however, which premieres at 9:30 p.m., is a much happier affair.
The premise is simple: Bonnie (played by Bonnie Hunt) is a struggling young actress who returns to her Chicago roots after her wedding is called off by a philandering fiance.
Bonnie's retreat is a shabby apartment house a ball's toss from Wrigley Field. There, she commingles with a building full of zanies.
Wistful but spunky, Bonnie finds a support system in her best friend, Holly (Holly Wortell); Brad (Don Lake), an unemployed sportswriter who wears a dress while writing a free-lance article on J. Edgar Hoover; Big Tony (Richard Kulhman), the building super, much of whose colorful language is hilariously bleeped; Finley (Mike Hagerty), a firefighter who also tends bar at the local hangout; and Stan (Tom Virtue), a fellow actor with a wry wit yet a tender sensibility.
This show was created, written, co-executive produced (with David Letterman) and is nominally headlined by Hunt, previously seen on the sitcom "Grand." But "The Building" is truly an all-star affair.
No wonder. All six regulars are alumni of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe. This common background lends an ensemble quality to the madcap proceedings unlike that of any other sitcom on the air.
Just watch the frantic exchanges of Hunt and Wortell, stepping on each other's lines and even raging through whole speeches, both chattering away at the same time.
This kind of give-and-take is the work of practiced performers making up a smooth-running team. And like any good sketch comic, these actors can add to their performances tiny pieces of business that are sometimes funnier than the scripted action and lines. Watch for them.
The pacing is refreshingly varied: at one moment helter-skelter, the next sufficiently relaxed for everyone to catch their breath before jamming out more.
Even the most vaudevillian exchanges are sold with such conviction you can't help cracking up:
"Martyr!" scolds Holly, triggering this comeback from Bonnie: "How can you call me that after everything I've been through?"
Or how about this volley when Bonnie thanks Big Tony for toting a package up to her apartment:
"You know what my father used to say?"
"What's that?"
"You can't blow the foam off `Thanks.' "
"You want a beer, do you?"
Most series center on a family, and "The Building" is no different. This is a cockeyed, slightly dysfunctional family of tenants. And it's played by a readymade family of funny folks.
To all of them, thanks for "The Building." Sorry there's no foam. Elsewhere in television
BOATING ON THE ROCKS: An estimated half of all boating fatalities involve alcohol, correspondent Bob Brown reports on Friday's edition of "20-20" (ABC, 10 p.m.). "Someone who's been drinking on a boat is much more susceptible to the effects of alcohol because of exposure to the sun and wind and the motion of the boat," says Brown. Now, with the number of boating enthusiasts numbering 70 million nationwide, many states are taking a harder look at what has been a largely unregulated pastime.
by CNB