Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 29, 1995 TAG: 9510030044
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Some of my fondest memories growing up in Chicago were when the weather was really, really bad,'' she recalls. ``All the neighbors would help dig the cars out of the snow, one car at a time, down the street.''
There's a lesson here: Bonnie needs us. And we certainly need her.
That is, her new show could be an answered prayer for viewers fed up with what's on TV. Meanwhile, it's unexpected bliss for those just seeking something different. If we don't give it a chance, we all lose.
Says Hunt, ``This show is about teamwork - the cast, the writing, the audience.''
``The Bonnie Hunt Show,'' which airs Fridays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS (WDBJ, Channel 7), focuses on a small-town Midwestern woman named Bonnie Kelly who moves to a high-pressure Chicago TV station to do features for its newscast. Each half-hour consists of zestfully staged comedy, interspersed with Bonnie's improvised ``reports'' - unscripted interviews taped at Chicago locations.
The result is a charming sitcom free of sarcasm, breast jokes, insults, gags, meanness and goofballs pretending to be people. (And, by the way, free of a laugh track; the audience responses are real.)
It's a show about friends, faith and cutting the other guy a little slack.
``I'm trying to write about people who are decent and struggle to stay decent in this world,'' says Hunt, who created the series and writes many of the scripts, as well as serving as its star and reluctant eponym. ``That's what this show is about.''
It's also very funny, which the world can be if you give it a chance.
But will the audience give ``Bonnie Hunt'' a chance?
``Someone at the network said to me yesterday, `How do we get somebody to watch something that's this different?' And I said, `It's different than the way TV is right now. But it's not that different from our lives.' ''
The wonder of it is, she's right.
``The Bonnie Hunt Show'' is as funny, good-hearted and human as its star - and as the rest of us, too.
We're not so bad and we're in this together - that's what Bonnie Hunt has picked up in her 32 years. ``I just write stuff that happens to me,'' she explains.
Hunt grew up near Wrigley Field, the sixth of seven children. She performed with the Second City improv troupe (and spent her days working as a registered nurse in a local hospital's cancer ward).
She was a regular on the sitcoms ``Grand'' and ``Davis Rules.''
Then, two years ago, she created ``The Building.'' Like ``Bonnie Hunt,'' it was produced by David Letterman (``A sweetie-pie,'' she says, ``he's like my brother''), and it quickly captured the hearts of all who saw it. Then it quickly disappeared.
It disappeared, Hunt recalls, because CBS demanded she replace three of her co-stars, all fellow Second City alumni and pals. She refused. So CBS said, we'll have to cancel the show. She said, OK.
``What do you mean?'' said CBS.
``All right,'' said Hunt.
``What are you saying?'' said CBS.
Now Tom Virtue, Don Lake and Holly Wortell are reunited for ``The Bonnie Hunt Show.''
Virtue plays Bonnie's cameraman. Lake is the limo driver who lives in her building. Wortell is the station's makeup woman and Bonnie's best friend.
``You can't assume that history or fake that chemistry,'' says Hunt, and the proof is right there on the tube, with these players' jazz-like riffing. They can literally complete each other's sentences, and do.
``I love those guys - Don and Holly and Tom,'' says Hunt.
Why, Bonnie, you've got tears in your eyes!
``It's just that it's pretty sweet to be back with them on this show,'' she says. ``And my mother gets a big kick out of it, too.''
Check out ``The Bonnie Hunt Show.'' Mothers know best.
by CNB