ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 12, 1996 TAG: 9611120069
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: TELEVISION REVIEW
Though ``The High Life'' is supposedly set in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, this offbeat comedy series truly lives in a more intriguing place: a parallel universe where a sitcom is a dark version of ``The Honeymooners'' and the American Dream of the '50s is depicted as greedy, intolerant and high in cholesterol.
Earl (Mark Wilson) is the loud, beefy Ralph Kramden character, who always has a get-rich-quick scheme and a foolproof instinct for putting his foot in his mouth. He owns a storage company (more like a storage room) with Emmett (Robert Joy), the wary, sad-sack Ed Norton-style sidekick. Earl's wife, Irene (Betsy Aidem), is a whiny version of the eternally patient Alice Kramden.
But ``The High Life,'' shot in black and white, is no loving parody; it is an acerbic reverse image that casts the '50s in the withering, antinostalgic light that saccharine sitcoms often make viewers yearn for.
The premiere episode, which aired Saturday night on HBO and will be repeated Wednesday, begins with a premise that is pure ``Honeymooners.'' Emmett squanders his vacation money and, not wanting to disappoint Irene, schemes to get some quick cash.
He rents the storage room to what he thinks is a civic group. But when the group puts up a ``White Power'' banner and starts prancing around in white robes and hoods, even the dense Earl wakes up. Meanwhile, a black neighbor who might invest in the business is on his way to look the place over.
In most sitcoms the rest of the show would play up the mad scramble to head off the neighbor. ``The High Life'' dwells on the ludicrous details of the Klan meeting, including what the members call ``the sacred cotillion,'' the show's most irreverently funny moment. It is a dance scene that owes a lot to ``Springtime for Hitler'' in ``The Producers,'' and it permanently establishes the sardonic tone.
Unlike a Mel Brooks movie, though, ``The High Life'' is deliberately stingy with comic lines. This sitcom values the situation over the comedy, an approach that takes getting used to. The series is more cerebrally clever than laugh-out-loud funny, as future episodes make clear. The show's regular time slot will be Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m.
In future episodes, Emmett and Earl invest in knockoff Davy Crockett hats from Paraguay. Irene appears on a television cooking show, and to some viewers the rose on top of her cake resembles a hammer and sickle. ``Irene and I are the Rosenbergs of Pittsburgh,'' Earl complains when he has to maneuver his way out of being smeared as a Communist. His attempt to get out of trouble involves using prostitutes to bribe a corrupt politician.
Obviously, there is not an ounce of sentiment in ``The High Life.'' Earl will never turn to Irene and say, ``Baby, you're the greatest.'' But this quirky series deserves a chance to grow; tossing in a few funnier lines would not exactly be selling out.
Produced by David Letterman's company and created by Adam Resnick (a former Letterman writer who can almost be forgiven for having directed the movie ``Cabin Boy''), ``The High Life'' at its best is cranky and innovative. There is room on television for this evil twin of ``Nick at Nite.''
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB