UPN has added a new sitcom to its block of black character sitcoms:
HALF AND HALF. Half sisters, one raised by her mom in the city,
the other raised by both parents in upper-class style in the country, start
living in the same building. City sister, who is the clear focus of at least
the first episode, is resentful of country sister. And yet, they must learn
the power of family. Meanwhile, the two mothers hate each other, and dad
is vastly uncomfortable. In typical sitcom style, situations that most
of us would have long since learned to deal with are intstead treated
as if everyone has the most base emotion.
The characters may be physically attractive, but not people
you want to hang with. The lines are delivered awkwardly, and
the chemistry certainly isn’t there yet. This sitcom is Monday
night filler, which is basically all Monday night is at this
point.
Time was when successful sitcoms bred a lot of spin-offs.
That is far less true today; off the top of my head, the only
currently-running sitcom spinoff is Frasier, and that
is now an old show that waited for its source show to go away.
(The Tracy Ulman Show was not a sitcom, so The
Simpsons doesn’t count as a sitcom spinoff.)
However, it seems to me that building franchises from dramas has become
ever more prevalent. In addition to the ever-present Star Trek
universe series, we currently have a Angel (spun off from
Buffy), Law And Order: Criminal Intent and Law And Order:
SUV about crimes commited by soccer moms (both building on
Law And Order, although the latter also inherited material
from Homicide), and now we have CSI: MIAMI.
This new show, spinning off from a Las Vegas-based series
on forensic detectives, quickly establishes its different
location by setting the first story in the Everglades, a far cry
from the parched deserts of Nevada. The cast is certainly
staffed with respectable folks. David Caruso (looking a lot older
than he did on NYPD
Blue, and far more still than the Shamrocks gang member
he played on Hill Street Blues) places Mulder to
Kim Delaney’s (Philly, NYPD Blue) Scully, he
running on emotion and instinct, while she (a recent widow)
working from science and careful investigation. These
varying attributes are overplayed and overstated, and not
much chemistry exists. In supporting roles are Khandi
Alexander (ER, NewsRadio) and Emily Procter
(which likely means that the Republican in the White House,
Ainsley Hayes, won’t be showing up on The West Wing
for a while, alas), putting forth small but more interesting
performances than the leads.
The focus is simply on finding out what happened from the
clues provided. The evidence on the CSI shows is often
biological in nature and thus not for the squeamish. And really,
since the characters are not (at least yet) generating any
emotional involvement, that’s all this is: more CSI, more
forensic detecting. The human element is weak; in the
first episode, while trying to hang the case on the
fashionable villainy of corrupt executives, they want us to
accept that because people had been cooking the books a little
for personal profit, they would simply sit around uninvolved
while a coworker was unexpectedly murdered. I don’t buy it;
people work in a very different way when caught in the moment.
All in all, if you like watching CSI,
you’ll probably like having this as well, if it doesn’t
wear out its welcome. I never became a CSI watcher, so
I’ll likely skip it.
On a side note: in addition to the season premiere of
Buffy (the series that is much better than anyone who
saw the movie had a right to expect — heck, its much better
than what anyone who hasn’t seen it is apt to expect), Tuesday
brings us Buffy fans a treat: the release of the soundtrack CD
of “Once More, With Feeling”, the grand musical Buffy episode from
last year. For more details, check out:
Half and Half, CSI: Miami
