I watched the pilot for Back To You (free via the iTunes Store), a new, newsroom comedy starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Grammer was in both Frasier and Cheers and Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond. The past reputation of these stars made me curious to see Back To You.

The set up at first seems contrived but things quickly gets entertaining. Pompous news room anchor Chuck Darling is fired due to a stupid camera mistake (his shameful clip appears on YouTube), but eventually returns to Pittsburgh where he started. There, he finds his old co-anchor Kelly Carr (Patricia Heaton) still there, but with a different group of show producers and a semi-smarmy secret.

Darling’s snobby attitude is similar to Frasier Crane’s, but Darling starts off in a position of weakness – the news show isn’t totally about him and he’ll have to compete with a co-worker who is completely his equal if not more so.

One thing I liked about Frasier was the relatively smart, punny writing, and Back To You looks like it will follow this mold. In the pilot, several crude but amusing sexual metaphors were quickly rattled off between a weather woman and an annoyed co worker, and at one point Grammer is caught in a stressful, live “on air” monologue when he finds out he might have some future responsibilities.

The newsroom is also filled with potentially amusing characters. I think there are two secret weapons – first is Fred Wiillard as the sports anchor. Fred Willard was awesomely funny in the Christopher Guest mockumentary Best In Show as a clueless, off-the-cuff dog show announcer. Second is a dorky news manager played by Josh Gad who does some Chris Farely type comedy, via strange vocalization noises and odd hand gestures. But what really had me chuckling were the ever-blooming sweat stains under his shirt.

Some bad parts – we’ve had some great news room comedies and also workplace ones. I’m not sure if this more traditional sitcom style will gain an audience – it seems kind of retro. Next, Frasier had a really solid supporting family environment around him – the brother Niles, father, and housekeeper. In this comedy, Grammer plays a character that is seemingly a total bachelor who lives alone, with no domestic comedic support system.

But at the core there’s an interesting character here. As with Frasier, Darling is outwardly a jerk but inside there’s a loving guy fighting to get out. This conflict I find all-too human, and often funny when self-interest leads ironically to self-abuse. I don’t really know how this character will develop but the pilot of Back To You sows seeds (no pun intended) that I’m curious to watch grow.

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Categories: Television :: Fred Willard, Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton ::

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