Raymond's Rejects

When did Fox's Wednesday night lineup turn into a foray for washed-up actors from NBC and CBS? I work for a local Fox station and yet I rarely watch television, so I must admit that I haven't consistently watched "Back to You" or "'Til Death," so maybe my observations are made in haste after only a couple viewings. However, I have seen a lot of television in my lifetime, and there is a certain truism in the field that, as a general rule, seems to play out: if you have acted in a long-running series (especially those which might be labeled "successful" or "cult" shows), you are pretty well barred from acting outside of that character again for any sort of major role.

The problem is, we've been with you for ten years as a character. Movies are usually much more forgiving. We can see you for two hours as somebody and then believe you are somebody else a year later. We can even handle a trilogy now and then and still accord you the privilege of participating in further projects.

But this? Scooping up old actors from long-accustomed roles and shoving them into new situations? Fox didn't even have the decency to make pathetic spin-off shows so that the actors could continue their characters--those might be just as short-lived, but at least they would have been believable. Could Kelsey Grammer have survived moving into a non-spin-off show after Cheers? Probably--the format of the show was understated enough and Grammer is a good enough actor that he likely could have done it. And heck, when he's all up in blue fur I can even lend him the credit of being Beast. But to launch into a main role after 20 years of playing Frasier Crane? It's just a bit hard to swallow. Quite honestly, in another sitcom lead-role situation, it just looks like Frasier Crane and Debra Barone doing newscasts. Funny dialogue? Perhaps. But alarmingly distracting, because I keep expecting them to return to the beloved home-fronts we knew so well.

"'Til Death", perhaps because it has had some shakedown time, doesn't distract quite as much. Though I will note that an exception to the movie-actor forgiveness rule above is somewhat suspended in extreme cases of character--like Eddie Kaye Thomas, who always screams Finch in everything he does. I love Brad Garrett--it's hard not to--but I'm just not convinced he's Eddie Stark. It's a prejudice, I know, but a very real one and one that is hard to overcome.

Fox has a habit of getting rid of shows, whether they are bad or good, so I don't pretend like I will have to put up with these forced puppet shows for long. But next time, do us all a favor and at least put up a cheesy spin-off for the Nielsen families to ignore. "Joey" failed because it wasn't funny--but at least it was believable. Jason Alexander should have "listened up" and followed a cue from cohorts Seinfeld and Richards (well, maybe taking cues from Richards isn't the best idea) in working behind CG bees in the movie industry.

If Sean Hayes starts to front TV's newest ladies' man, I might let it slide. As for the rest of the successful actors with successful shows that have been honorably put to rest: my advice is to sleep comfortably in the bed of achievement that you've made, and be satisfied in simply knowing that everybody loves Raymond.