Sitcoms

Television critic David Bianculli reviews The Flash, a live action show based on the D.C. comic strip, and Evening Shade, about a high school football coach played by Burt Reynolds. Bianculli also expresses his disappointment that Twin Peaks got snubbed at the latest Emmy Awards.

Critic David Bianculli says that networks are releasing more new programs than ever before. He reviews four upcoming sitcoms; only one -- The Fresh Prince of Bel Air -- really works.

Television critic David Bianculli previews three new shows, coming up this week on each network. They are: "Bagdad Café," "Equal Justice," and "Carol & Co." (with Carol Burnett).

Television critic David Bianculli reviews two new CBS sitcoms: "Normal Life," starring Frank Zappa's kids, Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa, and "Sydney," starring Valerie Bertinelli of "One Day at a Time" fame. Bianculli says one is pretty good, and the other needs some polishing.

Television critic David Bianculli looks at the CBS Monday night comedy lineup, particularly "The Famous Teddy Z," starring Jon Cryer as an unlikely talent agent.

Family Ties and Moonlighting both ended recently. TV critic David Bianculli says their final episodes highlight the programs' strengths and weaknesses.

The new half-hour comedy Nick and Hillary is a reworking of the hour-long barroom drama Tattinger's. TV critic David Bianculli is a fan, though he admits the show's groan-worthy jokes are polarizing.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the network's latest pilots, including a ghastly sitcom, a thirtysomething ripoff, and a magical hour from the Muppet's creator.

The Soap actor stars in a new sitcom, about a divorced man and his children. TV critic David Bianculli says that, unlike Guillaume's career and talents, the show has a long way to go.

David Marc considers his new book about classic sitcoms as a kind of autobiography: each show he reviews reminds him of the time in his life when he first watched it. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the history and politics of television comedy, especially in how it restricted the roles of women and people of color.

TV critic David Bianculli calls the new sitcom, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis, has an intriguing premise and promising cast, but it follows a familiar, cookie-cutter formula, and its writing needs work.

TV critic David Bianculli admits to never having liked the Brady Bunch when it first aired. The new holiday special only solidifies his opinion.

AKA Michael Harris on the Bob Newhart Show. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his character's developing love life. Scolari also juggles, a talent which will soon be featured on sitcom.

Curtin is an alumnus of Saturday Night Live, and now stars in the sitcom Kate & Allie. She joins Fresh Air to talk about the direction of her new show and some of her favorite SNL sketches. Curtin also reflects on how actresses and women writers on SNL always had to fight for airtime.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone says that, while movies tend to be male-dominated, television has had the power to give more substantial roles to women. She reviews three new sitcoms about women at home and in the workplace.

Roseanne was created by the same producers who pitched The Cosby Show to networks. The new sitcom is also helmed by a standup comedian. But instead of an upper class black family, Roseanne Barr's show features a working class white family. TV critic David Bianculli says Barr's jokes hit home, bolstered by costar John Goodman, who plays Roseanne's husband.

TV critic David Bianculli is burnt out on the Olympics' packed, frantic broadcast schedule. Now that the games are over, he tries to squeeze in reviews of two new sitcoms. Dear John is about a divorcé; Empty Nest is a Golden Girls spinoff.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews the return of "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," the short-lived but highly praised NBC series that ran for 13 weeks in the Spring of 1987. The series stars Blair Brown as Molly Dodd, the eccentric New Yorker who lurches from one mid-life crisis to the next.

Actress Annie Potts. She's becoming familiar to audiences for her role in TV's "Designing Women." But before that, she was cast often as quirky, off-the-wall characters in films like "Ghostbusters" and "Pretty in Pink."

Television Critic David Bianculli reviews "The Wonder Years," a new ABC series. The show is an extended flashback to 1968 and the junior high school days of Daniel Stern ("Diner" and "Breaking Away"), the show's narrator, and Fred Savage ("The Princess Bride"), who plays Stern as he was in 1968.