STARK RAVING MAD: The Odd Couple with Stephen King?
By: Frederick C. SzebinDate: Monday, November 22, 1999
An uptight hypochondriac living in New York shares his time with someone totally his opposite. Comic misadventure ensues.
Hollywood should be given some kind of award for the recycling it does. THE ODD COUPLE has shown up over the years in various forms, and this season gives us STARK RAVING MAD. Neil Patrick Harris proves himself an adept comic actor several years after hanging up his stethoscope as DOOGIE HOUSER, MD, as book editor Henry, a germophobic piece of white bread who finds himself teamed up with the premiere horror writer of the day, Ian Stark, a Satany looking fellow who finds happiness by terrorizing his hapless editor with prank after prank, assisted by the lead-skulled Jake (nicely played by Eddie McClintock).
The pilot spent its time lining up these characters with their inevitable showdowns and grudging acceptance of each other. Producer Levitan, whose credits include such better programs as JUST SHOOT ME and FRASIER, hired sitcom legend James Burrows to helm the pilot, which should have resulted in a much better show. But despite some chuckles, this most crucial set up of a series was composed primarily of stock sitcom situations and dialogue patterns. One scene, showing the author and editor beginning to work together, was a hodgepodge montage of Henry and Stark relating to each other: Stark pulls out a chain saw; Stark dances on the high rise ledge of his apartment as Henry gulps on his inhaler; Stark tosses a rapier at Henry and induces a sword fight. Any of these situationsdepending on how funny such nonsense could have been in the first placewould have ordinarily been given an entire scene for fleshing out. But STARK RAVING MAD, it appears, doesn't have that kind of time to waste. It just bumps from one telegraphed one liner to the next in search of a laugh.
The second episode faired a little better, but I swallow my hope: in his unflagging effort to get enough personal material on Henry to continue his guerrilla teasing, Stark went to the gallery where Henry's girlfriend works and, posing as a therapist, got her to open up; Henry, it seems, is a flop in the sack. Stark begrudgingly helps his editor to spice up his personal life ('Toys! I want toys!' the wonderful Kellie Waymire shouted to Stark, who quickly realized this is not the kind of information he wants on anybody), then discovers he had the wrong lady. Two girls named Tess worked at the same place, you see. The funniest moment was when Stark rushed to Henry's apartment to warn him to tone it down, only to arrive a little too late, with a shell-shocked Henry at the door and his weeping girlfriend on the phone to his mother. 'When he pulled out the leash, I thought I was getting a puppy!' cried Dorie Barton as the real Tess. Good stuff for the nondiscerning couch potato in search of a laugh, but nothing to make the show a stand out.
The cast cannot be blamed. Harris is just fine in his Felix Unger finery, and Shalhoub has never been bad in anything. He gives appropriate menace to his freaky character as the horror writer (although I'm pretty sure no professional horror writer is this personally colorful), and shows once again the wonderful comic abilities he used so well on WINGS. The much overlooked Heather Paige Kent is Henry's boss, beautifully bringing to life all of the heartless callousness we writers know every boss has. The cast, even those unfamous guest stars for each episode, is uniformly wonderful, which makes even sadder the waste of their talents on tripe such as this.
There is possibility here, but it all must come out in the writing. Sometimes finding the true nature of your concept can take time, and many shows have surpassed their pilots to live long prime time lives. But there is much work to be done on STARK RAVING MAD. In the pilot, one of the better moments came in a superior montage to the one previously described: Henry has quit Stark after telling the author that the writer is using his pranks to mask the fear he harbors that he may be a one book wonder. This hits Stark hard, and he begins to write again. From here, we're shown Henry reading the new material, Jake typing it up and Stark dictating into his mini recorder, striving to find the proper words (that soul-squeezing thing again). No laughs. Just some nice understated drama as both Henry and Jake react to the material that Stark struggles to create. A nice bit of TV, and maybe the best this show's writers are capable of, which is a shame since this is supposed to be a comedy, and the stuff that is supposed to be funny isn't nearly as interesting as that quick bit of drama. I'll check out a few more episodes just to see if the writers have found their sitcom legs yet, but I'm afraid a very talented cast may be out of a job by May, if not sooner, if the laughs aren't quickly shifted from slapstick to the personalities that are supposed to interest us.
NBC: Thursday, 9:30pm. Executive Producer Steven Levitan. Starring Tony Shalhoub, Neil Patrick Harris, Eddie McClintock, Heather Paige Kent.
More From Mania
Top 5 Genre Films of 2007, Top 5 Anticipated Films of 2008
MAD About Star Wars: Thirty Years of Classic Parodies
(Sunday, October 7, 2007)
EURKEA: A Night in Global Dynamics
(Thursday, October 4, 2007)
My Thoughts on FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
(Wednesday, June 20, 2007)
Justice League: The Corey Burton Interview - Part 2
(Wednesday, March 20, 2002)
FARSCAPE: Paul Goddard
(Monday, January 15, 2001)
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING: BOOK 1
(Wednesday, December 27, 2000)
See more related content
