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Even Regina’s brothers make the occasional
quip about her being unfeminine (“excuse me for being
the daughter mom never had,” etc.). But she really isn’t
unfeminine, particularly by lesbian standards, which would cast
Crystal as high femme and all of the other women who have appeared
on the show not far behind.
Regina
takes these remarks in good humor, probably because she is secure
in her family’s acceptance of her being a lesbian, even
if she finds occasional reason to question it. When the family
joins forces to ease Ben through the news that his wife, Naomi,
is leaving him, Regina complains to her mom that she doesn’t
remember any rallying of the troops after her own last breakup.
Lydia asks which ex Regina is referring to and quickly rattles
of a long list from memory.
Regina gets the point but seems touched: “Wow, you remembered
them all.” Until Lydia replies: “Yes. Do you?”
Regina gives her a ha-ha look, and usually seems less annoyed
than warily amused by her mother’s remarks and their predictability.
While
the comments to Regina get a bit tiresome, it is a sort of game
her mother likes to play. Lydia’s love for her daughter
is clear and this banter is how she expresses it.
Another running joke that has the potential
to wear out its humor is Regina as a womanizer. She volunteers
a bit too eagerly to show the model who is on a date with her
brother Oliver to the bathroom and to help Crystal out of some
complicated lingerie she excuses herself to remove. Lydia is
wise to her daughter’s game and stops her both times,
which serves as the punchline.
When
the model Oliver ends up asking out enters the diner where the
Barnes family regularly congregates, she is gawked at by everyone
at the table except Lydia, who orders them all (Stewart, Oliver
and Regina) to “refurl” their tongues. Regardless
of whether this would be likely behavior for someone like Regina,
she at least isn’t alone in ogling the eye candy.
When Regina complains that she’s bored, Ben reassures
her that she’s simply in between girlfriends. Regina smiles
slyly and counters with “Trust me, if I were between girlfriends
I would not be bored.” She clearly enjoys life as a single
lesbian and seems to know how to have a good time--that is,
if she only had any time for it, given her busy schedule on
call at the E.R.
Hopefully
it won’t prove to be all talk and the writers will eventually
give Regina a love interest or two--on camera.
Out
of Practice writers Joe Keenan and Christopher
Lloyd (not the one of Taxi and Back to the Future
fame) have worked together as writers for Bram & Alice as
well as Frasier. The Out of Practice pilot
was directed by Kelsey Grammer and the first three episodes
share Frasier’s family-style barb-hurling humor.
Ben’s wife Naomi, who misses her husband’s thirtieth
birthday because she has chained herself to a tree in Oregon,
remains to be seen as of Episode Three, but Ben’s
family seems happy Naomi isn’t around. Only Regina seems
to have been fond of her, but when she says Naomi has always
been nice to her, Oliver points out: “You’re a lesbian.
She couldn’t like you more if you were a spotted owl.”
While
the show is in the same vein as Frasier, it isn’t
so to a copycat degree. It looks like it’s already finding
its own voice. And the lesbian component certainly distinguishes
it from Frasier and most any other show on prime time.
Out
of Practice airs Mondays at 9:30 PM on
CBS
