Lines like this one aren’t exactly common fare for network sitcoms, but on CBS’s new series Out of Practice, the lesbian jokes flow freely. (In this case, the line is said by a man to his lesbian sister, after his brother remarks sarcastically that he must meet a lot of lesbians because his advances are always being rebuffed.)
Besides being frequent the Sapphic quips are generally funny, and the writers don’t always resort to stereotypes to get the laughs. They also aren’t afraid to use a word like “dyke,” and in this case the bold choice of terms indicates a level of comfort that implies respect.
One of the show’s primary characters, Regina (Paula Marshall), is a lesbian, and her family members–who comprise the remainder of the main players–are clearly accepting enough to mention her sexual orientation in good-natured teasing. The also take it as a matter of fact, as one of many enduring, and even endearing, aspects of her personality.
The fledgling show got off to a slow start last month. The pilot came off as a typical laugh-track sitcom that not even the big-ticket actors could rescue from caricature and cliché. But pilots are for setting up basic premises, introducing characters, and taking care of other necessary business. While the ultimate goal is to generate a buzz and secure the show’s success, it’s a rare sitcom that dazzles right off the starting line.
But the second and third episodes of Out of Practice show clear improvement. The groundwork has been laid and everyone can get on with the business of providing entertainment. And it’s proving to be a well-written show with strong performances and some clever lines. It even has its moments where the viewer’s own laughter coincides with the canned variety provided.
The Barnes family is helmed by Lydia (Stockard Channing), a hotshot cardiologist, and Stewart (Henry Winkler), the gastroenterologist she has recently divorced. Their youngest son, Ben (Christopher Gorham) is a couples counselor whose own marriage is failing, and sister Regina is a busy E.R. doctor who needs constant stimulus–both professionally and personally. Their older brother Oliver (Ty Burrell) is a self-absorbed plastic surgeon who mainly occupies himself with pursuing the prettiest women he can find (some of whom he has worked on).
Stewart has taken up with his thirty-something secretary Crystal (Jennifer Tilly, who is actually 47 and looks damn good). Crystal has had some unspecified work done by Oliver and plays a type similar to her role as Violet in Bound, which her voice is perfectly suited for.
One of the show’s regular features is Lydia taking cheap shots at her daughter’s grooming habits and girl-chasing behavior. Lydia’s only lines that aren’t cheap shots seem to be those that set up the cutting zingers she hurls. The usual targets are her daughter, or her ex-husband and his new girlfriend (as in: “Can I get you anything? A chair? A pole?”).
But how many lesbians haven’t had to endure nitpicky remarks about their hair style and fashion choices? It’s at least realistic.
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.
