Premiere Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 (Sony Pictures Television)
Network: ABC
Time: Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. et/pt
Cast: Starring Marla Sokoloff, Josh Cooke, Wendie
Malick, Kurt Fuller, Miriam Shor, Stephen Rannazzisi,
and Stephnie Weir.
Introduction:
Each season, the show "24" tackles one very, very bad
day in the life of a special agent in charge of
national security. Starting November 28 ABC will also
present one very, very bad day in someone's life... a
young couple's wedding day in the beautiful backyard
of a family home. And while no one is defusing a
nuclear bomb - they're arguing about when the salad is
going to be served - the stakes (as anyone who has
been through a wedding knows) are just as high.
"Big Day" tells the stories you don't see on the
wedding video -- the father who sits his daughter down
on the morning of her big day and tells her he really
doesn't think she should marry this guy; the bitter
bridesmaid older sister who sleeps with the best man
and accidentally drinks his contact lenses, which he
left in a glass of water on the nightstand, blinding
him for the rest of the proceedings; the groomsman
who's secretly in love with the groom; the tightly
wound mother of the bride who intimidates the nervous
wedding planner into changing the salad (the bride's
choice, Caesar, is just so tacky!).
Marla Sokoloff (Alice, the bride) is best known for
starring as the sassy and trouble-making receptionist,
Lucy Hatcher, on David E. Kelly's award-winning series
"The Practice." Last fall she had a recurring role on
the ABC hit "Desperate Housewives" as Felicity
Huffman's cute and bubbly nanny. Sokoloff most
recently starred in Jerry Bruckheimer's romantic TV
comedy "Modern Men." Other television credits include
the ABC family telepic "Christmas in Boston" and guest
appearances on such hits as "Friends," the VH1
original trilogy "Strange Frequency," "Full House,"
"Party of Five," "3rd Rock from the Sun" and "7th
Heaven." Film credits include New Line Cinema's dark
comedy, "Sugar and Spice," and 20th Century Fox's hit,
"Dude Where's My Car?," starring alongside Ashton
Kutcher and Sean Willliam Scott. She made her mark in
Columbia Tri-Star's "Whatever it Takes."
Josh Cooke (Danny, the groom) was born in Philadelphia
and got started in acting when his parents sent him to
a day camp at the Walnut Street Theater. A few years
later he attended the Broadway Theater Project in
Tampa, which was run by Ann Reinking, where he began
to seriously consider acting as a career.
Josh was a regular on the short lived sitcoms "Four
Kings" and "Committed," and has guest starred on
popular TV shows ranging from "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
to "Dragnet." He has appeared in numerous films,
including "Farewell Bender" and "Fade."
Wendie Malick (Jane, the mom) is perhaps best known
for her long-running role as Nina Van Horn on the
acclaimed comedy "Just Shoot Me," which earned her
multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Prior to
her stint on "Just Shoot Me," she appeared as Judith
Tupper Stone on the series "Dream On," for which she
won four CableACE Awards, and as the recurring
character Gayle Buchannon on "Baywatch." She also had
a great role on ABC's "Jake in Progress." Feature film
work includes "Waiting," "Racing Stripes," the voice
of ChiCha in the animated films "The Emperor's New
Groove" and its sequel, "The Emperor's New Groove II,"
"On Edge," "Jerome" and "The American President."
Additional television work includes a recurring role
as Ronee Lawrence on the comedy "Frasier." She also
supplies the voice of Principal Folsom in the popular
Disney animated series, "Filmore!"
Kurt Fuller (Steve, the dad) is best known for his
work in the films "Wayne's World," with Mike Myers,
and "Anger Management," with Jack Nicholson and Adam
Sandler, although others may know him best as the
wacky sheriff who likes to pose in Speedos in "Scary
Movie."
His numerous film credits include "Auto Focus," "Ray,"
"Pushing Tin," The Jack Bull" and "Ghostbusters 2."
He has been previously a regular "That's My Bush," the
television series from South Park creators Trey Parker
and Matt Stone, and has recurred and guest starred on
over a hundred other TV shows and telefilms, including
recent arcs on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," "Boston
Legal," "In Justice," and "Alias." Other TV
appearances include HBO's "Live from Baghdad" with
Michael Keaton and the series "Unscripted" and
"Carnivale." On the other networks he was seen
recently on "The 4400," "House," "The West Wing,"
"Monk," "Las Vegas" and "Malcolm in the Middle."
Fuller will be seen later this year in two new films,
"Mr. Woodstock," with Billy Bob Thornton and Susan
Sarandon, and "Pursuit of Happyness," opposite Will
Smith.
Miriam Shor (Becca, the sister) was born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, but moved to Venice, Italy
when she was only six months old. It was there that
her love of theater started when she saw her first
opera at the ripe age of two. She began doing plays in
high school and went on to get a BFA in theater/drama,
as well as a BA in English from the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor. From there she moved to New York
to pursue a career in the theater.
Shor has since appeared in more than half a dozen
films, including "Hedwig and the Angry Inch,"
"Bedazzled" and "Cake Eaters" (currently in post
production). She was a series regular on "Inside
Schwartz" and "Then Came You," and has guest starred
in many TV shows, including "The West Wing" and "My
Name Is Earl."
Stephen Rannazzisi (Skobo, groom's best-man) is
familiar as a series regular on ABC's "A Day in the
Life." He has been featured in a variety of TV shows,
from MTV's "Punk'd," where he was a cast member, to
"Sex and the City." He has also appeared in numerous
plays, including "Pippin" at the Goodrich Theater,
"The Importance of Being Ernest" at the Hamblin Arena
and "A Christmas Carol" at Theater Three.
Stephnie Weir (Lorna, the wedding planner) was raised
in Texas and attended Odessa Junior College, studying
theater and broadcasting. She went on to attend
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, were she
studied anthropology and women's studies.
In Los Angeles Weir spent five seasons as a
writer/performer on "MadTV" (her final episodes aired
this season). In film she appeared last year in "Fun
with Dick and Jane," and she stars in two upcoming
independent features, "Moonpie" and "Eden Court." She
will soon be seen again on stage in her one-person
show entitled "Slowdeatha, TX," at the Comedy Central
Stage.
Pilot Plot:
"Pilot"
Tuesday, November 28, 9:00PM ET/PT
The show will present one very, very bad day in
someone's life -- the day of a young couple's wedding
-- and the stakes are high. Oh, they're not defusing a
bomb here. No, it's something worse. Like this life
and death choice: Should the salad, as the bride
prefers, be Caesar or baby lettuce with pear
vinaigrette, as hyper-controlling mom would have it?
Chaos, tension and, yes, sex, are everywhere
throughout this blessed house, while the frantic and
flustered wedding planner dodges not bullets but
barbs.
We also received two additional episodes that are
slated to air December 5 and December 12:
Tuesday, December 5 at 9 p.m.:
"The World According to Garf" - Mother of the bride
Jane has an unexpected orgasm when Danny's
free-spirited dad (Stephen Tobolowsky) gives her a
foot massage, and a sightless Skobo disses Becca,
unaware she is standing in front of him -- so she
retaliates.
Guest starring are Stephen Tobolowsky as "The Garf,"
Terry Chen as Johnny, Leslie Odom. Jr. as Fred and
Andrew Friedman as photographer.
Tuesday, December 12 at 9 p.m.:
"Skobo and Alice Hooked Up" -- Becca and Skobo each
try to get the other banned from the wedding, and
Skobo reveals that, as pre-teens, he and Alice kissed.
Analysis:
The pilot is decent. It has some very fun moments and
some blah moments, I think. I love how the groom has
his own theme song...and it is none other than the
classic theme song from the classic sitcom What's
Happening!! -- which happens to be one of my favorite
sitcoms of all-time! They reference the show a lot in
the pilot, including mentioning some characters and
playing the theme!
The concept of this show is quite interesting. It
will follow the entire wedding day through the season
(13 episodes, I think). The pilot episode starts off
at 8 a.m. and ends at 8:37 a.m. There is a lot of
chaos and funny stuff in that period. I like how the
best man slept with the bride's sister. I like the
wedding planner--she is very good. Another male
friend of the groom's seems to be in love with...the
groom. The bride's ex-boyfriend also is invited and
he still seems to love Alice and shows it quite
openly. And the bride's parents are pretty good...the
dad decided this morning that he doesn't want her to
marry him, while the bride's mom is bossing everyone
around, especially Becca & Lorna (wedding planner). I
hate the Caesar salad story line. It just is boring
to me, but I'm sure women will like it. There is also
some sort of mystery developing, as we hear the
bride's mother in the bathroom talking to a mysterious
someone at the end of the pilot. The pilot starts the
show off well in developing the story. The laughs are
here and there, but it is very watchable.
As for the second episode airing. It is titled "The
World According to Garf." The episode takes place from
9:43am to 10:16am. So, is there another episode that
they made in between this and the pilot? Because the
pilot runs from 8-8:37am. I think there is because in
the "Earlier on Big Day" segment we see something we
don't see in the pilot (a van running over someone).
Anyway, this episode is hysterical! The best of the
three I have seen by far. The groom's father arrives
from a biking marathon--all sweaty and he is quite
weird. He gives Alice's mom (Jane) a foot
massage...and let's just say something unexpected
happens, and it is quite hysterical. Meanwhile, Becca
and Skobo battle it out. Becca seems to like Skobo,
but Skobo treats her like a one night stand. The
blind Skobo is literally blind (he is still
contact-less) and is blind in not seeing her love.
Finally, the third episode airing is titled "Skobo and
Alice Hooked Up." The episode takes place from
10:31am-11:08am. The episode deals with the weather.
Bad weather has moved in and rain is falling. The
wedding crew move everything inside and back outside
when the rain stops, and again inside when it starts.
The wedding planner, Lorna, has lost the seating chart
and she really wants the wedding indoors. Meanwhile,
Skobo, Alice, Becca, and Danny play a little game to
calm the atmosphere because Skobo & Becca continue to
go at each other. While playing, a secret revelation
is revealed. Pretty funny, but not as funny as the
previous episode.
Conclusion:
I think this show is decent. This is what you call a
serialized sitcom, though I doubt many people would be
lost if they miss an episode or two. It seems ABC is
skipping the second episode produced, because the
pilot leaves off after 8:38am and the next episode
airing starts at 9:43am. The show is for sure
interesting. It has some funny moments, but mostly it
is just something to watch. It is a good idea to
follow an entire day for a season. It has never been
done in a sitcom. Jake in Progress was originally
going to be something like this, but they retooled it.
So what happens if the show is renewed? The show is
titled Big Day, so it is likely they will find another
'big day' to follow in the lives of these two for
subsequent seasons.
The show will be airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. starting
November 28. It will be repeat free and will mainly
air against repeats in December. So, let's hope this
show hits because we haven't had a real sitcom hit
this season (so as sitcom fans, do NOT root against
it). And let's hope Help Me Help You will have the
same numbers it had when it had Dancing with the Stars
as its lead-in. ABC will for sure take that! (I
personally can't wait for The Knights of Prosperity
(Wednesdays this January on ABC). I've seen the pilot
and it is VERYYY funny...but more on that in that
review.)
Finally, please do give this show a try. If you think
the pilot is just OK, I really suggest you come back
again for the next episode with Danny's dad Garf. That
was very funny and people will love that episode. So,
don't make it one episode and out for this sitcom. Try
the first two episodes and then make your decision...
