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First Impressions aired from August until October 1988 on CBS.
The most notable thing about this short-lived sitcom was that it was the first network series to be set in Nebraska. It also starred a young comic who would become a household name during the following decade.
Set in Omaha Nebraska, This short-lived summer sitcom chronicled the trials and tribulations of Frank Dutton ( Brad Garrett), who had been divorced for a year, was raising his daughter Lindsay ( Brandy Gold, the younger sister of Missy and Tracey Gold), gingerly reentering the social scene, and trying to get his business, Media Of Omaha, off the ground. A talented impressionist, he put his vocal skills to good use on the commercials produced by his company. Working with him were his best friend and partner Dave ( Thom Sharp), whose delusions of grandeur and neurosis were pretty hard to take; Donna ( Sarah Abrell), Media's absurdly naiive receptionist; and Raymond ( James Noble), their eccentric audio engineer whose compulsive gambling kept him constantly on the verge of bankruptcy. Mrs. Madison( Ruth Kobart), was Frank's widowed next-door neighbor with a penchant for offering unsolicited and usually unwanted motherly advice for both Frank and his Daughter.
The six-foot, nine-inch, Brad Garrett had won the " best Comedian Of 1984" award on Star Search.Unfazed by the unfavorable ratings of this sitcom, CBS introduced another series with an almost identical format barely a month later called Raising Miranda.
A Review from The New York Times
TV Weekend; By WALTER GOODMAN
Published: August 26, 1988
You will have no trouble recognizing ''First Impressions'' as a pilot for a sitcom. The six-part series that has its premiere tomorrow at 8 P.M. on CBS has a central figure, a batch of odd characters concocted for amusing complications, and a laugh track. Missing from the first episode are the laughs.
Brad Garrett plays an Omaha advertising man whose specialty is vocal impressions for radio commercials; he can do everything from a helicopter to an elephant to Rodney Dangerfield. He and his 9-year-old daughter have lately been left by his wife, who has gone off to Los Angeles to find herself - or possibly to escape his imitations. Father and daughter are distraught, and the news that mom is planning to visit sets off a mini-trauma that you have seen before. ''She doesn't love me!'' cries the little girl.
The advertising office is occupied by some pretty shaky people: a sound man who was in Gamblers Anonymous before he joined Alcoholics Anonymous; Mr. Garrett's partner, who has set a record for being in therapy; a nervous secretary whose daddy is a right-wing minister known as Book-Burner Patterson. All are sketchy and at best mildly amusing.
The opening half-hour, written and produced by Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen and directed by Terry Hughes and Phil Ramuno, has to do with the winning of the Mullins Muffins account, which gives Mr. Garrett a chance to devise some improbable commercials and use some odd voices.
On the evidence of the first show, too much reliance is placed on Mr. Garrett, who is amiable enough but who does not show the kind of talent that can compensate for the negligible script. When he does his helicopter imitation, you may wish you were in Los Angeles with his wife.
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