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Imagine That aired from January 8th until the 15th , 2002 on NBC.
Television looked to itself for comedy and canceled what it saw almost immediately, in this " insider" sitcom. Josh ( Hank Azaria), was a comedy writer for an unnamed tv show, who was having marital problems with his high-powered lawyer-wife, Wendy ( Jayne Brook), so he reflected them in his skits. His best ideas unfortunately, were promptly stolen by his megalomaniac boss Barb ( Katey Sagal). Others at work were his hyper young writing partner Kenny( Joshua Malina), sarcastic asian Rina ( Suzy Nakamura), and bossy Tabitha( Julia Schultz). Dr. Berman ( Max Baker), was Josh and Wendy's marriage counselor.
A Review From The New York Times
TELEVISION REVIEW; Nice-Guy Comedy Writer With a Lively Imagination
By CARYN JAMES
Published: January 8, 2002
Changing a show's title at the last minute is always a bad sign, especially when the new name is worse than the old. The coyly titled ''Imagine That'' used to be ''The Hank Azaria Show,'' but it is still a sitcom about a nice-guy comedy writer with a rocky marriage whose fantasies materialize onscreen ''Ally McBeal'' style. To compound the bad omens, the show's creator, Seth Kurland (a former producer of ''Friends'') left, his departure cloaked in that weary showbiz cliché ''creative differences,'' the grown-up equivalent of ''the dog ate my homework.'' And NBC has scheduled just five episodes before the series makes way for the Olympics next month.
Considering all these storm clouds, it is a huge surprise that ''Imagine That'' plays so much better than its strained premise and hideous, overdone laugh track make it sound. The first two episodes are a wildly uneven mix of stock situations and fresh comic moments, spotty but full of potential. Mr. Azaria's appealing, understated presence helps the show at its best combine the common-sensical approach of ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' with a touch of the wry sophistication of ''Frasier.''
Mr. Azaria plays Josh, smarter than anyone around him but sometimes too mild-mannered for his own good. Promos make the show seem like a cavalcade of Mr. Azaria playing outlandish sketch characters. In fact, there is one each episode.
In tonight's, when he and his wife go to couples therapy, Josh imagines himself as a corpulent, gold-chain wearing, macho wise guy of a therapist. In next week's he is a 70's singer known as the Married Balladeer, a white man with a huge Afro who sings of married love. This stunt is obviously tailored to Mr. Azaria's versatility: he provides the voices of Moe the bartender and others on ''The Simpsons,'' has mastered drama in ''Tuesdays With Morrie'' and ''Uprising'' and played the frenzied, swishy servant in ''The Birdcage.''
As Josh and all his fantasy characters, he saves ''Imagine That'' from its creaky writing, and there is a lot of it. The jokes never get better than the title of the Married Balladeer's hit, ''Every Time You Go Away (I Watch Porn).''
Jayne Brooke blandly plays his wife, a lawyer who exists as a foil for Josh. ''I feel invalidated when you drink milk from the carton,'' she says, delivering a straight line that lets Mr. Azaria respond with all the befuddlement the therapy-driven comment deserves. Other performances match his in wringing genuinely funny moments out of clichéd writing.
As a marriage therapist, Max Baker offers a delicious parody of a cold Englishman who is the living opposite of touchy-feely, yet who relies on psychobabble. Joshua Malina (the nerdy Jeremy on ''Sportsnight'') is Josh's writing partner, who drools over a sexy assistant tonight but next week arrives in the office hilariously tear stained and eating a pint of ice cream because his dream woman has dumped him.
Nothing can save the character played by Katey Sagal as the abrasive head writer whose everyday clothes are elaborate costumes. She dresses as a World War I flyer and a cowgirl. Huh?
If Jason Alexander's failed ''Bob Patterson,'' about a self-help guru, was a wonderful premise smothered in stale comedy, ''Imagine That'' is its opposite: a labored premise given wit and liveliness by glittering performances. It deserves to come back and follow its best instincts, but NBC has made no decision about that. It may return in the spring or fall. It may fade into that netherworld of lost series to join the ghost of ''Emeril,'' the hopeless show it is replacing.
IMAGINE THAT
A Review From The Michigan Daily
by ROHITH THUMATI
NBC"s "Imagine That" is the latest star vehicle to hit the air an ominous portent for this show, seeing as every other sitcom featuring an established star made for this season has already been canceled, (Jason Alexander"s "The Bob Patterson Show," anyone?). Also, "Imagine That" being a midseason replacement, which are usually shows that the network execs deemed were not as good as the shows that debuted (and cancelled) in October, does not bode well. However, unlike other shows, "Imagine" features someone who has actual comedic talent: Hank Azaria, renowned for his work on "The Simpsons" and "Tuesdays With Morrie." Of course, he"s also infamous for his failures ("Godzilla," "Mystery Men," his marriage to Helen Hunt). How does this show rate amongst the rest of Azaria"s body of work as well as the rest of the television landscape?
For a midseason replacement, this show is rather promising. Azaria plays Josh Miller, a writer on a sketch comedy television show, who"s having marital troubles with his super-driven prosecutor wife Wendy (Jayne Brook, "Chicago Hope"). Both Azaria and Brook seem to know their characters well and already seem to have a decent chemistry as a couple.
The only other writer who gets significant time during the first episode is Kenny Fleck, played by Josh Malina, who is like a slightly cooler version of the character Malina played on "Sports Night." Hopefully the other two writers, David Pressman"s Kooshman ("Stargate") and Suzy Nakamura"s Rina Oh ("Timecode") will get flushed out as the season goes on so far they are just there to fill up space.
Receiving more time during the premiere is Barb Thompson, the show"s neurotic producer who detests her own mother, played by Katey Sagal ("Married With Children"). One of the plot lines of the first show is how Barb steals an idea (hopefully not a recurring theme bosses who take credit for their employee"s ideas isn"t exactly a new idea) of Josh"s about a doing a sketch featuring an Italian "wiseguy" therapist. The idea for this, which probably explains the title of the show, comes to Josh when he and his wife go to see a marriage counselor, and Josh imagines his therapist as a stereotypical Italian mobster.
In the form of eye-candy, there"s former Playboy Playmate Julia Shultz ("Rush Hour 2"), playing another stereotype as Tabitha Applethorpe, Kenny and Josh"s attractive but not too bright assistant. It is unlikely that her character will progress much beyond that of "office hottie," though.
The premiere is fairly well written, although the laughs are considerably forced in the beginning (if only real people laughed when the canned laughter does those in TV business would be so happy). It remains to be seen, however, if they"ll take one-note characters like Tabitha and Barb and make them multi-dimensional. A show with plotlines based on a few stereotypes and marital problems sounds too much like every other sitcom that gets cancelled with less than a season on the air.
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