Jenny

Put two women together in a comedy and your looking for trouble in the laugh department. Most turn to the amusing, then the profound comedy performances like Rhoda or Laverne and Shirley. They start out as something new and funny and soon turn to stone. But Jenny never gets the chance to 'jump the shark' it only lasted seventeen episodes. It was very up beat. It also had story threads that lasted more than two episodes. It had George Hamilton playing a version of himself in a knowing way. At a casual glance this show would look like the same old schtick comedy being pumped out by the studios in a formulaic way. But that's a wrong estimation. I taped a few episodes on video and regularly watch them again and again. Jenny McCarthy does pull her face a lot, but I like that. Face pulling by pretty girls can not be done enough. Comedy from women usually means trying to stay dignified while under fire. Too many such comedies exist. Jenny... is refreshing even fifteen years later. The only downside to this show was the title. It doesn't lend itself to a search in this digital age. Like looking up a film called '9' it's damn hard to find out any info about it. 10,000 references to jenny out there. The show was axed prematurely, never given enough exposure. Hopefully it will be released on DVD.

(In case you're wondering, every episode title began "A Girl's Gotta...")

Mark & Howard Productions and MTV Productions in association with Paramount Television present a step-by-step guide to putting together shows guaranteed to bring the television system of the US crashing down around viewers' ears:

1. Create a sitcom for an enormously attractive but spectacularly annoying Playmate of the Year (Jenny McCarthy) under the belief that she's a gifted comic performer. (A couple of years ago, Jenny hosted "The Big Breakfast" on British television in tandem with her closest UK equivalent, the almost as insufferable Denise van Outen. Denise is at the time of writing starring in "Chicago" on Broadway - feel free to keep her, my American friends.)

2. Make sure it's about as ground-breaking as "Family Matters." And about as amusing.

3. Cast a genuinely talented and likeable actress (Heather Paige Kent) as her best friend, and ensure she gets less screen time to reduce chances of upstaging.

4. Give Jenny as much chances to inflict her teeth-grindingly irksome persona on viewers as each episode allows.

5. Cast George Hamilton as her father, and when the show is in need of a twist in the format allow the World's Smuggest Man (Non-Politicians Category) to take a more active role on the series. (Jenny McCarthy and George Hamilton together. Saints preserve us.)

6. Allow MTV - the World's Most Self-Enamoured Broadcaster Not Called The BBC - to be involved with the series, ensuring its trademark "Aren't we brilliant?" ethos will be imprinted on the series.

It never had a chance. One poster complained about "Nikki," but in the field of Vehicles For Hot Babes at least that was mildly amusing, and Nikki Cox is a better (and sexier) performer than Jenny McCarthy any day.