Room for Two

Emmy winners Patricia Heaton before she was Debra Barone plays the daughter in this sitcom where she is an executive producer of a New York City television show. Her mother played by Alice's Linda Lavin arrives from Ohio with opinions and criticisms which invited her to become part of the television show leaving her family and friends behind in Ohio. With Heaton and Lavin, you really believe they are mother and daughter because they both appear to be doing their best with what they have in the scripts which are about average but superior to today's sitcoms. In an era where sitcoms were they were plentiful, Room for Two was about average and who knows about Heaton's upcoming sitcom with Kelsey Grammar. Heaton's potential appears in this show. Across veteran actress Linda Lavin, Heaton comes across as a match made in sitcom heaven.

Now that Patricia Heaton has gained fame on another show with an interfering mother, it's worth looking back at this show in which her character was the one whose mother had trouble holding back. Heaton is well suited for a show centered around her and not a husband. The mother/daughter dynamic is much more subtle the the over-the-top shenanigans that went on for six seasons of "The Nanny." How come that show lasted and this one didn't? Sure it needed some tweaking, but that was no reason to pull the plug. (Linda Lavin's character would have become grating over time.) Maybe baby boomers felt old seeing the star of "Alice" playing older, and the mother of one of their own. Who knows. I thought the idea of a TV producer producing a show featuring her mother was as original an idea as any, and even today it would be better than current dreck like "Two and a Half Men," "Yes Dear," and "According to Jim." Maybe now that sitcoms are being cancelled faster than postage stamps, the networks should take a look at what might have worked.

Linda Lavin and Patricia Heaton made an excellent pair in this ABC-TV comedy that should have been given more support for success. It has been 19 years since ROOM FOR TWO left the air, yet I still remember it fondly, and for good reason. Lavin and Heaton's antics were funny, believable and had great potential; added into the mix of characters was Edie Kurland's single male neighbor (who lived across the hall from Lavin's character Edie), Ken Kazurinsky, and a couple of potential long-term romantic interests for Jill (Heaton's character). I guess every sitcom cannot become a top 10 hit, but this is one I'll always lament leaving us so early.