Bram and Alice

What a fantastic show! I saw the pilot and laughed out-loud! And laughing out-loud for me usually takes smart writing and great delivery by the actors. This show does that and I hope to continue to watch and laugh out-loud.

Alfred Molina is one of the most brilliant actors of our time. The show was well written and wonderfully acted. The show was given no chance. It was at a bad time and half the times it aired it was competing with the world series. Had this show not been canceled so early in it's run, CBS would have had a huge success.

The first time I heard about this show was when it was canceled (which was after two episodes). I happened to look it up.

Network idiocy, all the way. This show had one of the best casts a sitcom could ever hope for.

Alfred Molina is probably Hollywood's most underrated actor. He's been in wide range of projects, good and bad, and he's always been much better than the role demanded, whether playing the effeminate Harvard professor in "Species" or the Mexican villain in "Maverick" or the nasty Greek lawyer in "Before and After". He finally, now, has been given a major role (as Diego Rivera, in "Frida") after about 25 years in Hollywood.

Traylor Howard should be ranked with Renee Zellweger and Julia Roberts for likeable talent, but she keeps getting stuck in failing projects that don't do her any justice. At least she's free, again, to go pursue something else. She should've been given a break-out role five years ago, already.

The rest of the "Bram and Alice" cast was strong, too, although because I never heard of the show, I never saw it, so I can only guess at the chemistry.

I've asked around. I don't know *anyone* -- in person or online -- who saw this show or even saw an ad for it. The network simply decided to waste its money and kill the show even before they canceled it. Sheer incompetence, and someone ought to be fired.

I hadn't been expecting much from this show, but it came on after "Becker" so I decided to give it a shot.

Alice O'Connor, an ambitious young writer, discovers to her shock that her real father is Bram Sheppard, famous writer and a bit of a lech. She moves in with him they try to form a relationship, with Bram's assistant, Paul Newman, offering a slightly more normal perspective on things.

The writing is good and very funny; one reaction shot of Bram's made me laugh for minutes. Alfred Molina totally captures Bram, and Traylor Howard does a good job as his slightly irritating daughter Alice. Roger Bart turns in an amusingly understated role as Paul, and Katie Finneran and Michael Rispoli are good stand-outs as Katie the young professional, and Michael the priest-turned-bartender. Whether these two will be recurring roles or not I cannot say, but I sure hope so.

"Bram And Alice" got off to a good start. Let's hope it can sustain this level of comedy and wit.

Before you watch it, keep in mind that just about everyone in this show is a highly underrated performer that hasn't quite found his or her clique. This show is certainly good enough to deserve at least 3 more seasons, but I predict that it will soon be cancelled.