Anything But Love

I am on episode 8 of the DVD season 1 and I feel like I am watching a bad high school play. The actors are so overly dramatic that it's hard to laugh at the sparse jokes. Not funny and certainly not "madcap". I feel bad for Richard Lewis because his humor is stifled in this dreadful show. I will continue to watch season 1 iwith vain hopes of finding the charm I thought I remembered. Seriously- it feels like Jamie Lee was phoning it in. It's odd because I have seen her do a terrific job in several movies, but her acting abilities are definitely not challenged.

Do not waste your time on this one.

To echo other reviewers, this series recalls both the thirties "madcap" comedies and the cerebral Tracy/Hepburn collaborations. Lewis, criticized as a Woody Allen imitator, pulls away from that allegation/limitiation and holds his own opposite Curtis, a boss of the production. It's been a long time and it's difficult for me to recall specifics, but this one needs to be unearthed - look at all the crud that's made it to DVD already!

Similar productions that come to mind would be the British series "Solo" (with Felicity Kendal). There's also the suggestion of an updated and more grownup "Georgy Girl" - but more upbeat (no gross hospital scenes)...

This was such a lovely show and I miss that sort of thing that isn't on television anymore. It was very smart, very silly and combined slapstick and clever dialogue well. The show reminded me in some respects of films from the thirties that had witty dialogue and a screwball sensibility and the chemistry between Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis was endearing and believable. One was given the impression that everyone enjoyed what they were doing. A favorite episode of mine involved someone running into an ex at a restaurant and the three four different stories of how the situation occurred. The best was a Fellini-like observation of the event. It is one of those clever obscure shows that deserves to be on DVD just for my sake.

Back in the 80s, shows with romantic tension between the leads were all over the air: Moonlighting, Remington Steele etc. got it going and within a few years every show was on the same bandwagon. Here, Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis play colleagues at Chicago Weekly magazine who suppress their romantic impulses toward one another so as to preserve their friendship and working relationship, but circumstances keep pushing them together nonetheless. The overall romantic story arc moved slowly and inexorably toward its predictable goal, but the individual episodes were generally well written and funny enough on their own and as a result the show is still watchable.

Be warned: the show was on the air from 1989-92, and you get the occasional very dated joke on a then topical subject. This is rather unavoidable with sit-coms. Also note that the show underwent a re- structuring after episode 6 in which most of the cast got fired. The magazine gets a new boss, Jamie's character gets a new apartment and a new best friend, while her Dad, played by Bruce Kirby, is rarely if ever seen again. The changes worked fairly well, but when watched on a DVD it's a bit jarring, with the second side of the disk looking almost like a new show.

I agree with the other commentators, this was a really good series. It hearkened back to old Hollywood in so many ways - the repartee, the light touches of comedy, the modern sense of romance. It also seemed to tip its hat to the gentler, more genteel Britcoms of the late 70's. Jamie Lee Curtis was utterly charming, and Richard Lewis - with his neurosis and inability to let anything drop -was her perfect match. And the show really caught that feel of the turn of the decade, post-garish-80's, but pre-slacker-90's.

It says something when a TV show is so well constructed but all one initially remembers is a warm and fuzzy feeling. It means that the show has wormed its way into your heart. This is the case with Anything But Love.

I only have two complaints about the series. First, ABC treated it badly, first in not keeping it in a good time slot, permanently (this was the late 80's, early 90's, when the big three ruled, and a large contributor to a shows success was keeping it in the public's mind by delivering it regularly at a set time), and - having worn down its viewer-ship - canceling the show way too soon. Second, after the first or second season there was a reworking of the show. As with These Friends of Mine/Ellen, this destroyed much of the initial simple charm.

This is one American sitcom I would definitely get on DVD, for I know that I would watch the series over and over again.