The Norm Show

Norm McDonald is hilarious, he can't act, but he's hilarious. Facial expressions, one liners, flopped lines, hilarious. I'm sure he could walk into a wake and have everybody in stitches within minutes.

The shows premise had Norm working against his will as a counciler, insulting his clients, co-workers and superior. The majority of the costars acted as straight men (or people) that help set up Norms one liners, and then he'd continue with the jokes. His boss was mostly the brunt of his jokes, but then again he should have been used to it. He was once a straight man for ALF (Yo Willy!!!!).

It was the one sitcom that I'd be anxious to watch, but it suddenly disappeared.

I have just watched the pilot, and I am positive that this show will be a hit. I am a big Norm Macdonald fan, and could not stop laughing during the pilot. This show is Norm at his best. If you liked "Dirty Work", or Norm on SNL, then give this show a chance. One of the funniest lines on the show is when he (Norm) is trying to convince a young call girl to stop turning tricks. After Laurie Metcalf told the girl that nothing is sadder than a seventy year-old prostitute, Norm replies "yeah, you don't want to have to take your teeth out 30-40 times a day". Long live Norm!!

Continuity isn't really important in a sitcom if the stories are funny. Married With Children proved that even while re-using the same plots over and over. In less than 54 episodes we learn that Denby never had children, then had a son in high school, then had a grandson that was about 8 or 9. Adding a new character with a NY accent, having her drop the accent and then disappear in less than 6 episodes because she added nothing to the story was just as bad. So was having his dad in an early episode then in a later one pretend Norm hadn't seen him in decades. Not to mention the entire premise of the show is flawed because Norm played hockey and didn't pay taxes in Canada and then got sentenced to community service in New York. I won't mention that being given a cushy job isn't much of a sentence. I never questioned why they mentioned hockey teams like the Anaheim Ducks and the Oilers but called New York's team the Zephyrs. Yet somehow this is still one of the funniest shows ever.

I recently grabbed an old VHS I had in my closet and popped it in. On that tape were about 12 episodes from this series. I had forgotten how funny it was. I'm glad I saved the tape.

It's humour was far from highbrow though--much closer to Married With Children and The War At Home. Norm always makes me laugh--even in his weird cheese sitcom that came out years later.

Release this series on DVD please. With all the crap releases we see all the time, there has got to be room for this show. Just a few special features are needed. I'd be happy to have it near bare bones even, like Newsradio is doing. Just release it on the DVD format.

The Norm Show is gonna be a big hit. Trust me. This has everything a sit-com should have. Great acting, funny humor, originality, and... well that's about all it needs. Norm MacDonald's monotonical jokes hit you dead on, and Laurie Metcalf is great as the leading actress on the show. But still, Norm MacDonald is the highlight of the show. He doesn't even have to make a joke to get you laughing. Though it is kind of unrealistic, with Norm being an ex-hockey-player-turned-social worker, but that's just part of the originality. Everyone will love this show after watching just one episode, so I think it'll be around for a while.