After last Friday’s results, it will be a surprise of "The Return of Jezebel James" actually returns.
Its premiere drew just 3.17 million viewers. Its two episodes came in fifth place behind the winning game shows, "The Price is Right" and "Amnesia," a rerun of "Grey's Anatomy" and even "Friday Night Smackdown!"
Considering the talent involved in the sitcom, it’s quite a bad showing. "Jezebel" is the first work for TV for Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, after they left "Gilmore Girls" they had created before the end of its final season.
It stars both indie film star Parker Posey and premium channel starlet Lauren Ambrose, with a wide cast of New York actors to come, including Dianne Wiest as their mother. It’s a performance we might see only if they leave it on.
The sitcom has already had a tepid reaction from the network, who cut its order from 13 to seven and then switched it from a can’t miss slot following "American Idol" to a practically can’t win slot on Friday, just about the deadest night on TV.
The series is named after an imaginary friend of Ambrose’s character. If there was an audience at all for "Jezebel," it must have been imaginary as well.
I really enjoyed this show and I am really sad that the network set it up for failure by airing it on Friday at a time when people are just waiting to find out what is going to happen with their favorite shows that have been on hiatus thus not really interested in new works.
Posted by: Chris Hale | April 08, 2008 at 10:20 AM
I bailed about 15 minutes into the first episode. I'd love to see Parker in a regular series, but why she chose this trainwreck to try and begin a TV career is confusing. Parker would be better suited for a series on FX, HBO or Showtime, not a lame, laughtrack sitcom on Fox.
Posted by: Dick Tater | March 18, 2008 at 03:15 PM