From: rccarm00@mik.uky.edu (ron c carman)
Subject: Re: New FOX Series "Sexiest Woman on TV"?
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:35:56 GMT

glazer@cs.cornell.edu (Scott Mathew Glazer) writes:

>Well, having seen the show ("Flying Blind") I can say two things:

>-She is the sexiest character on TV.  Perhaps not physically, but certainly
> behaviorally.

>-This show is amazing!  Certainly the funniest pilot I have ever seen!  Me
> and my housemates were in stitches the whole eisode.  I implore everyone
> to catch this show - great writing, great acting, just terrific.  BTW, it's
> another James L. Brooks production.

   This show is definitely a different one... here's what our local paper
had to say about it (Paper commentary begins with **, my comments inter-
spersed)...


**   "Flying Blind" flies right up there with the trendiest of the
**trendy new shows.  The trend, of course, is to combine sex and
**youth and -- hopefully -- to emerge with a show that draws young
**people, broadcast TV's most sought-after audience.

   Well, "Flying Blind" has definitely got both the youth and the
sex.. whether it will draw the audience as Fox expects is yet to 
be seen.

**   "Flying Blind" has a distinctive locker room touch, with a
**plot that centers on a young man's fantasy about being swept away
**by the passions of a sexy woman.  But unlike "Herman's Head" and
**"Grapevine" and the other tittillating shows in this genre,
**"Flying Blind" is bolstered by tight writing and superb
**performances by its young cast.

   I have to agree here.  If not for the fact that the writers have
done such an excellent job, this would be just one more show built
on the premise of sex.

**   Neil (Corey Parker) has taken an office job with the food
**company where his father works.  He's not exactly enthusiastic
**about it.
**   "Four years of college, six dean's lists and I found myself
**facing the same future as the guy with half a face who sweeps up
**at the cat hospital," he tells a co-worker.
**   But when Neil leaves for lunch on that first day, fate quite
**literally throws a beautiful, sexy woman into his arms.
**  The word sexy takes on new meaning when Tea Leoni, who plays
**Alicia, plops into Neil's lap.  Instead of just reading her sexy
**lines, which she does quite nicely, Leoni exudes sex with every
**toss of her head, every twist of her gorgeous shoulders.

   The lady can *definitely* act.  Unfortunately, Parker doesn't
seem to be quite as apt a performer -- which is partially made 
up for by the writing (once again).  There were several excellent
lines (I wish I'd taped it..): the one by Alicia's last flame
about her being a "...boy toy", the one by Alicia about Neil's
co-worker, the one by Neil about Alicia's last flame...
Put succinctly, the show has (at times) a razor-sharp wit.

**   "Flying Blind" is probably the best of the sex-based comedies
**we've been given so far.  It's so well made that its predecessors
**seem cheap and vulgar in comparison.

   True.  "90210", "MP", "The Heights", etc. immediately come to mind.
But, then again, those shows have always seemed cheap to me.

**   Still, "Flying Blind" can't rise above its core.  It will
**always be what it was designed to be: a show based exclusively on
**lust.
**   Alicia lets it be known that she doesn't wear underwear, that
**she likes having sex on a ferry and that she wants to go "play"
**with Neil.
**   And Neil finds himself hawking a snack called a Mamalow,
**shaped like "the most perfect small breast."
**   It's all sex for the sake of sex, sex purely for titillation,
**sex simply to lure the young viewers Fox continues to attract.
**"Flying Blind's" only distinction is that it has been packaged by
**masters.  Even the most disapproving older viewers will find it
**hard not to laugh just a little at this one.

   All too True.  A show built entirely on the premise of sex has
laid a trap for itself in that premise.  It cannot avoid that
trap forever, and that is the only problem I have with this series.
If the writing falters (even just a little) the show will go straight
to hell.
   "Flying Blind" is witty, obvious, savvy, blunt, intelligent,
stupid, irreverent, highly unrealistic, and most of all sexy.
But the writers will have to get very creative indeed to keep
the ball rolling.

RC Carman

 
--
/=======================================================================\ 
|     Ron C. Carman          || 'What you want is irrelevant.           |
| rccarm00@mik.uky.edu       ||  What you have chosen is at hand.'      |
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