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The
Bonnie Hunt Show
Best
Chicago Show
The
Bonnie Hunt Show
Forget the offensive
"Pursuit of Happiness," the tired "Home Court"
and Danny Bonaduce's afternoon gabfest. Last year, we were spoiled
by our city's high profile on two great dramas, "Chicago Hope"
and "ER," but this season we have only CBS' "The
Bonnie Hunt Show" to look forward to. We were enthralled by
Hunt's earthy, witty, glowing Second City performances in the mid-eighties.
Then she lit up the big screen with bit parts in decent movies such
as "Rain Man" (as the flustered, toothpick-dropping waitress)
and "Dave" (in which her no-nonsense White House tour
guide punctuated every sentence with the phrase, "We're walking,
we're walking..."), as well as pleasant turns in both "Beethoven"
dogs.
Now, after the failure of her first David Letterman-produced sitcom,
"The Building," and the quick demise of both "Grand"
and "Davis Rules," Hunt is back in the box as a TV reporter,
mixing an improv interview segment into each episode. Hunt unearthed
several comedic gems last week--peppering young gradeschoolers with
questions such as, "Got any smokes?"; accidentally pushing
several buttons on the elevator and then telling an entering passenger
"some drunk guy" did it; and engaging in several entertaining,
Bob Newhart-like phone conversations with her mother--but, in order
to succeed, "The Bonnie Hunt Show" will have to get over
that old Second City disease known as trying too hard to please.
Friday, 7:30-8pm, Channel 2 (CBS)
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