The cast of Grosse Pointe
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'Grosse Pointe' doesn't take itself too seriously
This article by Joanne Weintraub is from JSOnline.com and is Copyright © 2000, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
September 21, 2000
Prolific guy, that Darren Star. Besides creating the two hottest prime-time soap operas of the '90s, "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Melrose Place," he dreamed up a famous flop, "Central Park West," and the Emmy-nominated comedy "Sex and the City."
Now Star has taken his own steamy, sudsy soaps and a few others like them, whipped them to a delirious froth and reimagined them as a satire - a giddy half-hour comedy about a fictional teen drama. The result, which could have been titled "Melrose Creek, 90210," is "Grosse Pointe" (7:30 p.m. Friday, Channel 18).
The series, which premieres this week, is shot film-style, with no laugh track. In fact, if you happened across it while channel-surfing, you'd swear it was another high-gloss, low-IQ drama filled with pretty, pouty people who get paid a lot of money to expose their enviable midriffs.
As you already know if you keep up with Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight," the original pilot for "GP" had a character based on "90210's" Tori Spelling, an actress famous for skipping a few rungs on her way up the career ladder thanks to her producer-father, Aaron.
The characterization so angered Aaron Spelling, that his former star writer rewrote the character, removing all references to nepotism and even changing the actress' hair color so she didn't resemble Tori.
But you'll still find a pretty-as-a-picture, mean-as-a-junkyard-dog star, Hunter (Irene Molloy) who absolutely isn't Shannen Doherty, as well as two adorable leading men, Johnny (Al Santos) andStone (Kohl Sudduth), who positively aren't Jason Priestly and Luke Perry, even though Santos looks enough like Priestly to fool Jason's mom.
Star also sends up himself, presumably, in the person of two overcaffeinated writers (Joely Fisher and William Ragsdale) who, between bouts of anxiety and self-doubt, keep congratulating each other with "God, we're good!"
The best character, though, is Marcy (Lindsay Sloane), whose ego is so fragile that she has to keep repeating "I love myself, I love myself" under her breath so that she doesn't dissolve into a little puddle of insecurity. Of course, you'd be insecure, too, if an Entertainment Weekly poll had just named your character the least sexy cheerleader on TV - below even Brittany on "Daria," who's a cartoon.
The quality slips when "GP" gets too broad, as in an embarrassing scene where darling, dim Johnny lovingly discusses the hairs on his belly. And the fevered fantasies of soap opera have been parodied so often and so memorably - in "Tootsie," "Soapdish," "Friends," "SCTV," "Taxi" and the old "Carol Burnett Show," among others - that it's no longer hilarious to see an actress lying in a hospital bed after a car crash with her mascara unsmudged, her lip gloss still dewy and a sweet little Band-Aid on her forehead accessorizing her outfit.
But entertaining new series are pretty thin on the ground this fall, so consider "GP" a gift. If nothing else, it's more fun to laugh along with a spoof than to giggle in all the wrong places at a would-be serious drama.
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