Word: dansons
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Whether it succeeds or fails, the CBS sitcom Ink (Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET) will be remembered for inspiring one of the most refreshing bursts of candor in television history. When the pilot episode for the Ted Danson-Mary Steenburgen comedy was finished, the people involved could scarcely contain their lack of enthusiasm. Danson, at a press conference, said he didn't want to "disclaim the baby" but promised the show would improve. Steenburgen likened the series to making a batch of pancakes: sometimes "you throw out the first." A few weeks later CBS tossed out all four episodes completed...
...turns out they did it right: Ink doesn't stink. The first version was a strained attempt at something resembling '30s screwball comedy: Danson and Steenburgen finalized their divorce in the opening scene and were back at adjoining desks the very same day; when Steenburgen offered to quit, she was made managing editor instead. Even if the setup had been more plausible, the show proved how unfriendly TV is to stylized screwball comedy. Viewers don't want to be distanced by brittle, rat-a-tat comedy patter; they want comfortable characters they can relate...
...provides them. Danson and Steenburgen are now a couple who have been divorced for 10 years (with a 15-year-old daughter) but are thrown back together when she is hired as the managing editor of the paper where he's a star columnist. "Have you seen the buses?" he boasts to his ex-wife. "I'm on the M4, the M10--and the 6. That's crosstown, baby." She's a high-strung but determined professional woman trying to give up smoking; he pesters their daughter to find out whom her mom is dating. Next headline: ROMANTIC TENSION BREWING...
...like Ted Danson and Don Johnson, has a gift for making moral vacuousness endearing. At 35 he still conveys a playful mischievousness. He is the kid who hogs the sandbox without offending anyone...
Murphy Brown creator Diane English is a very recent hire on Ink, the Ted Danson-Mary Steenburgen vehicle that CBS put on hold a mere three weeks before its scheduled premiere. The show is set to debut Oct. 21, and English is currently doing a round-the-clock rework on a new pilot on Martha's Vineyard. "I thrive on pressure," says English, "but this is probably more pressure than I ever experienced in my career." She hopes to make better use of the couple's chemistry than the original pilot did, and she will replace all six supporting players...