TV's 'Just Shoot Me' gets thumbs-up from critics, audiences

"Just Shoot Me" could replace NBC's "Seinfeld" in the Thursday night line-up
VXtreme Video CNN's Paul Vercammen reports

Could it be a 'Seinfeld' step-in?

February 19, 1998
Web posted at: 6:22 p.m. EST (2322 GMT)

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- Take one womanizing publishing magnate, add his smart but idealistic daughter and three self-absorbed fashion junkies to his magazine staff, and attach five famous names to each person, and you have the recipe for a hit TV show -- at least you do if you're NBC and your show is called "Just Shoot Me."

The show casts George Segal and Laura San Giacomo as the publisher of the beauty magazine Blush and his daughter. David Spade is Segal's sarcastic assistant Dennis Finch, Wendie Malick is the magazine's viceful fashion editor and Enrico Colantoni plays manly fashion photographer Elliott DiMauro.

Thanks to their talents and some sharp writing from Steven Levitan (a "Frasier" writer), they are attracting not only viewers, but rave reviews.

Malick (who, like the character she plays, is a former fashion model) sardonically downplayed some of the attention the show is getting. "I think they got tired of talking about Monica (Courtney Cox's "Friends" character), and they wanted something else to have a feeding frenzy over," Malick said.

But the extroverted stars' attitudes may have a lot to do with the positive buzz around their show; they don't take themselves too seriously to deliver some great lines. Take Colantoni, whose photographer character once quipped of a fashion layout, "I didn't know Gap For Kids had a pimp department."

The show casts George Segal as the publisher of the beauty magazine Blush

They don't even take their research too seriously; San Giacomo, for example, says she only picks up a fashion magazine occasionally -- "when I've got to get my hair done and I'm at the beauty parlor I try to catch up."

Meanwhile, Spade quips, "They read Vogue, so I want to take it one step farther and go to strip clubs."

Fans of the show may have noticed that its time slot has been dancing around in recent weeks. Word is that NBC wants to test its ratings on different nights, because these edgy cut-ups could replace the outgoing "Seinfeld" on NBC's coveted Thursday 9 p.m. slot.

"I think if they have a hole, and they need a show that's pretty solid, I think we could handle that," Spade said. But, he added, "I don't want people throwing stuff at the TV -- 'Where is Kramer? Your show is stupid. A bunch of idiots, showbiz phonies. Where's my 'Seinfeld?'"

Correspondent Paul Vercammen contributed to this report.

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• NBC
  • NBC's "Just Shoot Me" page

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