Rita rocks, but can she make people laugh?
With her arrival in the original cast of "Mad TV" in 1995, Nicole Sullivan quickly proved herself as a sparkling and versatile comedian.
Unfortunately, that late-night sketch show didn't prove to be the launching pad she deserved. Her TV work since — including a short-lived embarrassment called "Hot Properties" and a supporting role as a dog walker on "The King of Queens" — never did her justice.
Her new Lifetime sitcom, "Rita Rocks", doesn't quite do the trick either. But it's a pleasant domestic half-hour with a twist: Sullivan plays Rita Clemens, a harried, overworked suburban wife and mother who looks to recapture her fancy-free past as a guitarist by forming a garage band with a few folks from around the neighbourhood.
To borrow from Loggins and Messina, can this mama rock and roll ... while keeping the home scene in required equilibrium?
More important, can she make viewers laugh?
Lifetime is rolling out "Rita Rocks" this Monday through Friday at 9.30 p.m. before installing it in a weekly Tuesday slot starting on October 28. But you can sample the premiere episode online right now.
The series co-stars Richard Ruccolo, Kelly Gould, Natalie Dreyfuss, Raviv Ullman, Tisha Campbell-Martin and Ian Gomez.
Other shows to look out for:
¦ Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E, is lead singer of the cult band The Eels. But the father he never really knew was a rock star of a different kind: iconoclastic quantum physicist Hugh Everett III, who published his theory of parallel universes more than a half-century ago as a Ph.D. student at Princeton University. This theory holds that every time anybody makes a decision, a parallel universe splits off from everyday reality. The concept was overlooked for many years, and the dejected Hugh Everett died of a heart attack at his Virginia home in 1982, long before Mark could appreciate his father's professional triumphs and frustrations. "He was a total stranger to me," says Everett, who focused on music where his father focused on science. A man who jokingly concedes he can barely tabulate a restaurant tip, he sets off on a journey to understand the father who traveled a parallel life from his own, and to grapple with his father's radical ideas, in the "Nova" documentary "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives". It airs on PBS oon Tuesday at 9 p.m.
¦ Speaking of parallel lives, Frank Caliendo has a way of tapping into dozens of them with impersonations that range from the worlds of pop culture and entertainment to sports and politics. Returning for its second season, "Frank TV" turns Caliendo loose with his multiple personas, this week including John McCain, Yoda and James Gandolfini. In Caliendo's world, David Letterman is hosting a new show for kids called "Naptime," and Al Gore is at the center of the untold version of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Helpfully, Caliendo identifies for you ahead of time the people he's trying to mimic. Sometimes his sketches are funny. Often not. "Frank TV" airs on Tuesday at midnight.
¦ Edward Asner. Ralph Waite. Rue McClanahan. That should be enough to sell many viewers on "Generation Gap", a Hallmark Channel film starring those seasoned pros, as well as Alex Black ("Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide") as a trouble New York teen sent to spend the summer with his grandfather in the Northern California boonies. Can Col. Bart Cahill (Asner), a tough old bird who fought in the Second World War, whip the lad into shape? Will getting to know his grandson thaw Cahill's hardened heart? No spoiler alerts necessary for this heartwarming film, which also features Catherine Mary Stewart, Charlie McDermott and Danielle Savre. It premieres on Saturday at 10 p.m.
¦ A masterpiece of "boutique TV", AMC's drama "Mad Men" transports its devotees to New York City of the early 1960s for an inside look at the advertising business in its glory days. But it has done much more than become one of TV's weekly standouts. It also launched Golden Globe-winning Jon Hamm, who stars as the dashing but tormented Don Draper. Now Hamm returns to the modern world to host "Saturday Night Live," with musical guest Coldplay. It airs on Saturday at 12.30 a.m. on NBC. The next night (October 26) at 11 p.m., "Mad Men" presents its second-season finale.
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Frazier Moore can be reached at fmoore@ap.org
