'Hated it!' Wayans and Grier fall short

Courtesy of Fox Damon Wayans gets his own eponymous sitcom on Fox this Sunday.

It might seem obvious, but the primary objective of a sitcom is to be funny. "Damon" falls far short of this mark and lands right on its face.

Fans of the groundbreaking "In Living Color" will have high expectations for this series, since it reunites alumni Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier. But the magic the pair had in their "Men On ..." sketch never manifests itself on "Damon." Whereas Wayans and Grier had fun, original material on "In Living Color," they are given nothing to work with on "Damon."

For example, at one point, Damon quips, "I don't like doctors. I don't even drink Dr. Pepper." The show is just that funny, folks.

The premise revolves around Wayans, who plays an undercover detective named Damon (originality just abounds on this series). Every week he disguises himself as a different character in order to catch the crook. But the characters he creates do not get any laughs, except from the overused laugh track. In the pilot episode, Damon goes undercover not once, but twice, to catch a high-class pimp. The first time he dresses up as a low-class pimp talking about his "bitches;" the second time he's an old man looking to be fondled. One of the only funny parts of the pilot comes when Wayans, disguised as the old man, asks if he can get his salad tossed for $1,000.

REVIEW
	Damon Fox Sundays at 8:30 p.m. 1 star

More disturbing than the lack of humor, however, is the show's misogynist streak. Not only does "Damon" consider sexual harassment funny, but it's a natural and integral part of the work environment. Maybe that would be easy to overlook if the show had merit as a comedy. Then this moral hiccup could seem satirical. Alas, "Damon" is reduced to one-liners like "Women speak estrogen-ese."

The only bright spots that emerge from the rubble of first two episodes are Grier and Dom Irrera. Grier plays Damon's rent-a-cop older brother who moves in with Damon after his wife kicks him out.

While most of Grier's lines are simply not funny, his physical comedy and sense of timing make them worthy of a laugh - Grier creates comedy where there is none, which is far better than "Damon" deserves.

The talented Irrera gets almost all of the funny lines, but is in the pilot for a couple of minutes and no more than five in the second episode.

Courtesy of Fox The cast members of "Damon" wallow in their dead-end jobs.

Two of the second episode's funniest moments come from Irrera. At one point, Irrera comments that if he had $150,000, he would buy so much pornography that no one would ever see him again. Later, when waiting to see a doctor, Irrera reads the children's magazine "Highlights" and worries that the editors are screwing with his head when he can only find six of the nine rabbits hidden on the page.

Aside from the lack of laughs, "Damon" has a large supporting cast that is hardly ever seen. This is unfortunate since most of the supporting cast are funnier than Wayans. Andrea Martin plays the tough-as-nails captain, which begs the question, can a woman play a strong, determined character without coming off as a bitch?

"Damon" does not think so. Rounding out the cast are Melissa De Sousa (was she even in the second episode?) who is the latina sexpot, Julio Oscar Mechoso (totally unnoticeable), and Greg Pitts who acts like a stoner frat boy, despite the fact he is a cop (only some of the non sequiturs at work).

The best thing for "Damon" to do would be hire writers who know what their doing, or die a quick, quiet death.

03-20-98