Spade's ' Just Shoot Me' still on target

Couresty of NBC The cast of last year's mid-season "Just Shoot Me" is still drawing viewers.

The Washington Post

What is it about "Just Shoot Me"? NBC's comedy started as a mid-season replacement, but does anyone remember that? Mid-season shows are usually not expected to fare well, as they've been delayed from a fall debut for one reason or another.

Not in this case. "Just Shoot Me" has done so well in its short lifespan -Sept. 22 marked the start of the third season - that NBC moved it into "Frasier's" Tuesday-at-9 timeslot so the latter could step into "Seinfeld's" place on Thursday.

During the summer reruns, "Just Shoot Me" drew more viewers than "Seinfeld" in a temporary move to Thursdays, and outpaced "Frasier" when it moved to Tuesdays on Sept. 15.

Viewers are still finding the show, and when they do, they discover it's genuinely funny. (But not this week - it's pre-empted for baseball playoffs.)

"It was really an incredible year," said "Just Shoot Me" producer Steve Levitan. "We went from barely making it on the air to being the number-one show" in 18-49 adult demographics.

Levitan credits the show's success to a combination of factors, starting with the actors who play the staff of a Cosmopolitan-like magazine.

George Segal plays the sexist editor of Blush magazine; Laura San Giacomo is his intellectual daughter, forced to take a writing job there; David Spade is the office secretary; Wendie Malick is the former supermodel who, despite staying slim, has to work behind the scenes because of her age; and the photographer who dates the models he shoots is Enrico Colantoni. Together they cavort, complain and plan practical jokes, making the offices of Blush the most enjoyable place to work on TV.

But a cast isn't funny without good writing. And "Just Shoot Me's" writers have a lot of TV experience, which is why the series never had the kinks of a rookie show even when it first aired.

"We have a lot of different kinds of people in the writers' room, and we like the stories to reflect everyone's tastes," Levitan said. The writers bring all their story ideas together in a group, which adds to the creativity. "Sometimes we stumble on ideas that are really wacky or poignant, and we go with it."

Beside the solid acting and writing, other incidents have generated buzz that has lured people to give "Just Shoot Me" a shot. Take last season's Woody Allen episode. Allen did a voiceover for a closing scene with San Giacomo's character that proved to be an unexpected bonus.

"We never in a million years thought that he would do that and we didn't have that last part in the show, and then we filmed it and thought it was really special," Levitan recalled. "And someone said, 'Why don't you send it off to him?' And I said he'd never do it."

But Allen did. He taped his lines for the episode where San Giacomo's Maya reveals that Allen is her idea of a dream date, then mailed them in.

Other guest stars have added class as well as comedy. Brian Dennehy played Spade's father, who incorrectly believes his son is gay.

"We really liked that dynamic" between the characters, said Levitan, who has invited Dennehy back for this season.

"Just Shoot Me's" guest stars seem strategically chosen, but Levitan claims that's just good fortune. "We try not to be cast driven. We come up with a funny character and then come up with who would work in it."

Levitan is optimistic about this year. "I think we have wonderful stories planned for the season and they're really funny. And everybody's clicking."

He claimed that the staff doesn't feel pressure to work any harder than they always have, now that they're in the high-profile timeslot formerly held by "Frasier."

It's all in the numbers, he explained. "The 18-to-49 demographics, we've always excelled in those. If you look at the audience we're attracting, we're really hitting a good mark right now ... The show is perhaps more successful than it appears."

That was true from the start, Levitan said. "When we appeared opposite 'Arsenio,' we immediately did well, and people expected us to be crushed."

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