Davis breaks little new ground in ABC comedy

By Jennifer Fogel

Daily TV/New Media Editor

Teddie Cochran (Geena Davis, "Thelma & Louise") is a glamorous, New York career woman who falls in love with the man of her dreams, gets engaged and is thrust into the trials and tribulations of family life. The "Brady Bunch" this isn't.

ABC's new "romantic comedy" "The Geena Davis Show" showcases Davis as the anti-Donna Reed. She can't cook or clean, but she can juggle political caucuses and overbearing celebrities. It also seems that Teddie cannot perfect the art of incorporating herself into family life.

After moving in with her new family, she unwisely comes to the breakfast table half-dressed in full view of her puberty-stricken stepson, and fails to grasp the concept of the housekeeper as part of the family (Like Alice to the Bradys). In other words, Teddie is rockin' the boat.

Don't hang out the "Murphy Brown" banner yet. "The Geena Davis Show" is not going to spark a political debate any time soon. Sure, there is comedy, but Davis is no Lucille Ball. Davis relies solely on her Amazon sex appeal and her cast to carry the weight of the sitcom. Teddie's two stepchildren, the emotionally unstable six-year-old Eliza (Makenzie Vega) and thirteen-year-old Carter (John Francis Daley, "Freaks and Geeks"), along with her two single, heavy drinking friends, multiple divorcee Hillary (Mimi Rodgers) and coworker Judy (Kim Coles, "Living Single"), provide many of the shows best moments. It's a shame that A+ talent like Rodgers and Daley are wasted on an overdone sitcom.

Still, you have to give the show points for trying. The show can be witty and fun. Davis in modern superwoman mode is reminiscent of "I Love Lucy" household disasters, but it's hard to imagine Teddie as an evil stepmother - she's too flamboyant. As her fiancee proclaims: "You do chaos with flair."

The same can be said for the show. Eliza and Carter provide the laughs and Hillary and Judy provide the witty slams, but Davis loses the cohesion of the show with her good intentions. Davis tries her best to make "The Geena Davis Show" work, but to use Teddie's words, "I'll leave it alone." Take her advice and skip the family dysfunction. There's enough of it going around.