TUCKER
CONCEPT Exploring
pubescence with a smart-alecky kid and a nutty family situation.
In other words, Malcolm in the Hormones.
THE SCOOP Says
cocreator Ron Milbauer, ''Once we thought of the situation where
Tucker [star Eli Marienthal] has to move in with his
aunt and his cousin, which of course he doesn't like, a lot of
issues started coming up — like his lack of control, his lack of
privacy.'' Any subplots? ''There's this ongoing thing where he's
trying to get McKenna, the girl next door.'' Two things: That's get as in, um, nail? Plus, Seth Green, the werewolf from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will play McKenna's boyfriend — so Tucker had
better watch for full moons. Says Milbauer, ''Tucker's not always
going to do the right, moral thing.''
BOTTOM LINE Caked with
lines like ''Your Mom's a PIECE!'' and ''I've just seen her hoots!''
this is pure sludge. Uh-oh — Mr. Milbauer, it's Senator Lieberman
on line 1 and Tipper Gore on line 2!
YES, DEAR
CONCEPT Two couples grapple with marriage and kids.
THE SCOOP ''It's a complete yin and yang of how to raise children,'' says
star Anthony Clark. ''Me and my wife [Jean Louisa
Kelly] are overly concerned about everything. Mike O'Malley and
Liza Snyder are like, 'whatever.'''
BOTTOM LINE Just the word we
were going to use to describe the pilot!
DEADLINE
CONCEPT Oliver Platt is a newspaper columnist and
journalism teacher who also solves crimes. And you thought you were multitasking.
THE SCOOP In addition to big-screen fixture
Platt (Indecent Proposal), this Dick Wolf-produced hour boasts
the season's classiest supporting cast, with Lili Taylor playing
a society columnist, Hope Davis as Platt's estranged wife, Bebe
Neuwirth as Platt's editor, and Tom Conti as his publisher. No
wonder NBC picked this thing up without a complete pilot filmed.
As Wolf says: ''What do we have to do with Platt, prove that he's
not going to bump into the furniture?''
BOTTOM LINE If viewers
buy Platt in his omnipresent bow ties and scarves, he could
become a franchise detective — a sort of natty Columbo.
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