Debi Mazar's Temporarily Yourshas a promising premise. As a temp, Mazar's Deb DeAngelo gets a new job every week, which should help prevent the ''sit'' in this ''com'' from growing stale. Mazar exudes an appealing earthiness, and she's backed up by a game cast, including Love and War vet Joanna Gleason as her boss, Seth Green (a sly presence ever since he played Woody Allen's young alter ego in Radio Days) as Gleason's son, and Saverio Guerra (EZ Streets snitch Sammy Feathers) as Deb's sleazebag landlord.
What Temporarily lacks are gags as sharp as its stars. The punchlines are often groaningly predictable: Sent to do makeup on corpses, Deb cracks, ''You can almost smell the excitement in the air — or something.'' (Couldn't you just die!) Going out on a date with a highbrow Brit, Deb quips, ''He's got so much class, he doesn't go to the bathroom, he goes to the loo.'' (Quit it before my sides split!)
The cast renders this limp material watchable. Mazar's outer-borough chumminess contrasts well with Gleason's WASPy chilliness. While it's no gem, the show fits better with The Nanny than did Rhea Perlman's tarnished Pearl. But if Mazar wants more than a temporary presence on CBS, she might want to call in a few temps herself — to replace the show's writers.
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.