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ROOKIE? Only on a technicality. The actress playing Cybill's hilariously bombastic rich bitch, Maryann, arrived in Hollywood last season with a scrapbook of raves (and two Tonys) for stage work as sparkling as one of Maryann's Cartier bracelets. Yet now, at 43, the new girl in sitcomville has finally won mass applause -- not to mention an Emmy. Playing a dastardly divorcee addicted to gin fizz and revenge (''If I had a nickel for every time my ex-husband couldn't perform...well, actually I do''), Baranski gives a performance that's trimmed in sadness and accessorized with ribald style. ''Chanel, Versace, Lacroix -- she's very haute couture,'' says Baranski of her character. ''But when she's funky, she's very funky.'' Even in the long shadow of Ab Fab, Baranski makes Maryann -- the year's most likely spin-off candidate -- seem like the real thing.


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Posted Dec 29, 1995 | Published in issue #307-308 Dec 29, 1995 | Order Article Reprints