"LateLine" (1998) TV series 1998-1999

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Creator:

Al Franken

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

17 March 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

This sitcom on NBC stars Al Franken as Al Freundlich, a vain reporter for the fictional news program...

Plot Keywords:

Television | Journalism | Satire

Cast

Al Franken	...	Al Freundlich (23 episodes, 1998-1999)
Megyn Price	...	Gale Ingersoll (17 episodes, 1998-1999)
Miguel Ferrer	...	Victor 'Vic' Karp (17 episodes, 1998-1999)
Ajay Naidu	...	Raji Bakshi (17 episodes, 1998-1999)
Sanaa Lathan	...	Briana Gilliam (17 episodes, 1998-1999)
Catherine Lloyd Burns	...	Mona Guillingsvard (17 episodes, 1998-1999)
Robert Foxworth	...	Pearce McKenzie (17 episodes, 1998-1999)

Runtime:

USA:30 min (19 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Markus/Franken Productions

Quotes:

Gale Ingersoll: [they enter the studio, and stand next to the desk Pierce sits in. Andy is, for some reason, clad only in a bathrobe] Pierce should be on his way, but um... In the meantime you guys maybe could rehearse for the cameras?
Conan O'Brien: Yeah, uh, Andy, maybe you should rehearse naked, so the lighting guys can prepare for your glare?
Andy Richter: Okay.
[takes off his bathrobe, revealing that he is wearing very little]
Andy Richter: [explaining to a surprised Gale] Oh, see, the network won't let me work totally naked any more, so I wear a flesh-colored jockstrap, and we'll pixilate out the genital area later.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Perfect Pitch (2002) (TV)

Good, but not great

I grabbed the DVD set of this show, the main selling point being Al Franken. I was expecting a smart show with intelligent scripts and good acting.

The show is not bad. Most of the actors on it do quite well, and the writing is good by sitcom standards. But it has it's problems, mainly the laugh track. I hate them. My opinion on it is that I am smart enough to figure out when there is a joke - I don't need to be told when to laugh.

The other problem is that the show is written to sitcom standards. It doesn't really have any intelligence behind it. The scripting tends towards the silly rather than the smart.

In short, it's not a great show. It's fun, but not good enough to rank in my list of shows that must be watched.