Type of Series: Sit-Com;

    Similar Shows: Hmm. I can't think of any exact duplicates. Grace Under Fire, maybe. Besides, apart from her son being around it seems to play like any dumb sit-com you've ever seen.

    Typical Episode: Dunno. This was my first episode.

    Here in Ireland, Jesse airs Monday nights at 8. Scheduled against (first) Deep Space Nine and (now) Voyager.

    I work Monday nights.

    And I don't tape Jesse!!!

    The Inner Light:

    Strengths: Applegate. Thanks to her starring role on Married… With Children, she has a decade of sit-com experience. And it shows. She's confident.

    More than anyone, though, she reminded me of Jennifer Aniston, in her delivery of the lines. To her credit, I wasn't thinking of Kelly Bundy at all. Remarkable really, when you consider that I've spent a third of my life watching her play that role.

    Weaknesses: The script.

    The story of tonight's episode was that Jesse's romantic interest was painting a nude model and Jesse was jealous.

    But none of it was funny. The one-liners were flat, and situations weren't making me laugh. (A stark contrast with That 70's Show - a half-hour later - which had me in stitches from start to finish.)

    Impressive Characters:

    Impressive Actors: Applegate. She's very good. Very talented.

    Impressive Episodes: Not this one, that's for sure!!

    Impressive Writers:

    Less-Than-Impressive Characters: Jesse's two friends play like stock sit-com characters. It's must be a rule somewhere that every sit-com heroine has to have a friend who sleeps around a lot. Which, naturally, opens up the possibility for loads and loads of "truly hilarious" dialogue. Yeah, well, it's tired and stupid and somewhat insulting to the intelligence of the viewing public.

    Jesse's two best friends teased each other about the large number of men they sleep with.

    Which, to my mind as a first-time-viewer, made them interchangeable and boring.

    If any of this had been funny, it might have helped.

    But, it wasn't and it didn't.

    Less-Than-Impressive Actors:

    Less-Than-Impressive Episodes: This one.

    Less-Than-Impressive Writers: Kevin Bright, David Crane and Marta Kauffman (of Friends, Veronica's Closet and Dream On) are the executive producers. Ira Ungerleider (of Friends) is the executive producer/writer. But, this is a far cry from the splendour of Friends.

    Continuity: I presume the relationship between Jesse and Diego advances from week-to-week.

    Episode Guide: The Episode Guide Pages is a great place to go for Episode Guides.

    Reviews:

    Other Info:

    Miscellaneous Comments:    Monday, 03 May 1999

    This was my first time to see Jesse.

    Since Christmas I've been teaching class on Monday nights, when TV looks like this:

    So I've been taping Sky One. The toughest part of this has been missing out on Friends. I'm a huge fan of the show. I've seen the early part of the season (and it was as brilliant as ever). Luckily, I'll be able to borrow the rest of the season from a friend, so I will see them. Eventually.

    Next toughest is missing out on That 70's Show. I managed to see the second episode, and it was hilarious. Tonight, I saw another one. And it was also superb. So, after only two episodes I like the show a lot and would love to see more.

    Missing The Fast Show is no problem. This is a modern TV classic. It will be on again and again and again. I will get to see them.

    I saw a few episodes of Veronica's Closet when it started, thought it was dreadful and wouldn't watch it even if I could.

    Which leaves Jesse.

    Which is actually quite bad. Now that I've actually seen it, I won't worry if I never see it again.

GRADE: C+

Review by Michael Leddy

Comments are welcome: rikerdonegal@hotmail.com

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