Caroline In The City

Sit-Com about five friends.

Miscellaneous Comments:June 5th, 1998. I've only just discovered the joys of CITC, all thanks to the Paramount Comedy Channel who are currently stripping the show nightly at 8:30 p.m. and 2am. The first couple of times I saw it (some episodes towards the end of Season Two) I wasn't impressed. But it kinda grew on me. And when the pilot came round, I made a point of watching it. That was about two months back, and I've seen basically every episode since, and I love it.
Type of Series:Sit-Com.
Similar Shows: It reminds me a little bit of Almost Perfect and Flying Blind, two of my all-time favourite shows. It's not much like them, though, since they were both about couples in a relationship and this show is about two people who haven't got together yet, and most of the episodes don't even hint at their feelings for one another. CITC is probably closer to The Mary Tyler Moore Show and series of that ilk, in that it's a about a single gal and her wacky friends and her love life.
Strengths: Superb cast, funny scripts, likable characters, an endless supply of big name guest stars. The central set-up (A starving artist is forced to take work with a cartoonist) is an ideal sit-com situation. She needs a colourist. He needs a job. They are very mis-matched. It's perfect, and probably writes itself. Fact is, you could ditch the other three and Richard and Caroline would sustain the show, no problem.
Weaknesses: Strictly speaking, Del and Charlie serve no purpose within the show. Del and Caroline broke up, and Del is too shallow to be anybody's friend, therefore there's really no reason for him to hang around with Caroline and co. Charlie is in a similar situation. He started out as a minor character, now he's an integral part of every episode. But it can lend the show a schizophrenic feel, since Del and Charlie often have seperate adventures, totally unconnected to the other characters (they hire a wacko secretary, or try a Single's Night, or something). However, both actors are so good it would be crazy to write them out, so the writers seem to have decided to keep 'em around, even though I imagine it's sometimes hard to figure out what to do with them.
Impressive Characters: Richard, the depressive colourist, is the shows big strength. Likewise Charlie, the off-kilter message-boy, steals all his scenes.
Impressive Actors:Malcolm Gets is perfect as Richard, and Andy Lauer made the role of Charlie what it is. Above all, Lea Thompson deserves a lot of credit. As written, there's nothing particularly special about Caroline the character, and she could easily come across as bland and get swamped by the others. But Thompson is so cute, and so funny, and so likable that she makes Caroline as compelling as the others.
Impressive Episodes:"Caroline and the Cereal"; "Caroline and the Wedding"; "Caroline and the Proposal"; "Caroline and the Condom"; "Caroline and the Younger Man"; "Caroline and the Letter" and "Caroline and the Dearly Departed" are seven that spring to mind. In some case it was the guest stars that made the episodes great (Sharon Lawrence, Vicki Lewis and David Hyde Pierce turned in three amazing performances). In some cases it was the on-going will-they/won't-they nearly-romance between Caroline and Richard that did it. And sometimes, it was just a drop-dead funny episode.
Impressive Writers/Directors: James Burrows directs a lot of the episodes. Fred Barron, Marco Pennette and Dottie Dartland are three notable names from the credits.
Less-Than-Impressive Characters:
Less-Than-Impressive Actors:
Less-Than-Impressive Episodes:
Less-Than-Impressive Writers:
Continuity: With regard to the love-life of Caroline (from Del to Joe, and her awakening feelings for Richard) the continuity is very strong. However, in common with The X-Files, the show often goes for several episodes without changing anything in the set-up, without advancing the "mythology". This must bug fans of the romance angle, but for me (watching it every night at 2am) the pace of the romance arc is moving along swiftly. Thanks to Paramount I should have seen all three seasons by the end of Summer, so come next Autumn I might be pulling my hair out, big time!!! (I am a real sucker for these on-going sit-com romances.)
Episode Guide: Russell Wodell maintains an excellent Caroline In The City guide here.
Reviews:
Other Info:
Three Things I Really Like About This Series:
  • The Cast.
  • The fact that Del and Charlie are full regulars every week. It would have been absolutely crazy to write them out.
  • Remo, the owner of the restaurant where they all hang out. Tom LaGrua is a long-time favourite of mine.
    Three Things I Really Don't Like About This Series:
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    GRADE: B+

    Comments are welcome: rikerdonegal@hotmail.com

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