“Bram And Alice” [ ]
Sunday night at 8 on WCBS/Ch. 2
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THE whole idea of “Bram And Alice” sounded so smarmy I knew I’d hate it. Since I’m not – repeat not – Miss Cleo, I was wrong.
It is not smarmy and it is funny.
The premise just sounds creepy: A young woman desperate to become a writer moves to NYC and discovers that her real father is actually a famous, boozing, womanizing writer.
They meet; he thinks she’s someone he once slept with and immediately hits on her.
Now if that premise isn’t enough to make you give up on television, I don’t know what is.
However, the way the writers (yes, Virginia there is such a thing as writers in Hollywood) handle it, it works. In fact, the way the actors handle it-Bram is Alfred Molina, and Alice is Traylor Howard-make it work even better.
In the first episode, Alice finds out from her mom that her real dad isn’t her dead father – it’s Bram Shepherd, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who’d rather booze it up and sleep around than write anymore.
She goes to see him and, yes, he thinks she’s someone who he once must have had a one-night stand with and has forgotten about. When she starts talking about “his child” he thinks she’s pregnant and freaks out.
I know, I know, it sounds awful – but somehow it’s not.
Into the mix are some really good characters: Michael, the bartender/former Catholic priest (Michael Rispoli) who works in the bar on the ground floor of Bram’s building (it looks like Café Des Artiste); Bram’s assistant-who-never-gets-paid and has the unfortunate name of Paul Newman (Roger Bart); and a very New York character, Katie (Katie Finneran).
You know her-she’s the woman who lives in your building, dresses in hugely expensive clothes, doesn’t seem to work, and has a mysterious Japanese boyfriend.
There’s a Katie in every building, and there’s always a mysterious boyfriend who’s never American!
They are all very good-I especially love Alice’s mom (Catherine O’Hara), who isn’t, but should definitely be a regular on the series.
I like it enough to watch it on my own time for at least the next few weeks.
For once, they got New York right. Well, at least the characters.
