The flashy girl from Flushing - oh, the memories! - is back. Well, sort of.
Indeed, the lady is Fran, with the same bubbliness, charisma and fantastic voice. The laugh is still the highly nasal yet oddly loveable squawking. But Fran Drescher is no longer Fran Fine.
In the new WB Series, "Living with Fran," she portrays Fran Reeves, a middle-aged woman living with a 20-something son who dropped out of medical school and a 15-year-old daughter experiencing all the joys of adolescence. She also has a 26-year-old hunky, blonde live-in boyfriend.
Despite the fact that son and hubby are practically the same age, Fran is determined to make the most out of her life and overcome the whole "untraditional family" dilemma.
In the pilot episode, we meet Josh, Fran's med school-drop-out son, who has unexpectedly arrived at the house only to discover the whole mom-living-with-a-26-year-old situation. (Fran had forgotten, of course, to mention the newest addition to the family.) The initial episode revolves around the tension between son Josh (Ben Feldman) and beau Riley (Ryan McPartlin).
Feldman is actually oddly charming as Josh: erratic, a bit impulsive and rather confounded by the odd turn of events. He manages to be funny without appearing overly irritated, and this allows us to like him despite the fact that he is going through a low point in his life.
The breakthrough performance by Misti Traya as sister Allison Reeves is another pleasant surprise; she brings a refreshing twist to a traditional "angsty teen" role. Allison is cynical but lighthearted all at once; she is amusing while poking fun at her brother, and shares a wit and a temperament with her mom. Both kids manage to capture a bit of Fran in their own personalities, too, and the family resemblance adds to the cast's cohesiveness.
Riley, on the other hand, appears to be a typical jock until he shows an unexpected sensitive side when he tries to get along with Josh for Fran's sake. Apparently, the writers want to make Riley a bit more deep than simply Fran's "goy-toy," as Josh calls him. As a result, Riley comes across as wishy-washy and difficult to pinpoint.
Is he a very intelligent man simply in love with an older woman? Is he a kid at heart that landed a 'sweet deal'? How genuine is their actual relationship? Who is actually the comic personality here? At this point, it is hard to tell because McPartlin acts a bit artificially.
The show is certainly lighthearted and provides audience members with many funny moments; if anything, this is due to the supporting characters' interactions with Fran. Drescher completely and entirely carries the show on her shoulders, making (some) viewers nostalgic for her "Nanny" years. It is difficult not to picture her as the infamous housekeeper, since the two characters are completely alike in mannerisms, and it seems that at any moment a feisty butler might appear.
But "Living with Fran" is most certainly not "The Nanny" (despite a forecasted appearance of Drescher's former co-star, Charles Shaughnessy, as the ex-husband in an upcoming episode). It has the same heroine, but lacks the wit and the multilayered social and cultural commentary that marked the latter through six seasons.
In "Living with Fran," age difference jokes certainly grind the ear for the first fifteen minutes. The show deals with combating the stereotypical norms of post-divorce families and the humor that can result from doing this. Of course, Drescher is much older, but she still has the capability to capture our attention with her annoying-yet-amazing laugh and contagious smile.
With a character that is identical to one from her former hit, Fran still shines as the star but the writing has a long way to
go to catch up with the
character.
Yet there is still something charming about this quirky show, perhaps embodied by the well-cast, slightly-eccentric acting team and the colorful gestures and sets.
