When Marty and Hannah Become Intimate...

Whether best friends should become lovers is an age-old dilemma, but the success of a TV show may be riding on its outcome. For two seasons on the ABC sitcom “Anything but Love”--which was canceled last season but was brought back last week as a mid-season replacement--Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis were buddy old pals.

But unlike such tempestuous TV couples as Sam and Diane on “Cheers” or David and Maddie on “Moonlighting,” Hannah and Marty’s hidden desire on “Anything but Love” wasn’t exactly boiling over. It was more or less stewing over medium heat.

“I think all those other shows, the cornerstone of those shows, was this sexual dynamic,” Curtis said, sitting across from Lewis in a stage dressing room between takes. “That was something Hannah and Marty never had. We were friends. We weren’t sexual dualists.”

“Speak for yourself,” Lewis countered. “I was in bed with you after the second episode.”

“But we weren’t sexual ,” Curtis reassured him, patting his hand. “Just watch the shows. We weren’t, honey.”

The producers of “Anything but Love” felt the time was right to get the two together--if for no other reason than this might be their last chance. The sitcom, hailed as a critical success with a loyal core of fans, was nonetheless canceled last season because of low ratings. Only a relentless campaign by one of the show’s producers prompted ABC to pick up the series for nine episodes to replace the fall dud “Married People.”

“This is such an odd business,” executive producer Peter Noah said. “We were canceled with a rating that represented 11 million people every week. This is the only communications business where you can be deemed a failure for reaching 11 million people on a weekly basis. And if we could nudge that up to 12 million this time around, I think we’ll be a big hit.”

For the 230 million Americans who didn’t tune in every week: “Anything But Love” takes place at the fictional Chicago Weekly magazine. Curtis plays Hannah Miller, a plucky career woman. Marty Gold, the magazine’s star writer, is as openly Jewish and neurotic as is Lewis, the comedian who plays him. Bruce Weitz, best known as Det. Mick Belker on “Hill Street Blues,” has been added to the cast as a “regular guy” columnist. His presence is intended to inject a beef-and-barley male perspective in the show, which has a large female following.

Weitz, whose character introduced himself last week by warning “woe to the man who tries to fax with me,” suggested that perhaps the series’ relationships in the past were too chic. “I think most of the people outside the Los Angeles area and the New York metropolitan area are a little more simple in their ways, and a little less concerned with sophistication than we are out here,” he said.

But the real key to success will be how audiences respond to Hannah and Marty in love.

“I always lobbied for us to get together as early as possible,” Lewis said. “And I’m happy that it’s happening earlier on. Because I always felt that Jamie and I had this really unique chemistry together as actors, and I couldn’t wait to show that passion on the screen.”

“See, and I disagree with him only in one place,” Curtis said. “I never thought Hannah and Marty had passion. I thought what they had was--”

“Thanks,” Lewis interrupted. “That’s why I’m in therapy 15 hours a week.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Curtis said.

“Even TV characters reject me,” Lewis bemoaned. “I go to the same counselor Bart Simpson goes to.”

“Oh, shut up,” Curtis said.

In an earlier interview with Noah, he said: “Last year when the question was put, ‘Did we want to get them together?’ the feeling here was that it was not something we wanted to rush into. We thought there was value in this notion of two best friends who are attracted to one another but decide because of the value of the friendship not to pursue a romantic relationship. That seemed interesting to us.”

But it wasn’t that interesting to most viewers, according to ABC research, which found that people were somewhat confused as to what the show was about. “I think this notion of best friends who don’t want to risk the friendship through romance was a little obscure to them,” Noah explained.

Audience research played a big part in “Anything but Love” once before. The original 1989 pilot had Curtis in a love triangle. But ABC brass balked after negative audience tests. The pilot was scrapped and reshot.

“We felt bringing together Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis as a romantic couple would take care of some of the questions audiences had with the show, and that proved to be the case,” said Ted Harbert, ABC executive vice president of prime-time, about the most recent changes. “We tested one new episode and the testing was terrific. The audience liked having Jamie and Richard together, and really seemed to respond to the Bruce Weitz character.”

Janice Hirsch, also an executive producer, is glad that the changes have been received positively at ABC. But she doesn’t put much stock in audience research. “Every show with an orphan tests through the roof,” she said. “Because how is an audience going to respond to a bunch of orphans but to say, ‘God bless them. I love them,’ which is your normal reaction. It’s different than, ‘Do you want to watch this show every week?’ ”

But still, Noah and Hirsch feel that the time is right for Marty and Hannah to do the wild thing, which is scheduled to happen in the fourth episode. Now, they just hope ABC will go with the show long enough to find out what American audiences think, as opposed to research audiences.

“I’ll never forget last December at Carnegie Hall,” Lewis said, “I had 30 cab drivers out of 30 assault me and ask me, ‘When are you going to get it on with Jamie Lee Curtis!’ ”

“Anything But Love” airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.