TV Reviews : ‘Show’ Offers Twist on Ethnic Comedies

Even though ethnic comedy is hardly cutting edge, a series humorously tapping distrust between blacks and whites is an idea with merit. Like so much of what Fox does, however, “The Show” buckles under its own excess.

Tom Delaney (Sam Seder) is a “corny white guy” who leaves a writing job with Jay Leno to become head writer for “The Wilson Lee Show,” an all-black variety series with an all-black staff. Lee (Mystro Clark) has hired Delaney to help him increase his white audience, but most of the staff do not take kindly to having a white boss, and immediately he’s an outsider.

One of Lee’s black cronies labels Delaney a “Pillsbury Dough Boy” and demands to know, “Yo, man, watchu bring a punk in here fur?”

The slur is returned by a white friend hired by Delaney to help him on the show. “We are behind enemy lines!” he shouts in a panic during the premiere’s funniest sequence.

Unfortunately, the ethnic conflicts wear thin well before the final credits, raising the question of just how long “The Show” can sustain its premise. The executive producers here are John Bowman and Matt Wickline. In a sense, the premiere is a microcosm of the previous Fox series on which they worked, “In Living Color” and “Martin.” At times funny, more times over the top.

* “The Show” premieres Sunday at 8:30 p.m. on Fox (Channel 11).