Miffed With Critic

I just finished reading your TV Times Fall Preview with Steven Linan’s assessments of the new television season (Oct. 1). Because my husband is a writer-producer on one of ABC’s new comedies, “The Trouble With Normal,” I paid particular attention. When Linan summarily dismissed the show with a three-sentence evaluation, I couldn’t help but be struck, once again, by the ease with which hours and months of hard work, vision, focus, honing, polishing and perfecting can be so quickly pronounced unworthy.

I’ve not only seen the pilot of this show but several subsequent episodes. The audiences are screaming with laughter, the cast is as good an ensemble of comedic actors as you will ever find, and the writing is smart and adult. OK, Linan doesn’t agree. Fair enough, but does he have to be so downright snotty about it?

Just as I was feeling bad for the show, I looked over the rest of the thumbnail reviews and discovered that out of 16 new half-hour shows this season, 14 were, to greater or lesser degrees, pronounced doomed. Yep, Bette, Geena, John Goodman, Michael Richards, Christine Baranski, all “ordinary . . . so-so . . . a wobbly start . . . predictable.” Yikes! Even when shows weren’t available for preview, Linan had something snide to say. What’s up with that?

I hope that audiences are bigger sitcom fans than Linan appears to be. There is a lot of good programming waiting for the chance to grow and flourish. Let’s not pronounce the season stillborn just yet, but if you feel you must, could you at least try to appear less happy to do so?

MARKIE POST

Toluca Lake