It' like you know.... March, ABC
Stars: Steven Eckholdt, Jennifer Grey, Chris Eigeman, A.J. Langer, Evan Handler
Why to watch: Are you missing Seinfeld?
Premise: New York attitude clashes with Los Angeles cool as a cynical magazine writer (Eigeman) heads West to condemn the Tinseltown he has never seen. To no one's surprise but his own, he ends up going native, thanks to the influence of some offbeat pals: his good-fortuned and great-looking college roommate (Eckholdt), a quirky trust-fund millionaire named Shrug (Handler) who lost his hair from stress, an actress (Grey of Dirty Dancing, parodying her celebrity status) and a kooky masseuse (My So-Called Life's Langer) (also on Seinfeld as the protege of Banias girlfriend) who freelances as a process server.
They Say: After eight years as a Seinfeld scribe and producer, It's Like creator/executive producer Peter Mehlman is braced for the inevitable comparisons: "I know it's coming, the cracks about 'Hollywood and Vinefeld,' but these people are not as blas� and they are not as vicious to each other." He considers this an ensemble comedy "about six characters: five people and one city." Mehlman, himself a transplanted New Yorker, is proud of Seinfeld-ian wordplay, like, you know, "Bin Laden, done that." He says, "Half the studio audience didn't get that one. I'm trying to get stuff under the radar."
We Say: High on the radar of TV insiders as a potential Next Big Thing, this biting and darkly sunny satire shares comic rhythms and peculiar obsessions with Seinfeld � one conversation is all about where the letter q falls in the alphabet � yet has its own sardonic voice. The device of Grey playing herself, mocking her own plastic surgery and tabloid past, is audaciously successful. Her costars, especially Handler's miserably wealthy hanger-on, are a hoot.