Grin and Mayor it STARRING TED DANSON
THERE’S PLENTY OF POTENTIAL FOR THIS NEW POLITICAL COMEDY
TED DANSON is a good enough reason to watch anything – please see Cheers, The Good Place, Curb Your Enthusiasm to name a few.
Whether or not he is enough to hold our attention in this new political comedy remains to be seen.
Written by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, the people responsible for the brilliant 30 Rock, this needs time to bed in if it’s going to reach those same dizzying heights.
But Danson, not to mention Holly Hunter as his co-star, is a good place to start.
The show follows Neil Bremer (Danson), a retired Los Angeles businessman who ran for Mayor as a bit of a lark and then, shockingly, won.
He’s got great ideas and enthusiasm and optimistically sets out to shake up City Hall – but quickly discovers that navigating politics isn’t that simple.
There are opinions to be heard, ribbons to be cut and foods to be eaten.
In fact, it’s mainly photo
shoots and animal funerals, with the odd protest to avoid.
In a style that feels like 30 Rock and Veep, the best scenes see Mr. Mayor stalking the corridors of City Hall, while a frantic team chatters around him doing damage control.
“Please don’t try to speak Spanish again.” “Take off your watch, it’s too elitist.”
The main joke seems to be
Mr. Mayor coming up against woke culture, with the opening episode featuring rows over plastic straws and coyote rights.
Meanwhile, his teenage daughter Orla (Kyla Kenedy) wants to topple the patriarchy, and there’s further conflict with a local activist (Hunter).
An up-to-the-minute satire with potential.