Good ‘Girls’
‘Mystery’ finds fun with improved Spelling
JUST WEEKS after she launched a bizarre low-rent reality show to cash in on her divorce rumors, Tori Spelling resurfaces in a sitcom that’s a lot more fun.
Hey, at least in this case we know upfront it’s all scripted.
Spelling is paired with Jennie Garth as they play two women who co-starred 15 years earlier in a hit TV show called “Mystery Girls.”
Garth’s Charlie Contour has moved on. She’s happily married with two kids.
Spelling’s Holly Hamilton has stood still. She sits around crying at the memory of her glory days.
Then a young fellow, Nick (Miguel Pinzon), witnesses a crime and tells police he will talk only to the Mystery Girls, because that’s his favorite show. Seriously? Of course not. Nothing here is serious, which is the whole point. “Goofy” is what the producers and creators, who include Spelling and Garth, are selling.
Once Nick has brought the Girls back together, we realize they’re estranged. We also figure we know why, since Holly would drive anybody nuts.
That makes Charlie the sane one — except, oops, she has some repressed neuroses of her own.
It’s pretty cartoonish, at times downright silly. Meanwhile, Spelling and Pinzon launch a friendly competition to see who can top whom in overacting.
But none of that is a problem. It’s the goal. “Mystery Girls” is tongue-in-cheek fun where we’re all in on the gag.
How long it can be sustained is the question. But for now, at the very least, it’s a much better look for Tori Spelling.