After a mere three episodes, Fox has opted to yank “The Return of Jezebel James,” the sitcom created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (“Gilmore Girls”).
Although Sherman-Palladino’s skillful dialogue-writing abilities are well-documented, even stars Parker Posey, Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”), and Dianne Wiest couldn’t save this thing…mostly because it was saddled with a God-awful laugh track which never gave the rhythm of Sherman-Palladino’s writing an opportunity to breathe nor Posey a chance to really let loose. The chemistry between Posey and Ambrose was more than acceptable, but, honestly, I can’t tell you how Wiest fit into the proceedings because she didn’t appear in either of the episodes on the screener that had been sent out by Fox, and neither of those episodes were funny enough to inspire me to try and seek out the show in its regular timeslot. But don’t ask me when that timeslot was, because I didn’t bother to look for that, either.
Yes, it was just that disappointing…and this is coming from someone who owns every single season of “Gilmore Girls.” If this experience doesn’t sour Sherman-Palladino on television, I’ll still be curious to see what she produces in the future, but what I’m really curious about is what she’ll have to say about why “The Return of Jezebel James” went so horribly wrong.
