'A Minute With Stan Hooper': Best sitcom of the season
"A Minute With Stan Hooper" is funny. Very funny. It is probably the best new sitcom to air this season.
The show stars "Saturday Night Live" alum Norm Macdonald as Stan Hooper, a television personality who has found fame providing "real stories about real people" in America's heartland on the national news show "Newsline." There's only one problem. Stan feels like a fraud talking about the American dream while he sits in a fake leather
chair, in a fake room on the set of his show. The dog who patiently sits at his feet isn't even his own.
Stan decides to move his home, and his television segment, to the small town of Waterford Falls, Wis. He and his wife, Molly (Penelope Ann Miller), passed through the town on their honeymoon years ago. The picturesque village by the river provides many romantic memories for the pair. Once they meet the residents though, their opinions may change.
"I hope my being a celebrity won't ruin these people," says Stan. "I want to be a simple man."
"Newsline" airs opposite the Wisconsin Farm Report.
"No wonder no one's seen it," says Pete Peterson (Daniel Roebuck), the owner of the local diner.
Pete also doubles as the town's real estate agent. He shows Stan and Molly their dream home, a large Victorian house. Stan is shocked they can rent the fully furnished home for $500 a month for five to 10 years while the owner is in prison. The home also comes equipped with a butler named Gary (Brian Howe).
Gary is a quiet but formidable man, who forces his new boss to drink tea and yells at Stan if he tries to open the front door for guests.
Stan finds himself surrounded by other colorful characters, including Ryan (Eric Lively), a young man who desperately wants to be a film director. Ryan's girlfriend is the beautiful, but dimwitted, Chelsea (Reagan Dale Neis), who waitresses for the Peterson boys at the diner.
Fred Hawkins (Fred Willard) is Ryan's father, who insists that Ryan work in the family cheese factory. Fred is quite distraught to hear that Stan has hired Ryan to be his cameraman.
"I want you to tell Ryan he doesn't have any talent," Fred tells Stan. "I want you to crush his dreams once and for all."
When Stan refuses, Fred kicks Ryan out of the Hawkins family home. Molly offers Ryan a place to stay, insuring that Stan will not have the peaceful, simple life he desires.
"I don't know how any of this is happening. I came here to live a simple life," yells Stan.
"A Minute With Stan Hooper" will remind viewers of Bob Newhart's television series. Like Newhart, Stan is the average guy surrounded by crazy people. Although after awhile, you can't help but question if he isn't the one who is crazy.
