Harry Anderson (Night Court) stars as Dave Barry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist/author who injects some Baby Boomer angst into his Bombeck-esque Miami newspaper columns musing on family life in the suburbs. A child of the ‘60s, Barry states in the auspicious pilot episode, “Someone has to be the grownups. Now, it's our turn.” But the writer, whose philosophy is that “life should be fun,” is actually more prone to connecting with his inner child. Barry's wife, Beth (DeLane Matthews), would like him to be the responsible one for a change (she's a solid sounding board for her husband's comic riffs, but lands some good jokes as well, as when she points out that naming a team the Miami Heat after the city's worst feature is like naming a team the Dallas Book Depositories). The Barrys have two sons (in real life, Barry has a son and a daughter) who are more natural and less precocious than their sitcom brethren. As Barry's friends, Meshach Taylor (Designing Women) and Shadoe Stevens don't bring much to the table, but coworker J.C. Wendel has a charming Teri Garr-like screwball quality. The 23 episodes from the 1993-94 first season took their inspiration directly from Dave Barry's Greatest Hits and Dave Barry Turns 40, deftly mixing comical situations with “misty-eyed” voiceover reflections from Barry on his blunder-years epiphanies (look for the real Dave Barry in a cameo in the episode “Heat Wave” as a man buying an air conditioner). Although never a Top Ten series, Dave's World did run for four seasons. Optional. (D. Liebenson)
Dave's World: The First Season
Paramount, 3 discs, 546 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 November 10, 2008
Dave's World: The First Season
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