Just Shoot Me: Seasons One and Two

For a brief and shining moment (two seasons), Just Shoot Me looked to be another jewel in NBC's stable of sparkling and sophisticated sitcoms that included Friends and Frasier. But juggled timeslots and creative burnout led to the show's unceremonious departure from primetime. As Maya, a serious-minded journalist, Laura San Giacomo anchors a seamless ensemble cast of memorable comic characters, including Jack (George Segal), her estranged father and the publisher of Blush, a fashion magazine; Dennis (a perfectly typecast David Spade), Jack's snide and sarcastic assistant; Nina (Wendie Malick), a hard-living former supermodel; and Elliott (Enrico Colantoni), the publication's womanizing photographer. Driving the abbreviated first season's eight episodes is Maya's conflict in working for her father and the magazine she is determined to elevate. Dumb model jokes aside, the writing is refreshingly smart, with the high point being “My Dinner with Woody,” a perfectly rendered homage in which Maya is romanced by a Woody Allen impersonator (Woody himself, or his voice to be exact, makes a climactic cameo). Recommended. (D. Liebenson)