TCA Press tour wrap-up: Winners and Losers - From 'Jersey Shore' to Conan
Why 'Boardwalk Empire' and Matt LeBlanc were winners and 'S#*! My Dad Says' and David Schwimmer were losers
Loser: FOX's 'Raising Hope,' for letting Cloris Leachman loose
It's never a good sign when the talent on a comedy panel attempt to railroad an entire session with failed attempts to be funny. ABC's "Happy Endings" was one show where a critic had to pause and ask a floundering, ad-libbing actor if a real answer was forthcoming.
But no panel was a badly railroaded as FOX's half-hour for "Raising Hope," which became "The Cloris Leachman Variety Show." With her Oscar and mantle full of Emmys, Leachman has earned the right to do whatever she wants and so she did. She mugged, swapped seats, interrupted her co-stars and inquisitive reporters and basically did whatever she could to make the panel all about her.
Greg Garcia might have preferred to use the time to remind the various reporters why we liked him so much during the early years of "My Name Is Earl." "Raising Hope" was the sort of show that needed a good sell to the press, rather than the unseemly distractions of an 84-year-old industry legend.
Photo Credit: Matt Sayles/AP
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