Good Company

By ADAM SANDLER

CBS, Mon. March 4, 9:30 p.m.

Cast: Jason Beghe, Seymour Cassel, Tim Fall, Lauren Graham, Terry Kiser, Wendie Malick, Elizabeth Ann Smith, John Tenney, Winifred Freedman, Sean Holland.

With little new or interesting to offer, viewers of "Good Company" are likely to resign well before the web pinkslips this unimaginative workplace comedy. Show's failure is even more acute considering its lineage: It was exec produced -- and penned -- by Dan Staley and Rob Long, a pair of executive producers on "Cheers."

Filmed in Los Angeles by Staley/Long Prods. in association with Paramount Network TV. Executive producers, Dan Staley, Rob Long; supervising producers, Bob Keyes, Doug Keyes; producer, Julie Tsutsui; writers, Staley, Long; director, Andy Ackerman; Sitcoms set in the zany world of a Madison Avenue advertising agency historically have not been embraced by viewers, and this offering is further hindered by characters who bear a striking similarity to some well-known Boston barflies.

The agency CEO (Terry Kiser) is a lights-on-but-nobody-home type, while its creative director (Wendie Malick) is a gruff, politically incorrect female who takes verbal potshots at her star art director (Jon Tenney), a kindly sort who has nagging self-doubts and is unsure of what he wants to be when, and if, he grows up.

Series bow introduces Will (Tenney), a career-conflicted art director caught in the tough world of advertising agency politics who is constantly pitted against Zoe (Malick), the conniving creative director who thrives in the corporate minefields.

The show's moral compass is Jack(Seymour Cassel), a gruff, experienced copywriter who offers words of wisdom to the challenged, while using his acumen to circumvent office politics.

The agency's devil incarnate is Ron (Jason Beghe), a cutthroat account executive who apparently lives for a really good back-stabbing.

But none of the show's characters bring anything notable to the conference table, with most playing slightly altered versions of their previous acting assignments.

Malick comes off as the wife of "Dream On's" Martin Tupper, having landed a job; while Kiser is little more than Bernie -- no longer on vacation.

Experienced direction by Andy Ackerman and some good lines by scribes Staley and Long assist Cassel and Beghe in shining with their more substantive characters. But as a whole, the sitcom fails to connect on almost any level.

Camera, Frank Raymond; production designer, Dahl Delu; editor, Robert Souders; sound, Russ Gary; music, Jean-Christopher Beck. 30 MIN.

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