What I Like About You

What I Like About You


Date: Friday, September 20 2002

Promotional pictures for this comedy about two sisters show Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth beaming at each other. Make no mistake, though, this is Bynes' show. She's the one who had the pilot commitment, she's the one with the tween-age Nickelodeon following, and she's the one whose comedy -- a blend of pratfall shtick and gags that land on the ear like jackhammers -- sets the tone for the show.


The time period occupied by "What I Like About You" had been the time period for "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," so maybe tradition has something to do with the fact that this is yet another show with prepubescent appeal -- long on cuteness and exaggerated facial expressions and short on wit, style or substance. This is precisely the kind of sitcom that makes millions of people believe they, too, could write them, if given half a chance. And they're probably right. And what is one to think about the laughter emanating from the studio audience? It's hard to escape the suspicion that things were happening at the taping that should have been outlawed by the Geneva conventions.

Bynes plays 16-year-old Holly, who learns from her dad (guest star Peter Scolari) that they are about to move to Japan so he can accept yet another promotion. While he gets things settled there, she is to spend a week in New York with her older sister, Valerie (Garth), who operates a small public relations firm. Holly's plan is to persuade Valerie to let her move in with her. Predictably, Holly makes a mess of Valerie's life and her career before, even more predictably, she's allowed to stay.

Garth plays Valerie as though on a helium overdose. Giddy to the point of distraction, Garth never quite figures out how to respond to the awful lines exploding like water balloons all around her. Things will only get harder for Garth. In the pilot, at least she didn't have to worry about concealing a pregnancy with a December due date.

Also in the cast are Simon Rex, who plays Valerie's boyfriend, Jeff, a character utterly bleached of any personality. Finally, there's Wesley Jonathan, who plays Holly's friend, Gary, whose crush on Valerie is as pathetic as it is inexplicable.

The director of the pilot is Gary Halvorson, but, given Bynes' huge influence on the project and its being weighted down with the clunkiest of gags, it's hard to gauge the true extent of his culpability.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU
The WB Network
Tollin/Robbins Prods.
in association with Warner Bros. Television
Credits:
Executive producers: Wil Calhoun, Dan Schneider, Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin, Joe Davola
Co-executive producer: Michael Goldman
Producer: Drew Brown
Creators-writers: Wil Calhoun, Dan Schneider
Director: Gary Halvorson
Director of photography: Wayne Kennan
Editor: Marc Lamphear
Music: Jonathon Wolff, Scott Clausen
Set decorator: Greg Grande
Art director: John Shaffner
Casting: Julie Mossberg, Jill Anthony
Cast:
Holly: Amanda Bynes
Valerie: Jennie Garth
Jeff: Simon Rex
Gary: Wesley Jonathan
Dad: Peter Scolari
Tony Hawk: Himself