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From Entertainment Weekly
Jeers Lucy
The WB calls Tori Spelling the next Lucille Ball. But comparisons to the late, great comic often signal disaster -- or desperation
OH TORI! Spelling's recent comic turns have prompted comparisons to Lucille Ball by Josh Wolk
When the WB announced that it was in talks to develop a ''Laverne & Shirley'' type buddy sitcom with Tori Spelling, WB entertainment president Suzanne Daniels paid Tori the ultimate comic compliment: ''People are always talking about finding the next Lucy,'' Daniels told Variety. ''I thought [Tori] had some of Lucy's qualities. That's when we started chasing her.'' But when producers and directors start calling an actress ''the next Lucy,'' it's often a sign of trouble. Check out PBS' documentary about the original red haired comedienne, ''Finding Lucy'' (part of its American Masters series, airing Dec. 6) and then you, too, can judge whether these latter day Lucys make the grade.
Ellen DeGeneres
THE PROJECT ''Mr. Wrong'' (1996)
THE COMMENT ''I see her as the next Lucy,'' says Joe Roth,
chairman of Disney, which produced the film (Ladies Home
Journal, May 1995).
''WAAAH!''T HAPPENED Yep, it's bad. Final gross: $12.8
million
Jenna Elfman
THE PROJECT ''Krippendorf's Tribe'' (1998)
THE COMMENT ''She is the first person in 20 years I can
honestly compare to Lucille Ball,'' says costar Richard
Dreyfuss (Chicago Sun-Times, Feb. 22).
''WAAAH!''T HAPPENED Anthropologists hope future
generations don't judge us by it; grossed $7.5 million
Téa Leoni
THE PROJECT ABC's and NBC's ''The Naked Truth'' (1995)
THE COMMENT ''I really think Téa is the Lucille Ball of the
'90s,'' says Mary Tyler Moore, her costar in ''Flirting
with Disaster'' (Toronto Sun, April 2, 1996).
''WAAAH!''T HAPPENED After three struggling seasons with
constantly rotating casts and one network switch, this
sitcom was officially declared a baba-loser
Kirstie Alley
THE PROJECT ''Sibling Rivalry'' (1990)
THE COMMENT ''Kirstie Alley doesn't mind [director] Carl
Reiner's comparisons, certainly not when they put her in
the same category as... Lucille Ball'' (Toronto Star, July
22, 1990).
''WAAAH!''T HAPPENED Makes ''Veronica's Closet'' look like
the golden age of Alley; final gross: $17.7 million
Shelley Long
THE PROJECT CBS' ''Good Advice'' (1993)
THE COMMENT ''Shelley's something else.... She's a seasoned
comedienne, another Lucille Ball,'' says Danny Jacobson,
writer/ producer of the sitcom (Toronto Star, July 19,
1992).
''WAAAH!''T HAPPENED Better advice would have been to stay
on ''Cheers''; show lasted 16 episodes
Sandra Bullock
THE PROJECT ''Miss Congeniality'' (in theaters Dec. 22)
THE COMMENT ''Sandy's got a lot of Lucille Ball in her,''
says the movie's coexecutive producer and screenwriter Marc
Lawrence (EW, Aug. 18, 2000).
''WAAAH!''T HAPPENED Remains to be seen. But the trailer
doesn't exactly make you say, ''But I wanna go to the show,
Ricky!''
>>>Lord help us all.
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