Getting Smart-alecky about Martha Stewart

By: Pete Schulberg
Source: The Oregonian - January 1, 1998

What better way to start off the new year than the traditional sprinkling of replacement series to muddle the always-brittle network lineups and further confuse viewers?

For its part in this January tradition, CBS launches Style & Substance, the latest comedy series starring Jean Smart. She won over audiences as the naive Charlene in the CBS hit sitcom Designing Women. She didn't fare nearly as well as lush/author Ellie in the short-lived CBS comedy High Society two years ago.

This time, the Seattle native, who has aunts, uncles and cousins scattered over Portland, shows up on CBS again hoping that the third time's the charm.

Smart plays an obsessive yet ditsy Martha Stewart-type character whose appetizers and flower centerpieces prove to be more together than she is.

As we have all figured out by now, the oft-maligned Stewart and her do-it-yourself-with-style ways are a ripe target for satire (who can forget the nude Martha on Saturday Night Live)? I'm amazed, frankly, that it has taken this long for a prime-time comedy to join the Stewart bandwagon.

"She's become such a household name," Smart said from her Los Angeles home, "that she's good fodder for a sitcom."

But according to Smart, it won't be mean-spirited. It better not be. Stewart's got her own morning show on CBS.

In fact, Stewart's name will be brought up in some of the 12 future episodes. "We talk about Martha all the time on the show as if she's my nemesis. She's my rival. The `M' word."

Smart, a proven talent in television, movies and stage, has the spirited wherewithal to pull off the role as the decidedly obnoxious but still lovable Chelsea Stevens. Yet the show could be facing a one-joke dilemma ø the joke being Chelsea's Stewart-like domesticity.

As the top woman of a magazine and TV empire, Chelsea's world -- and head -- are permeated with cooking, decorating and entertaining ideas. But by the end of the first episode, the gags about creme bruíle and "favorite spices" begin wearing thin.

Beyond the melon-baller punchlines and the references to being "jam friendly," there doesn't appear to be much else to latch onto.

Still, it's only the first episode, and the series' executive producer, Peter Tolan, is a veteran writer from the hysterically funny Larry Sanders Show, so don't count out this series just yet.

Maybe this crew, which finds itself -- at least for now -- up against those other women-oriented Monday night shows of Caroline in the City, Ally McBeal and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will surprise us.

Even before high-strung Chelsea appears, we're led to believe we're about to meet Stewart's clone in spades.

"Last Christmas, she made a gingerbread house," food stylist Trudy (Heath Hyche) tells office newcomer Jane (Nancy McKeon, Facts of Life). "It was built to code."

"It had plumbing," adds interior designer Mr. John (Joseph Maher), whose jokes about being gay fall flat.

By the time Chelsea sweeps into the office, we learn that she's also a control freak extraordinaire. Rifling through Jane's purse ("You're new here. I want to get to know you," Chelsea explains) results in a long string of rapid-fire one-liners.

Naturally, Chelsea torpedoes herself into Jane's personal affairs, the most prominent of which is the recent breakup with her fiance, who unexpectedly shows up at her still-unpacked New York apartment. It's at this juncture that the story enters inane territory and never digs itself out.

There's an eerie similarity between the frenetic Kirstie Alley character in the NBC comedy Veronica's Closet and Smart's equally hyper-induced role as Chelsea. While both are successful businesswomen and have perfected a sparkling public image, their personal lives are in a constant state of crash and burn.

Smart's TV career is weighted heavily toward CBS. In addition to Designing Women and High Society, she has appeared in the miniseries Scarlett and the movies Stranger in Town, Overkill, The Yearling and A Seduction in Tarvis County.

McKeon, who played Jo in Facts of Life, most recently co-starred in the defunct CBS comedy series Can't Hurry Love and in the miniseries Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage.

For Smart, who wants to put down permanent stakes in Los Angeles, where her 8-year- old son is enrolled in school, the success of her latest venture will depend on the chemistry among the characters.

"It ultimately won't matter what we (the characters) do for a living," Smart said. "It's how we bounce off each other."

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