There’s some cursing, and Jamie flashes a
middle finger at one point on the new show,
but generally it carries on old school style with
Reiser’s amiable bumbling and Hunt’s acting
chops on display.
The original was blessed in a way. Hunt said of
the show’s rotating roster of comedic star power
back in the day that they were “insanely lucky”
to have “so many of our heroes who actually
walked in the room and played with us.”
Hunt won an Oscar for the 1998 film drama
“As Good as it Gets, while Reiser has been
working steadily through the years in film and
television. He has also written three books about
coupledom and parenthood.
The two produced, executive produced and
wrote some of the original, with Hunt directing
a handful of its 164 episodes. The new show,
produced by Sony Pictures Television in
association with Comedy Dynamics, has them
executive producing once again.
As for that ear worm of a theme song, “Final
Frontier,” it was co-written by Reiser and Don
Was. And it’s back. Only this time around, it’s
neither Andrew Gold, who sang it first, nor Anita
Baker, who picked up the gig later on.
Lyle Lovett and Kecia Lewis do the crooning,
with a couple of other connections to the series.
Lewis plays Mark Devanow’s new wife on the
reboot. In the original, Lovett was Lenny, the guy
who launched Jamie and Paul into marriage.
Only he didn’t.
He later confesses he was a faux minister,
propelling this TV couple into crisis yet again.