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Published on Saturday, May 26, 2001 - 1:37am |
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LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR!! Talk Back!!
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I am – Hercules!!
If you liked “My Favorite Year,” the thinly veiled Mel Brooks-produced look at Sid Caesar’s early 1950s TV writers’ room, you may be curious to see “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” which is Neil Simon’s take on the same topic. (Brooks and Simon shared the room with Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner and Woody Allen, among others.)
Not only does the Neil Simon version deal with essentially the same subject matter as "My Favorite Year," it was directed by Richard Benjamin, who directed “My Favorite Year,” and stars Mark-Linn Baker, who starred in “My Favorite Year.”
It bows Saturday night at 8 p.m. on Showtime.
The telefilm brings together an enormously talented cast, including two who reprise their role from the 1993 Broadway production. The sum of their efforts is a gently amusing, heartfelt tribute to a bygone era.
As well-cast a cable production as one could hope for, Showtime's version of Neil Simon's play "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" proves a sparkling ensemble can make even mediocre material entertaining. Director Richard Benjamin and Simon, who did the adaptation, take one of the writer's least satisfying works and make it worse, transforming a pretty plotless piece into a barely coherent one. And yet, Nathan Lane and a superb group of supporting players mine this stuff expertly, making each part worth far more than the sum of the whole.
Take up valuable bandwidth with your predictions and reactions!

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Reader Talkback
I liked the play... by Mr. Biege | May 26th, 2001 02:02:08 AM | interesting by Schnorbitz | May 26th, 2001 08:54:21 AM | Hazaa by Zitoman | May 26th, 2001 09:03:52 AM | Never saw the play, but it was
a good movie. by Dingo | May 26th, 2001 09:17:17 PM | Looking forward to seeing this by Jonny Quest | May 27th, 2001 04:57:11 AM | Nathan Lane is in it... by IvyMike | May 27th, 2001 11:02:50 AM | It was the best of times, it
was the worst of times... by zenda | May 27th, 2001 06:29:49 PM | I enjoyed it. by Cheezdanish | May 28th, 2001 12:07:29 PM | laughter by secretagentman | May 29th, 2001 07:37:52 AM | Who are they?/Message to Ken
Burns by squarepusher | May 29th, 2001 07:40:04 AM |
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