Stamos has fresh charm in 'Jake'

March 12, 2005|Globe Staff

''Jake in Progress," ABC's new metrosexual romantic comedy, deserves a friendly handshake. It arrives smack in the middle of the network sitcom wasteland hoping to be something vital and distinct. It might not seem so on the surface, since it's a vehicle for sitcom veteran John Stamos, best remembered for his role in the conventionally banal ''Full House" from 1987 to 1995. When you see Stamos's chipper face, with its 100-watt smile, you almost automatically hear a laugh track cackling in the background.

But ''Jake in Progress," which premieres with two episodes tomorrow at 9 p.m. on Channel 5, clearly aims higher than everyday punch line mongering. It wants to be a sparkling Manhattan comedy that, as ABC has been hinting at so shamelessly, is a male version of ''Sex and the City." Ultimately, it fails in its lofty mission, but that's only a part of the ''Jake in Progress" story. It's worth giving this series props for at least striving to act like a contemporary adult comedy amid a barrage of caveman sitcoms in which hubby has to take out the trash to get sex. Seriously, folks, ''Yes, Dear" just aired its 100th episode. And ''According to Jim" is in its fourth season.

Filmed without an audience, ''Jake" has the location richness and urban gloss of a feature film. In one bouncy touch, the characters' many cellphone conversations -- remember, this is a Manhattan comedy -- are shown on a split screen in the manner of a lighthearted ''24." (In fact, the show's original concept, later deemed too strained, was to spend the season following Jake in real time over the course of one day.)

And ''Jake" offers a likably cynical glimpse at the fluffy world of entertainment and publicity. Stamos's Jake is a PR agent who massages his clients' egos and tweaks their images for the press. In tomorrow night's second episode, at 9:30, he panics when one of his ''Gaymigos" -- a reality makeover trio like the Fab Five of ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" -- wants to come out of the closet as straight. And later in the season, Jake falls for a woman who has only become beautiful after appearing on a ''Swan"-like show called ''Butterfly." She looks like a bombshell, but she acts like a misfit. These aren't madly clever twists by any means, but they nonetheless represent an effort by the writers to be relevant.