the press
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Variety Volume 312 September 28, 1983 Page 146 by Bok
MR. SMITH With Leonard Frey, Tim Dunigan, Lauren Chase, Laura Jacoby, Stuart Margolin, C.J. & Coco (orangutans), Ed Winter, Philip Sterling Supplier: Weinberger-Daniels Prods. & Paramount TV Exec Producers: Ed. Weinberger, Stan Daniels Producer: Ralph Heller Director: Wienberger [sic] Writer: David Lloyd 60 Mins., Fri (23), 8 p.m. NBC-TV There hasn't been a talking-animal show since the last season of Here's Boomer, but Mr. Smith seems to have its sights on a previous entry, Mister Ed. The surprise of the opening hour of "Smith" was how successfully the lip-synching of the lead character was accomplished. Having said that, another surprise was how few laughs the pilot produced. Part of that result was the use of a rather literate introductory script by David Lloyd that effectively established the show's premise -- that a former circus orangutan, through a laboratory mixup, was suddenly gifted with an I.Q. of 256 and the powers of speech. The hook was that nobody knew how long it would last. The government decided to keep the animal under its immediate supervision, assigning career diplomat Leonard Frey to act as caretaker. By finale time, the basic principals had been introduced -- but there were few signs of where the skein would be going for its plot tangents. Mr. Smith is one of those shows which could either be a quick hit or a quick flop. Kid viewers are sure to appreciate the talking orangutan bit, so its problem area is whether future scripts will develop enough adult appeal to keep the series afloat. At this juncture, that's anybody's guess.
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