Having become a television icon in the 1980s as Sam "Mayday" Malone on "Cheers," Ted Danson returned to situation comedy in 1996 with "Ink," a not-so-well-received effort co-starring Mary Steenburgen that centered on a pair of divorced newspaper journalists (think: "His Girl Friday") that lasted one season.
By 1998, Danson tried again with greater success in "Becker," which again positioned his character, John Becker, in a respectable profession as a Harvard-trained doctor who moves from research to general practice in New York City---but this doctor has neither the time nor the money for the golf course or any other trappings of success as "Becker" sits well outside the glitter of Manhattan and in a rather seedy neighborhood in the Bronx.
Series creator Dave Hackel cut his teeth as a producer and writer for a number of television series, most notably "Wings," but his script for the "Becker" pilot episode signals a departure from that lighter fare and toward a grittier, more sardonic humor leavened by the realities of being an inner-city doctor whose patients are hardly seeking elective surgery to enhance their lifestyles.
Becker's first patient Mr. Capelli (Bill Capizzi) is obese and non-compliant with doctor's orders to do more than just read Becker's suggested diet plan; after lecturing him, Becker tells him to remember just one word: "salad." Before he had even got to his office, Becker was already teeing off during his stop at the local diner run by Reggie Kostas, who inherited the greasy spoon from her just-deceased father, who in turn had been nicer to Becker only because he had been hard of hearing.
Becker's rant about lurid, exploitative "talk shows" hosted by the likes of Jerry Springer sets him up as a more educated Archie Bunker, an angry curmudgeon goading the audience to, if not like him, at least accept him as the catalyst for the ensemble cast to react to. Jake Malinak, the blind news vendor (a trope dating back decades) whose stall is located inside Reggie's diner, is wise to Becker's misanthropy, which doesn't pull any punches with Jake just because he's handicapped.
Of course, Becker must have some redeeming qualities, and his interaction with M. J. (Robert Bailey, Jr.), a young boy who contracted AIDS during a blood transfusion, forms the backbone of Hackel's solid if not exceptional script that doesn't go for the "aww" moment during what is still a quietly touching and substantial thread.
True to most pilot episodes, this one serves to introduce the premise and the players, which means that Becker's staff, nurse Margaret Wyborn and nurse's aide Linda, get a brief introduction showing Margaret as the efficient boss in the office and Linda as the ditzy sexpot comic relief, potential stereotypes needing fuller characterization. Similarly, the antagonism between Becker and Reggie is time-worn sparring that signals sexual tension if not romance somewhere along the story arc.
Still, Hackel's introduction to "Becker," which at first glance suggests a throwback to Norman Lear's socially-conscious 1970s sitcoms updated with 1990s jaded snark, holds enough promise to keep following where this punchy gripe-fest might be headed.
REVIEWER'S NOTE: What makes a review "helpful"? Every reader of course decides that for themselves. For me, a review is helpful if it explains why the reviewer liked or disliked the work or why they thought it was good or not good. Whether I agree with the reviewer's conclusion is irrelevant. "Helpful" reviews tell me how and why the reviewer came to their conclusion, not what that conclusion may be. Differences of opinion are inevitable. I don't need "confirmation bias" for my own conclusions. Do you?
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