ABC (Fridays, 9:30 P.M. ET)
D
With all the months they've had to work on this sitcom, you'd think it would be funnier. The series, based on the film Look Who's Talking, was pulled from the fall lineup when star Connie Sellecca dropped out at the last moment. Julia (Newhart) Duffy has stepped into the lead as the single mom with the precocious infant whose thoughts are audible to viewers and to other babies.
George (Sunset Beat) Clooney, William (My Blue Heaven) Hickey and stage actor Lenny Wolpe are the three workmen constantly banging away at Duffy's Manhattan loft and intruding in her life.
The show employs not just a laugh track but a canned chorus of oohs and aahs to let the audience know whenever the infants are being adorable. And it needs every bit of cuteness it can squeeze out of them because the prepuerile humor is so feeble. ("Danielle," Duffy's 9-month-old tells another tot, "you're so beautiful. You make me really want to drool. I mean, more than usual.") The trick is to coax the tiny star (actually stars, since Mikey, like most TV toddlers, is played by twins) into registering an expression appropriate to the wisecracks delivered in the voice of Tony Danza.
Baby Talk succeeds fairly well in that task, but maybe it should have spent less on baby wranglers and more on writers.
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