CBS (Fridays, 8 P.M. ET)
B
Twenty years after Dan August, Burt Reynolds returns to a weekly series as a former pro footballer who's now a wildly unsuccessful high school coach in his hometown.
The sitcom has a spectacular cast (Elizabeth Ashley, Hal Holbrook, Charles Durning, Ossie Davis, Marilu Henner), smart, punchy writing (from Designing Women's Linda Bloodworth-Thomason) and a distinctively sophisticated tone.
It isn't great TV, though, because it tries to shoehorn in too many characters (especially children) and, more important, the pivotal relationship between Reynolds and Henner just doesn't spark.
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