A Review of
"Ask Harriet"

"Ask Harriet" stars Anthony Tyler Quinn as Jack Cody, an arrogant, womanizing but popular sportswriter for the fictional New York City Dispatch. In fact, Jack's so popular in town, he gets his face regularly shown on the big video screen on Times Square, much to his egotistic delight. But things go downhill fast for Jack when his editor and former lover, Melissa Peters (Lisa Waltz) gleefully informs him that he's been fired and his column is given to his scheming, butt-munching assistant, Trey Anderson (Patrick Y. Malone). With no other paper in town wanting anything to do with Jack, his buddy and co-worker, Ron Rendall (Willie Garson) dreams up a wild idea. When the woman who does the Dispatch's advice column, "Ask Harriet" dies, Ron suggests that Jack, who, through experience, knows a thing or two about unhappy women take over the column. Jack agrees and submits a sample column through Ron, figuring he could do it from home and never be seen. Just one problem, Melissa loves the advice and offers "her" the job----provided "she" comes in for an interview. Hard up for cash, Jack reluctantly climbs into drag and, calling himself "Sylvia Coco" goes in for the interview after easily fooling Trey who comes on big time to the statuesque newcomer at the paper. Melissa is so taken in with Sylvia, she parades her before a banquet room full of women at a posh restaurant and easily wins over the crowd with a bit of advice about not going to bed with a man who claims he has to get up early the next morning. Advice that later comes back to haunt Jack when he tries that same line with a date who read his new column.

As a comedy, "Ask Harriet" is hardly ground breaking. The plot steals a little from "Tootsie", in that it focuses on an abrasive, unemployed man who's forced to don drag to pay the bills, but discovers that his femme alter ego has become the breadwinner, not to mention immensely popular while the guy under the wig, dress and makeup can't catch a break. Still, the debut had it's share of humorous moments, the best being during the banquet when Jack momentarily forgets he's a female and winks at an attractive woman, only to have her wink seductively back at him! From a purely visual standpoint, I must admit Anthony Tyler Quinn doesn't look half bad in drag (Personally speaking, I'd kill for the wig he wears!) and has a goodly amount of feminine mannerisms down pat, including a fairly believable voice which, in one funny scene, he drops to chew out a male passerby who gawks at him. However, just as was the case with "Bosom Buddies", it's never explained or even hinted at how Jack suddenly became so amazingly proficient at crossdressing. One minute, he's an ordinary guy and the next, a tall and stunning woman. For John and Jane Q. Public who have no idea just how much time, effort and practice it takes for us to do a credible impersonation of a woman, I'm sure that little glitch went right over their heads. I mean, for some of us, it's taken years to perfect our appearance before we even thought about getting up the courage to go out, and yet, good ol' Jack's sashaying down the street in a tight dress and spike heels, wigged and made up to the nines before you can say "padded bra". I realize liberties are often taken when it comes to television, but this is ridiculous!

By the time you read this review, "Ask Harriet" will have settled into it's regular time slot on Thursday nights at 8:30 PM which might be trouble since Thursdays are ruled by NBC. One particular reason I no longer bother with the networks during prime-time is because of the frustration that comes from getting emotionally involved with a show that might be moved from one night to another at the capricious whim of a program director, or quickly cancelled after only a few episodes if it doesn't garner sufficient ratings. Whether or not that happens with "Ask Harriet" depends on how well it does in the Neilsens. To sum everything up, I like the show as, so far, it satisfies my lone criteria for comedy: it goes straight for the funny bone, nothing more. I'm even recording it for posterity, just in case it's shelf life turns out to be a short one. Depending on how open minded you are, I think you might enjoy this show. If anything, considering how FOX hypes it's shows to the Nth degree, "Ask Harriet" could really bring crossdressing into the mainstream, and wouldn't that be a blast?