THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1990

'AFI Presents TV or Not TV?'

By MILES BELLER
         Hosted by Jack Lemmon, "The American Film Institute Presents TV or Not TV?" is an extremely entertaining comedy special presented by NBC.
        Spotlighted on this show are sketches written by participants in the 1989 AFI Television Writers Summer Workshop (NBC provided the initial grant for the Workshop in 1986) who enrolled in a seminar called "Writing Sketch Comedy for Television." (This, itself, already sounds like the genesis of a humorous set-up).
        Fleshing out the scripts are a gaggle of comic actors, including Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Richard Moll, Woody Harrelson, Alyssa Milano and Denny Dillon.
        The sketches found on "TV or Not TV?" range in subject and effectiveness, from a sharp parody on "Twin Peaks" called "Peek a Boo" that features Milano as a high school student named Laura to a biting bit called "Cooking with God" that presents Shearer as a televangelist whose dishes are divinely stewed.
        Moll provides a humorous public service message as a mohawk-haired subject appearing in "Your Brain on Drugs," Dillon appears surrounded by piles of food in a mock commercial shilling Roseanne Barr's new perfume, "Ravenous," and Renee Taylor plays a pushy, self-anointed do-gooder who proves that the kvetch is mightier than the sword in "The Guardian Yentas."
        Indeed, all the skits and schtick transmitted on "TV or Not TV?" are genuinely inventive, rivaling what goes under the heading of network programming. In this regard, in addition to the comedy pieces noted above, a satire called "Mis-conceptions" (parodying K-Tel ads) works masterfully.
        Of course, it doesn't hurt to have such first-rate talents as Shearer, McKean and Taylor in performance. Still, the quality of writing stands on its own and viewers should be hearing from a number of scriptors collected in this must-watch special.