It's tough enough to create one sitcom and win a slot for it on anetwork's prime-time schedule.
Writer-producer Bruce Helford, a native Chicagoan and lifelongWhite Sox fan, will launch two new Wednesday comedies next month.
A former executive producer for "Roseanne," Helford is applyinghis down-to-earth sensibilities to "Bless This House," a CBS show setto air at 7 p.m. on WBBM-Channel 2, and "The Drew Carey Show," an ABCseries slotted at 7:30 p.m. on WLS-Channel 7. Both will premiere onSept. 13.
"So far, so good," said Helford, a Von Steuben High Schoolgraduate who grew up in Chicago's Hollywood Park neighborhood. "Istarted `The Drew Carey Show' first because Drew and I workedtogether on NBC's `The Good Life' and `Someone Like Me.'
"Then Warner Bros. asked me to develop series ideas for Andrew(No Dice) Clay and Cathy Moriarty. I asked Cathy about doing adomestic comedy with Andrew. They're friends from way back, so Cathywas eager to go for it.
"I went ahead and wrote the pilot episode for `Bless ThisHouse,' figuring that the odds were slim that both shows would bepicked up in May (for the new fall season). I never anticipateddoing two at once.
"Well, we got a nice surprise. And now I have a lot to do, butthat's OK. I work on both shows every day, and each one has its ownwriters and production staffs. One thing that really helps is thatboth shows have very clear visions of what they are."
"Bless This House" stars Moriarty and Clay as Alice and BurtClayton, apartment-dwelling parents of two in Trenton, N.J. Moriarty,an Oscar nominee for her "Raging Bull" performance, played the comicvillain in "Casper" this summer. Clay, the former Diceman - anotorious, foul-mouthed comic banned by MTV - has cleaned up his actto save his career. The new Clay excited CBS executives when theysaw him in a failed NBC pilot.
Alice Clayton works as head cashier at Trenton Motor Cars. Shewants to buy a house. Burt supervises a crew of slow-moving postalworkers. He prefers living in an apartment so he can avoid householdchores. "In China, this would be the Ponderosa," he says. "Buy ahouse, mow a lawn."
Like Ralph and Alice Kramden in "The Honeymooners," the JackieGleason/ Audrey Meadows classic that inspired Helford, Burt and Aliceargue about everything. They bicker and bluster, but they're madlyin love.
"I named Cathy's character Alice on purpose," Helford said. "Iused to live in the same world. Andrew's character is very much likemy father. Like Burt, my dad was big and loud. Yelling wasdiscussing. And we always lived in apartments.
"Burt is the kind of guy you want to hang with. He's verythree-dimensional with a full, complicated personality. And Cathy isan amazing actress. She's hugely funny as Alice. They're like twoforces of nature."
While "Bless This House" is being presented as an offbeatdomestic sitcom, "The Drew Carey Show" is a gritty Clevelandvariation of the "Friends" trend.
Carey, a bright and burly stand-up comic with a short buzzhaircut, plays an assistant personnel director named Drew Carey. Hehangs around with his single buddies at a working-class bar with pooltables and big, greasy burgers. When his sidekicks crash at Drew'splace, he gives them generic beer.
Although both series will air in the first hour of prime time,once reserved for shows aimed at children and teens, the pilots for"Bless This House" and "Drew Carey" contain sexual references andsome crude language of the sort viewers might encounter whilewatching "Roseanne."
"ABC wants more adult shows (from 7 to 8 p.m.) this season,"Helford says. In its eighth and final season, "Roseanne" will air at7 p.m. Tuesdays on Channel 7.
"I prefer comedies about real people who use real language,"Helford said. "We didn't know that `Drew Carey' would be on thatearly (at 7:30), so we're looking at some of the lines in the firstepisode. And we may tone them down a little. Parents always shouldwatch a show first so they can decide whether it's OK for theirchildren."
Now 43, Helford got his television break 10 years ago as awriter for "Family Ties." He went on to write for the Chicago-basedsitcom "Anything but Love" with Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis.
"I learned a lot from Gary David Goldberg (the writer-producerwho created `Family Ties' and `Brooklyn Bridge')," Helford said."I'm a good observer, and I can deliver a lot of information quickly.I can tell a good story about real characters in 21 minutes."
