Fall TV: ‘The Grinder’ is a lot of fun

To say nothing of that fact that the boys’ father (William Devane, taking time out from peddling gold on cable-news commercials to do what he does best: smile toothily with slyness) thinks the prodigal son has returned to save the family law firm.

Dean, who seems to have hogged the confidence gene passed on by Devane’s character, is convinced his years of spouting legal jargon on camera qualify him to go to court. What happens is that Dean feels his years as a TV attorney qualify him to practice law in the real courtroom, something his brother sees as ridiculous.

“What if this is the one I can’t win?” asks Lowe’s character, apparently known as the Grinder. [I had] to remind myself, ‘You only played a political advisor, OK? He played Creepy Rob Lowe for DirecTV ads and watched people swim, and lends his voice to cartoons.

The premise: Dean (Rob Lowe) is an egomaniacal actor who spent eight seasons playing the title role on the hit legal drama “The Grinder“. “That’s a really delicate balance that they’ve pulled off in the writing and that hopefully I’ve pulled off in the portrayal”. Lowe’s delivery of Stewart’s straight-out-of-TV dialogue is hilarious, and the concept that the town is so ready for excitement that they’re OK with bending the rules to spice up their courtroom proceedings allows the audience to go along for the ride. Underneath it all, there’s a brotherly love in their sibling rivalry, built on a grass-is-greener envy. All Dean has is this make-believe world.

“Viewers are left with the impression of, who needs a law degree to be a lawyer?” In those moments where the bubble starts to burst, Stewart does what he can to keep the illusion going for Dean’s benefit.

Savage chimed in somewhat jokingly, “I think it’s a tip of the hat to the golden age of television, when the lawyer shows were written so well and were so well researched and so in depth that Rob can actually survive in the real world based on that”. “The minute we worked together, it was a comfortable, ideal relationship where we could riff off each other”, he adds by phone later, when Savage isn’t around.

“Honestly, I was intimidated to meet him”, Ellis says.

Concerned about how Jimmy will handle all this is his restaurant family, assistant manager Annelise (Kelly Jenrette, Audrey) and chef Ravi (Ravi Patel, Super Fun Night). Stewart respects his brother as a performer but can’t quite bring himself to indulge the twit’s insistence that he was making a TV show of substance. His character’s hammy theatrics wow just about everyone, except Stewart. He sees there’s a lot of sizzle on the surface, but underneath there’s not a whole lot there. But there’s nothing scintillating, and I don’t know who would view it. I’m proud to say it was pretty uneventful backstage at “The Wonder Years“. That was 1988 and Savage soon became a household name due to the continued adolescent misadventures of his character, Kevin Arnold, a kid growing up in the ever changing 1960s.

But is Dean’s true happiness grinding it out in Boise?

Each promises a rollicking good time in the company of a prime-time veteran, and, for the most part, each delivers. He is genuinely searching for something real while continuing to fake it as a lawyer.

Lowe starred on several seasons of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation“, a sitcom that finished its run this past February. It’s that yin and yang, which could prevent people from seeing each other or loving each other, but in this case it doesn’t.

But the network has wisely paired the ’80s-spawned heartthrobs in a winning comedy block that begins Tuesday at 8 p.m. For more with Fred Savage, continue reading.