Of course the central joke only works
if the character is Jewish. Jews and sports
— an oxymoron, right? And that was
the point, as far as Engel was concerned.
"I like to consider myself a fairly good
athlete," he said. "I'm not a professional
yet, but I haven't given up hope. But
there are Jews across America in sports.
One right here in right field in Los
Angeles." (For those not into sports,
that would be Dodger Shawn Green.)
Jason Alexander, one of the Seinfeld
crew — the most successful Jews-who-
dare-not-speak-their-name in TV his-
tory — is playing a Tony Robbins-style
guru in ABC's Bob Patterson. Patterson
may or may not be Jewish — but he is
kind of a lovable jerk. If in a future
episode we find out the name used to
be Futterman, be prepared to cringe.
In any case, comedian Robert Klein
plays Patterson's mentor and partner,
"handman." No mistaking that char-
acter's ethnicity.
Michigan native Mike Binder, for-
mer stand-up comic star and creator of
HBO's Mind of the Married Man, is
undoubtedly Jewish as he is in real
life, although it's never stated, and he's
married in the show to a gorgeous
blonde Englishwoman, played by
Oxford-educated Sonya Walger.
Binder grew up in Birmingham, and
made a 1993 movie about his summer
experiences at the Jewish Camp
Tamakwa in Ontario (Indian Summer).
He even wears a Tamakwa sweatshirt
in one scene in the new show.
But the character is just another nar-
cissistic, sports- and sex-obsessed
American male. And you don't have to
be Jewish to be that.
On the other hand, Max Bickford,
professor of history on CBS' The
Education of Max Bickford, doesn't know
from sports. His is the ivory-tower world
of old European white males to whom
scholarship and love of the past is life.
And while he's staggering under the
pressure of apathetic students and
political correctness, he's doing it as a
slightly over the hill, all-purpose eth-
nic. So — is he Jewish?
"I think so, yes," says Bickford's alter
ego, Richard Dreyfuss. "He's got an
edge; he's a curmudgeon. The way I
keep describing him is Walter
Matthau, but shorter."
He's also the most potentially inter-
esting of the "Jewish" characters on
this season's new shows, if only
because Dreyfuss is noted as that rare
Jewish actor who enjoys being Jewish
on screen: think Moses Wine, ace
detective in The Big Fix, Duddy
Kravitz, and even Meyer Lans
But since this is essentially a serious

show, well written and dealing with
intelligent issues, just hold your breath
that it will enjoy a long run.
Even if it is, don't expect Bickford to
deal with his Jewishness. Having an
overtly Jewish character as the lead on
a drama is still seen in Hollywood as a
surefire way to cut yourself off from
the American mainstream viewer.
Serious shows with Jewish content
have a history of wiping out before
you can say, "Nielsen, Shmielsen."
Remember Brooklyn Bridge, Gary
David Goldberg's loving tribute to his
Brooklyn bubbie? Or how about The
Trials of Rosie ONeill, in which Rosie
(Sharon Gless) answered to a kippah-
wearing, public-defender boss played

by Ron Rifkin? Neither lasted long.
Comedies have a longer shelf life.
Jewish humor on television is the one
thing that has been accepted with open
arms by the rest of America — witness
Seinfeld. Because, whether they know it
or not, just as Jewish music became Tin
Pan Alley, Jewish humor, as filtered
through the Catskills, Hollywood and
Las Vegas, is now American humor.
Bob Hope once quipped, "Hollywood
is the only town where they give up
matzah balls for Lent" — a line written
by one of his many Jewish writers. The
point being that everyone in Hollywood
is Jewish, whether they were born into it
or not. Hollywood has been shaped by
Jewish culture — by now that's a socio-

logical truism — but the only place
you'd know it on television is in comedy.
From Seinfeld to Mad About You to
Dharma and Greg to The Larry Sanders
Show, Jewish humor has infiltrated
popular culture. On television, Jewish
humor is the Trojan horse sneaked
into the living rooms of non-Jewish
America to acquaint them with the
fact that Jews are pretty much like
them, only more so.
Northern Exposure, for example,
worked because America identified
with its hero — a nice Jewish doctor
(Rob Morrow) plunked down in
small-town Alaska, where he was the
least weird of the bunch.
Picket Fences, created by Irish-

Jewish And Normal? Oy!

"Will Grace" offers TV's first non-stereotypical portrayal
of a young Jewish woman.

NAOMI PFEFFERMAN
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

N

BC's hit Will 6. Grace, which
is up for 12 Emmys this year,
is one of the first network
shows to feature an appealing
homosexual main character. But the sit-
com — which revolves around gay attor-
ney Will and his best gal pal Grace — is
a first for another reason: its novel depic-
tion of a young Jewish woman.
Grace Adler, played by Jewish actress
Debra Messing, is a gorgeous, kooky
interior designer who is neither pushy
nor a shop-a-holic. Forget pathetic
Melissa from thirtysomething or obnox-
ious Vicki from Suddenly Susan.
"Grace doesn't fall into any of those
categories that have stereotyped Jewish
women on TV," says executive producer
Max Mutchnick. "She's strong, and she's
pretty and she's a proud Jewish woman."
- One reason the character works is
because Mutchnick, 35, and co-creator
David Kohan, 36, based her in part on a
real Jewish woman. will Grace is mod-
eled after the gay Mutchnick's rapport
with childhood chum Janet Eisenberg,
who now owns a voice-over casting agency
in New York "Like Will and Grace, we
are made for each other in every way
except the bedroom," Mutchnick says.
Mutchnick met Eisenberg while
rehearsing a play at Temple Emanuel
in Beverly Hills at age 13. He was the
star of the Hebrew school musical; she
was a student in the drama depart-

e-

Jewish actress
Debra Messing
portrays Grace Adler in
NBC's "Will er Grace."

ment. Mutchnick lived in a modest
apartment just one building over the
Beverly Hills line; Eisenberg lived in a
nicer part of town.
But before long they were hanging
out together on Beverly Drive, "which
in those days was like Main Street,
USA," Mutchnick says.
About three years later, she intro-
duced him to Kohan, the son of veter-
an comedy writer Buzz Kohan, in the
drama department at Beverly Hills
High. Kohan promptly became their
third wheel — though he found their
relationship perplexing. "Max and
Janet seemed to have a lovely rapport,
but the romantic element confused
me, and it confused them as well,"
recalls Kohan, who is heterosexual.
"They went out for a couple of years,

then they went off to different colleges.
And Max comes out of the closet,
springs it on her — and she was
stunned. It was a shocking revelation
for her, so I kind of functioned as a liai-
son between the two of them, because
they both still really loved each other."
As Kohan practiced his shuttle diplo-
macy, he and Mutchnick began exchang-
ing sitcom ideas and decided they too,
were made for each other — as writing
partners. They eventually landed staff
jobs on HBO's Dream On and executive
produced the short-lived NBC sitcom
Boston Common. In 1997, they developed
an ensemble comedy about six friends,
two of them based on Mutchnick and
female soulmate Eisenberg.
It was Warren Littlefield, NBC
WILL AND GRACE on page 76

10/19
2001

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