17- The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 13, 1998 NBC's new 'Rules'.is meant to be broker By Chris Cousino Daily Arts Writer When NBC premiered its new comedy "House Rules," the show was billed as a situation comedy of "Three friends, one house, no rules." There are two handsome guys, one very cute girl and a quirky Denver dwelling, but one thing is certain - this house doesn't rule. Focused on the daily lives of three college roommates in their twenties, "House Rules" explores the friendship between the roommates that stems back to childhood. Since they know everything about each other and share similar experiences, they are perfect companions. This relationship, however, is not perfect for comedy or anything else. The trio of two men, William McCusky and Thomas Riley III, played by David Newsom and Bradley White, and one woman, Casey Farrell, played notably by Maria Pitillo, never sow emotions nor spark a laugh over the notion that all three together make the perfect match. The friendship stays plastic, and the plot stays predictable. When Farrell accepts an invitation to move to Paris with her boyfriend, the future of the trio's friendship is threatened by the separation. Would NBC get rid of one of the main characters of a new show in its premiere episode? No way in hell. But viewers are supposed to feel suspense when midway through the show, Farrell says to the guys, "I'm going, ya know," and there is a cut to an omniscient shot of all three gazing into the sky right before the commercial break. Oooohh!!! Will she go? To add to this suspense, the sound- track plays a bending guitar lick, just one of the annoying alternative guitar sounds that are heard at the beginning of each new scene. After the limo driver exits the door with her bags, without surprise she decides to stay because she would have to leave l z;her dog, or maybe her best buds. These best buds are two immature, House blubbering fools, though one is a med- Rules ical student and the other is a reporter. McCusky is a cheap combination of Chandler and Joey from NBC's NBC "Friends'" always looking for sex and Mondays at 8:30 p.m. women, cracking quick jokes. He shows both maturity in his plea for ;*** Farrell to stay and immaturity when he is afraid to go in the basement because it is dark. Newsom fails to bring humor or lik- able qualities to the character. With lines like, "Have a glass eye," in response to being asked for a glass, there is not much to go on. White also falters with his character of Riley, though more irritatingly. Best known as "the guy who kissed Jamie" on NBC's "Mad About You," White over exaggerates his acting. He throws in lots of hoots, hollers and repeated words and gets no laughs. Like his cohort, he too is an immature adult, running out of the basement yelling, "Web on face," with a fake spider web draped across his brow. While the two men produce nothing in terms of comed Pitillo doesn't lend much of a hand either. She is, howevi the only promising spot of "Rules." Pitillo is cute in a Drew Barrymore sort of way. Her character has some maturity, though she squeaks a lot f eww's and ohh's. Though the typical cardboard mature and- immature Generation X-er, Pitillo's character shows some believability in her strength and in her devotion to hwr friends. What's also believable about "House Rules" is that I bare ly cracked a smile watching the ill-fated half-hour premierge Worst of all the line, "It's not like I asked you to make mon keys fly out of your butt," was uttered by Newsom. Where Mike Myers when you need him? Viewers don't deserve to waste time with this babble. Neither does Pitillo, who deserves more than "Rules." She's, lucky she has a starring role in the sure-to-be-hit filn "Godzilla" this spring, because come May, it's a good bet she won't have this one. Courtesy of NBC "bfelong friends" Bradley White, Maria Pitlilo and David Newsom star in NBC's dismal "House Rules." Courtesy of warner tres. With a $180 mil budget, "Batman and Robin" helped 1997 set a budget recr Hollywood budgets set new record LAS VEGAS (AP) - The average studio film cost a record $53.4 million last year, an increase the industry said Tuesday was only partially caused by "Titanic," the most expensive movie ever made. In the annual industry address given at the National Association of Theater Owners convention, Motion Pictu Association of America President J Valenti also said marketing costs for studio films rose to $22.2 million. The $53.4 million average produc- tion budget, which includes studio overhead, reflects an increase of 34 per- cent from 1996, Valenti said. Marketing costs increased 12.2 per- cent. The average movie cost was affected by "Titanic," which cost $200 mill or more to produce, and "Batman Robin," whose budget reportedly exceeded $180 million. But Valenti said, "Titanic" only affected the aver- age figure by a couple of million do!- lars. Valenti said that while "Titanic" rep- resented the most expensive movie ever made, it "is soon about to morph into the mightiest revenue-producing film of all time." "Titanic" has grossed $449.2 mill domestically in 12 weeks. But Valenti warned that the surging costs cannot continue unchecked. "It is a terrible confluence of hope and also terror which confront every studio, every producer, every production com- pany." In other industry news, movie theate admissions totaled 1.4 billion, the mot in nearly four decades. Domestic box- office returns were $6.4 billion, largest gross ever. "In spite of VCRs, laser discs, CD ROMs, cable and TV stations, sportin events, satellite home delivery, optic fiber ... and the World Wide Web; ir spite of all of these intrusions, mor Americans visited your theaters ir 1997 than any time since 1959," Valent told the theater owners. Studio returns were boosted by ove- seas income. Latin American b office numbers surged 13 percent,r- admissions in Europe were up 6 ,pr- cent. Valenti said American returns bene- fited from frequent moviegoers, who attend a theater at least monthly. These people;Valenti said, make up 28 pe- cent of the population but 81 percent 61 total admissions. Breaking the audience down by eth- nic groups, the MPAA study sho that whites account for 66 percent domestic admissions. Hispanics repro- sent 15 percent of tickets sold, ard blacks 13 percent. 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