Comedy Retreats in 'Army Show' - Los Angeles Times
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Comedy Retreats in ‘Army Show’

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From here to (feels like) eternity.

Think of Sgt. Bilko minus humor and Phil Silvers, and you have a new WB sitcom titled “The Army Show.†It’s hard imagining a comedy more unfunny or more banal.

David Anthony Higgins has the Silvers role--a thankless one here--as the flimflamming master sergeant who involves his band of Army nincompoops in one outrageous scam after another, starting Sunday with a scheme to keep open the obscure military base from which they operate a thriving commercial enterprise with the nearby town.

His nemesis is a straight-arrow lieutenant (Craig Anton), his chief ally a flower child of a computer hacker (“These boots are really uncomfortable. Doesn’t the Army make sandals?â€), played so gratingly by former MTV veejay John Sencio that you’d love to give him the firing squad. Higgins showed some flair as a regular on ABC’s “Ellen,†but even the gifted Silvers could not have made anything from this cheesy, derivative misfit of a series.

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* “The Army Show†premieres at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on WB (Channel 5). The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children, with an advisory for coarse language).

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