"Free Radio" executive producer Lance Krall plays a clueless intern who hosts a talk show and interviews celebrities.
(Eric McCandless)
Television Review
VH1's new "Free Radio" could have been a kick. It's an improvisational comedy in which real celebrities go on a fake radio talk show jockeyed by a foolish intern named Lance. In tonight's 9:30 premiere, for example, Kiefer Sutherland appears as himself to discuss "24," only to get waylaid into ridiculousness by Lance's dumb questions and inappropriate comments, such as, "Your face is scary."
Unlike the interviewees on "Da Ali G Show," the celebrities on "Free Radio," who include Angela Kinsey from "The Office," are in on the joke. They pretend to be appalled - in the second episode, Jack Coleman from "Heroes" gruffly refuses to put on a pair of horn-rimmed glasses - but the tension never becomes truly uncomfortable. The atmosphere is similar to that on the recurring "Chris Farley Show" skit from "Saturday Night Live," when Farley would ask famous people obvious questions and then note, "That was awesome." It's all tepid, mock annoyance.
"Free Radio" might be more fun if Lance, played by executive producer Lance Krall, were more aggressive and over the top. Lance, who cohosts with the more sane Anna (Anna Vocino), is just a dummy who uses "like" too much in his sentences. He tells Kinsey that "The Office" could use a laugh track, and he asks the All About Walken group of Christopher Walken impersonators to imitate Bill Cosby. He never goes near really sensitive areas, such as Sutherland's incarceration, so the squirm factor is negligible, and so is the fun.
The reason Lance is allowed to host the show, called "Moron in the Morning," is that listeners are drawn in droves to its awfulness. The public has a taste for train wrecks, and they tune in to hear Lance make every tactical mistake in the interviewer book. Meanwhile, Anna keeps "Moron" from reeling completely out of control, injecting rational questions and apologizing for her cohost's behavior.
"Free Radio" leaves the "Moron" show periodically to follow the backstage politics at the radio station. Manager James (Brian Huskey) hates the Lance phenomenon, but he is obliged to keep it on the air. We hear him arguing over the phone with his wife, and we see him lusting after Anna. Meanwhile, his grim secretary, "Emo" Sarah, skulks unhappily around the office, ignoring his orders and eavesdropping on his calls. Emo Sarah has a post-it on her computer that reads, simply, "This Sucks."
Lifetime's sitcom "Lovespring International," about an idiotic dating service, fared much better in milking a wacky workplace for improvised humor. On "Free Radio," you get what you pay for.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.
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