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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 1 February
‘Superior Donuts’ stars Judd Hirsch as owner of a kneady Chicago shop

Frazier Moore tors as ill-suited to speak
Associated Press out on the issues: “We had
On his new sitcom, “Supe- a PRESIDENT who was an
rior Donuts,” Judd Hirsch actor!”
plays the owner of a Chi- Not that Hirsch dwells on
cago doughnut shop who, this negative stuff, he insists.
after a half-century in busi- “I ain’t got long to live.
ness, warily hires a young Nobody does! And I know
go-getter bent on freshen- if I go out worrying about
ing the bill of fare. anything, I’ve been wast-
“I’m going to help you ing my time here. No! I
bring this place into the want to go out laughing.”
20th century,” says Franco, Which calls forth another
the eager new assistant sitcom keep-’em-laughing
played by co-star Jer- list. “Three things have to
maine Fowler. happen in a successful sit-
“You mean the 21st,” re- com,” Hirsch states.
plies Arthur, his leery new “The writers have to write
boss. for every single member of
“No,” says Franco flatly. “I the ensemble.
don’t.” “You’ve got to have a
Arthur’s doughnuts can’t situation that rings a bell:
be beat. His specialty, ma- The viewer has to wonder,
ple creams, look scrump- what’s gonna happen
tious. But certain market here? What’s gonna hap-
forces must be addressed This June 20, 2016 file photo shows Judd Hirsch at the premiere of “Independence Day: Resur- pen next?
in the modern world. Like gence” in Los Angeles. “And the third thing is, all
the public’s demand Associated Press the characters have to try
for the muffins, cronuts to come out of it together.
and free WiFi that Arthur ‘’’Taxi’ was good because punchy exposition. know what I mean?” Nothing hateful is left over,
doesn’t offer. And the bus- it came down to loving “One is the surprise ele- But then the second thing, no matter how much they
tling Starbucks right across everybody,” Hirsch recalls ment: You never thought whatever it might be, is lost may disagree along the
the street in this gentrifying fondly. “It always resolved it would happen, but it in a flurry of other observa- way.”
neighborhood. itself that way: finding a so- does. Or you wouldn’t think tions: The excess sugar in Of course, fans of the fun-
“Superior Donuts” shakes lution to a problem — do- that anybody would do children’s diets ... “those ny-but-acerbic “Louie,”
out as a sitcom dialectic ing the best you can. Not that, but they do. Or you schmucks in Washington” ‘’Arrested Development”
pitting experience, wisdom the best IMAGINABLE. The wouldn’t think it could be who deny climate change or “Seinfeld” might dispute
and mulishness against un- best you CAN. Big differ- solved, but it will be. You ... people who knock ac- that point.q
bridled energy, initiative ence. If you put that good-
and being too impulsive. will inside all the jokes, the
All the while, Arthur’s shop audience will feel it. THAT’S
relies on a sprinkling of the magic of situation
regulars played by David comedy.
Koechner, Maz Jobrani, “That’s the only thing I
Anna Baryshnikov, Darien know,” he declares.
Sills-Evans and Rell Battle Not quite. Since landing
as well as Katey Sagal as a his first professional role —
Chicago cop who’s been The Telephone Man in the
coming to Superior Donuts 1960s Broadway smash
since childhood. “Barefoot in the Park”
CBS serves up a sample — this Bronx, New York,
Thursday at 8:30 p.m. EST native with an engineer-
before delivering the series ing degree has gathered
to Mondays at 9 p.m. know-how and acclaim
But now, to get one issue in theater (two Tonys), film
out of the way: “I don’t eat (including an Oscar-nomi-
doughnuts,” Hirsch con- nated performance in the
fides. “I can’t eat sweets. I Mary Tyler Moore drama
do. But I can’t.” “Ordinary People”) and on
He clearly doesn’t need a string of TV series, pick-
the sugar rush. In March, ing up a pair of Emmys for
he turns 82. Yet, over a re- “Taxi.”
cent salad in Manhattan, But the everyman qual-
he radiates the vigor and ity he has brought to his
volubility of a youngster. sitcoms, especially “Taxi”
Appearance, too: Apart and now “Superior Donuts,
from grayer hair and the is what he’s best known for.
paunch he proudly sports, And he knows plenty about
he looks little different than such comic ventures.
he did decades ago as “There are two things that
cabbie Alex Reiger on the make comedy great,”
sitcom classic “Taxi.” he says, launching into a