Bravo pulls off ‘Significant’ improv hit

Let’s be frank about why reality TV works for executives in that industry. No costs for talent or writers. Just rough out a scenario, and turn loose some money-grubbing real folk.

It’s kinda like improv, only without the talent to pull it off successfully.

When well-handled, such as the “SCTV” crew did in the late ’70s, improv can be a thing of beauty. Now comes a new use for the comic art form, on “Significant Others,” debuting at 9 tonight on Bravo.

Bravo’s breakout hit, “Queer Eye for the Straight Eye,” brought heart and wit to the makeover show. Now “Significant Others” does the same for another ailing form, the sitcom.

The six-episode series, which will air regularly at 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays, features largely unknown improv actors and comedians in a set situation – couples attending marriage counseling.

Viewers will certainly recognize some of themselves, friends or relatives in the four featured couples.

There’s tightly wrapped financial analyst James (played by Brian Palermo) and his free-spirited wife, Chelsea; Eleanor (Faith Salie), a college student whose unexpected pregnancy terrifies her slacker husband, Ethan (Herschel Bleefeld); organized and predictable Constance (Jane Edith Wilson) and her comfortably unemployed mate Bill (Fred Goss); and Devon (Chris Spencer) and Alex (Nicole Randall Johnson), two parents balancing the demands of work and a 9-year-old son.

If “Significant Others” were a scripted show, it would be among the best comedies currently airing. But for something of this caliber to be put together on the fly is just amazing. Executive producers Peter Tortorici and director Rob R. Thomas are to commended for assembling such a sturdy premise, then finding the cast to make it sing.

“Significant Others” has the misfortune to be slotted opposite another sparkling comedy, “Scrubs.” But like most original cable series, each episode will air several times a week, giving those that want to the opportunity to catch this unique offering.

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 or dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.

Eleanor (Faith Salie) and Ethan (Herschel Bleefeld) spoil their “Kiss Cam” moment with a comical argument broadcast on the stadium’s Jumbotron on the Bravo comedy “Significant Others.”