TV: Cheers Ted, it looks okay

By FIONA RAE

It's tough having a character so identifiable that you can't shake it off.

Kelsey Grammar didn't even try, instead devoting his whole career to his Cheers character Frasier.

A couple of the other Cheers alumni have managed to move on but Ted Danson will always be Sam Malone.

He has flexed his acting muscles in a variety of movies and mini-series and even another sitcom, Ink, with wife Mary Steenburgen.

But Ink tanked. Big time. And Danson swore off sitcoms - until he was swayed by a script for Becker, which he says has "great words."

But if you were thinking it's the return of nice guy Malone, think again.

The off-screen politically correct Danson is playing a cantankerous, loudmouth doctor with more than a touch of red around the neck.

And Danson and Becker's creator, Dave Hackel, are also betting on Danson's past life as Cheers nice guy Sam Malone to keep viewers hanging in there while Becker mouths off.

Danson's off-screen liberalism should also help him to get away with that redneck image.

He's known as a friend of Bill Clinton's, a founder of the American Oceans Campaign and he donated the money he earned for his brief appearance in Saving Private Ryan to a Holocaust remembrance foundation. Becker, he says, is like taking a holiday from himself.

"I'm very excited about not being politically correct," says Danson.

"I spend a great many hours a day being politically correct. It's great to go to work and be a schmuck."

Sitcom veteran Hackel, who also produced Wings and Frasier, says he has grown tired of "having comedy taken too seriously."

Just so we understand the character straight away, in tonight's first episode, Becker's first scene is a rant about talk shows: "I watched one last night. I should've just stuck a fork in my eye. Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, they're all broadcasting straight from hell. Trust me on this one, white trash is the only natural resource this country will never run out of."

Becker's first patient at his Bronx practice is an obese man whom Becker immediately lays into with a thoroughly mean talking-to.

"I thought doctors were meant to be nice," the guy complains.

"Check the Hippocratic oath," replies Becker, "it doesn't say anything about nice."

While it might appear that Danson and Hackel are resurrecting the spirit of Archie Bunker in medical guise, Becker has his softer side. Terry Farrell, who has shed her Deep Space Nine spots to play diner-owner Regina, describes him in that first scene as "not just a doctor, he's a brilliant one and as far as I can tell it's his only flaw, otherwise he'd be a complete ass."

Then there's the matter of the lengths to which he'll go to help an HIV-positive boy in his care.

It's a delicate balance to maintain. A ranting, grumpy doctor is fine, but they better keep it funny or Becker will be like listening to your most boring uncle.

But like Archie Bunker, Becker may be capturing a mood and an audience in the United States that Will & Grace doesn't. It's already in its third season, and the guest stars are beginning to roll in (always a good sign).

Dick Van Dyke appeared recently as Becker's dad.

But blowhards are notorious for running out of steam. And although Danson may be hoping everyone will know Becker's name, he may have to remain forever Sam Malone.

* Becker, TV3, 10 pm