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Watching Ellie

Moral Rating:	Caution
Primary Audience:	Teen to Adult
Genre:	Comedy
Length:	30 min.

Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lauren Bowles, Darren Boyd, Steve Carell, Don Lake, Peter Stormare | Produced by: NBC Studios

Show Synopsis: (from the producer) Emmy Award-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Seinfeld”) returns to NBC as the star of "Watching Ellie," a new half-hour comedy detailing the life of a Los Angeles club singer, Ellie Riggs (Louis-Dreyfus), a single woman living in Los Angeles whose life is examined weekly in a 22-minute snapshot uniquely presented in real time.

Each week, Ellie confronts all manner of annoyances, including her much-too-pretty, married younger sister Susan, mysterious international neighbor Ingvar, and ex-boyfriend Edgar. Meanwhile, Ellie is trying to figure out just where she stands with her current "beau," Ben, who's a guitarist in her band. Don Lake also stars as Ellies veterinarian neighbor, Dr. Zimmerman.

viewer comments…

Caution—…I enjoy the show, but I don't deny that it has its detractions. She IS in love with her cleavage, but not to a lustable degree. I find the idea of 'keeping your sons and husbands' from lusting as rather talibanish [see Salli's comments below]. …it is not a man's ability to avoid evil that makes him strong, and displays good character, but it's his ability to confront evil, and still prevail. (this by no means suggests that we should watch 'Watching Ellie' to strengthen character--that's self-defeating).

James Lyon, Jr., age 18

Caution—I was (and still am) a big Seinfeld fan, and the character Elaine was always one of my favorites (my wife's too). "Watching Ellie" has some promise since Julia is very talented and funny… yet after giving this third episode a shot for 15 minutes, I got bored and turned it off. I don't think I laughed at all. Disappointing. Yet another Seinfeld spinoff that is probably doomed to get the axe.

Ken, age 28

Caution—It's just not very funny. We've tried to watch it twice and may try again, but we haven't laughed yet. The main character is in love with her cleavage, that is more than apparent. Sex is a big topic. I'm not sure what the real time is supposed to do for the show, it's just kind of annoying. I like the neighbor Ingavar because I like odd characters, but he's not enough to hold my attention.

Laura, age 38

Avoid—I just happened to flip by this show while watching something else. The 20-30 seconds I saw was enough to convince me that this is NOT a family-friendly show. The main character was in the kitchen, talking on the phone, hurrying around. No offense there, right? Wrong! She was wearing an open suit jacket with nothing under it but a very revealing bra. If this is an indication of the rest of the season, forget this one if you want to keep your sons and husbands from lusting, and your daughters from believing this is acceptable dress for a woman. Inappropriate for family viewing time, at the very least.

Salli Anderson, age 39