And the Winner Is... Reviews

The sophomore outing for Bette Midler's new tv series leaves a not-so-great taste in the mouth.

There's no doubt at all that Bette Midler is a laugh-riot a minute. She seemed to eclipse the meager material she had to work with in this episode.

Luckily Ms. M is a graduate of the mugger's academy and she's able to put guts, hilarity and of course lots of camp into the script that seemed to be written on the back of a grocery bag and never intended to be used for anything on-air.

Joanna Gleason (trying to play Ethel to Midler's Lucy) is an actress worth watching, but her mostly stage training seems to make her almost reluctant to open up and be tv-fied.

The rest of the cast is forgettable as in the pilot episode. I've seen claymation with more depth than the actors they've got scrambling around looking like they just got handed the script 2 seconds before shooting and have no idea how to interpret it.

The show is called "Bette" for a reason. The name alone will bring in viewers. No matter how sorry the production and support, she will always deliver straight to your funny bone. Will this be enough to sustain a series? Time will tell.