Just think of her as a Dharma chameleon
Jenna Elfman says the career-driven lawyer of her new romantic sitcom “Courting Alex” wasn’t deliberately created to be the polar opposite of the free-spirited yoga teacher of her previous romantic sitcom, “Dharma & Greg.”
“I didn’t set forth to make sure I did something different from Dharma,” she says, “because I don’t think the creative process lends itself to trying not to be something.”
“Dharma & Greg,” a comedy about an odd-couple marriage, ran from 1997-2002 on ABC. Since then, Elfman, 34, has starred in three movies and “traveled to some countries I’ve never been to.”
She says she’s back in a TV series because she “realized how much I missed the format of sitcom and acting in front of an audience … I forgot how much it lights me up and makes me happy.”
Building the show (Mondays, 9:30 p.m. on CBS) took time. Characters and situation evolved through several incarnations. Title changes – “Everything I Know About Men” and “The Jenna Elfman Show” – came and went.
“I wanted my character to be strong. I wanted her to be very good at what she does. I wanted her to be dynamic and competent and able, and then to have a tremendous Achilles’ heel,” Elfman says.
“I think we are seeing a contemporary woman at the peak of her accomplishment in life in terms of work, and now we are starting to knock on the door of ‘What else?’ and ‘Don’t forget you’re a girl!’ “
Alex is an attorney who works long hours in her father’s Manhattan law firm. She’s suddenly confronted with the possibility of genuine romance with a much more free-spirited man. It’s as if she’s now Greg and the guy’s Dharma.
Emmy-winner Dabney Coleman plays Alex’s irascible father. Josh Randall (Dr. Mike Burton on “Ed”) is her boyfriend.
Randall, well over 6 feet, is suitably built to stand neck and neck with Elfman, even in her high heels.
“I’m 5-foot-10, I think,” says the glamorously lanky blonde, explaining she’s been dancing ballet again – which may have stretched her a bit.
Randall didn’t meet Elfman until he auditioned for the show, but says he has “always been very impressed with her ability to be really funny and natural at the same time.”
He’s more impressed now.
“She played Dharma so convincingly you would think she would have more in common with that character than she does, but she’s totally different,” says Randall. “She just has a tremendous business sense in addition to creative talent.”
Coleman, a sitcom veteran, says the one thing he knows so far about his character is “his affection for his daughter. … Other than that, I can’t tell you much, but everything kind of springs off that.”
The comedy is beginning to gel, he adds, because Elfman “knows what’s funny. She knows why it’s funny, and she can articulate that.
“Not many – man or woman – can do that. And she’s got great taste.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is 89. Actor Patrick MacNee (“The Avengers”) is 84. Actor Rip Torn is 75. Actress Mamie Van Doren is 75. Singer Fabian is 63. Singer Natalie Cole is 56. Actor Jon Walmsley (“The Waltons”) is 50. Actor-director Robert Townsend (“The Parent ‘Hood”) is 49. Actress Kathy Najimy (“Veronica’s Closet”) is 49. Singer Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses) is 44.