Aware that millions of viewers are concerned about the loss of "Beauty and the Beast" from CBS's winter television schedule, Paul Rodriguez, co-star of the show that takes its place, wants to make on thing clear.
"Folks, I'll make it brief for you," Rodriguez told television critics during the press tour in Los Angeles earlier this month. "We are `Beauty and the Beast."'The "beauty" part of the scenario is John Schneider, the handsome former "Dukes of Hazzard" star who plays opposite Rodriguez in Grand Slam, the new hourlong series that premieres Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on Ch. 5. Which means that "the beast" is Rodriguez, the self-proclaimed "MacLean Stevenson of Hispanics."
And that's OK with Rodriguez, who is well aware of the reputation he earned in previous TV series stints for being "difficult" to work with because of his refusal to do anything that seemed remotely like ethnic stereotyping.
"I've stopped fighting that battle," Rodriguez said. "TV executives are going to do what they're going to do. I don't like all of it, but I have a Subaru to pay for."
That probably explains why Pedro Gomez, the character Rodriguez plays in "Grand Slam," drives a low-rider.
"I've never been in a hit, and I know people like this guy," he said, gesturing toward the bearded Schneider. "I'm just gonna strap myself to John Schneider's leg and follow him to fame and fortune."
For Schneider's part, "Grand Slam" represents an opportunity to put a little more distance between himself and Bo Duke.
"I've had other TV series offered to me, but most of them have been variations on the same character I played in `Dukes of Hazzard,"' Schneider said. "And I've been adamant about avoiding that.
"Don't get me wrong. My years on `Dukes' were great, and I appreciate what that show has meant to me professionally. But that's past now, and I've been looking for something that would take me to the next step."
And new CBS programmer Jeff Sagansky thinks "Grand Slam" just might do it - for Rodriguez, Schneider and for CBS. At least, he thinks enough of the series to give it the year's most coveted launching pad - the post-Super Bowl time slot, which benefits from the biggest television audience of the year, not to mention all those promotional spots that will air during the game.
"The A-Team" benefited from a similar launch. So did "The Wonder Years." But it didn't do much for "The Last Precinct" a couple of years ago, did it? And does anyone remember what NBC played in the time period last year? (Yeah, I know - I've tried to forget "The Brotherhood of the Rose," too.)
So what's it going to be for "Grand Slam"?
It'll likely be a Super Sunday for the series, in which Schneider and Rodriguez play San Diego-based bounty hunters who form an "Odd Couple"-ish partnership. But how the series fares when it moves into its regular Wednesday night time slot (7 p.m.) depends on how viewers respond to the two lead characters and the chemistry - or lack of same - between them.
For myself, I found the pilot pretty violent for a 7 o'clock show (series producer Bill Norton promises the violence will be toned down for regular series episodes). It's also pretty predictable, with a story that holds about as many surprises as a Mike Tyson fight.
But the characters are kind of interesting. Schneider is agreeably gritty as an ex-baseball player-turned-tracker, who isn't beyond hurling a well-placed fastball at an escaping motorcyclist. And Rodriguez may have found the perfect vehicle for his bittersweet brand of comedy, which seems to work better in a show where he's only expected to be funny part of the time.
Norton says that future episodes will focus more on the comedy and the relationship, which seems a step in the right direction. But only time will tell if that's going to be enough to make us forget Catherine and Vincent and the real "Beauty and the Beast."