Sometimes "stunt casting" on a sitcom works very well. Sometimes it doesn't.
Tonight on the 100th episode of "Mad About You" (7 p.m., Ch. 5) it does. And it doesn't."Stunt casting" is TV talk for bring-ing in a big-name star to play a guest role. You know, like having Elizabeth Taylor show up on "General Hospital."
"Mad About You" does double stunting tonight, bringing in two comedy legends - Carol Burnett and Carroll O'Conner play Jamie's (Helen Hunt) parents. (Roles that have been played previously by other actors.)
The two visit Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie just as they're about to set out on a cross-country trip in a claustrophobia-inducing motor home. And it turns out they're both feeling claustrophobic in their marriage as well.
O'Conner is great. He's had plenty of practice at sitcoms, having starred as Archie Bunker for a dozen years on "All in the Family" and its successor, "Archie Bunker's Place."
His timing is impeccable. He delivers his lines perfectly. And he quickly creates a believable character.
Burnett, on the other hand . . . doesn't fare so well.
Now, the fact is that Burnett is a comedic talent of considerable proportions. And it pains me to say this, being a fan.
But she's not very good as Jamie's high-strung mother.
Burnett seems to think that doing a sitcom is the same as doing a sketch on her old variety show. It's not.
Her mugging and shrieking was fabulously funny on "The Carol Burnett Show," but it's out of place on "Mad About You." She never seems like a character who could be Jamie's mother - she comes off as Carol Burnett playing a part.
This episode was obviously chosen to air as "Mad About You's" 100th because of the presence of Carol and Carroll. But, the fact is, this isn't one of the series' better installments.
CALL IT "NILES": Tonight's installment of "Frasier" (8 p.m., Ch. 5) is the only one that was significantly impacted by Kelsey Grammer's latest round of personal problems.
Taped mostly while Grammer was in the Betty Ford Center, David Hyde Pierce takes center stage as Niles. The plot has Niles taking over Frasier's radio show while his brother is out of town.
Grammer's brief scenes were taped at a later date and edited into the episode.
As to this latest incident in Grammer's personal life, it's part of an old act that's been played out repeatedly. For years now the actor and the rest of us have been subjected to stories about his personal life.
And, every time he's "hit bottom," Grammer has gone public with vows that, this time, he's turned his life around.
Grammer appeared in a taped interview Friday on "Entertainment Tonight," which - not coincidentally - is produced by Paramount, which also produces "Frasier." It was the same old song and dance we've heard over and over again, with Grammer insisting that this time he's seen the light and reformed - blah, blah, blah.
And it was absolutely nauseating to see Grammer and "ET" host Bob Goen shed tears together. (Not that this was anything different for "ET," which tends to do nauseating stories and make its reporters part of those stories every night.)
Later on Friday, Grammer appeared on "The Tonight Show," which - not coincidentally - is broadcast on NBC, which also broadcast "Frasier." And it was still more of the same old blah, blah, blah, with Jay Leno cast as the enabler this time.
Now, Grammer is a very talented man whose problems with drugs, alcohol and women have never seemed to affect his performances on either "Cheers" or "Frasier."
But his is yet another example of the horrible trend of repeated public failure and repentance that tabloid television loves to exploit.
Not that the actor hasn't exploited his own tragedies and missteps - they were front and center in his recent autobiography, in which he vowed that he had turned his life around for good.
Grammer can add a few more chapters to that autobiography for the next printing.
As for those of us out here in the real world, this act is wearing very thin.
FAREWELL TO THE MASTER: Your local television editor is going to miss the now-retired David Brink-ley.
In recent years - and, particularly in recent days - Brinkley was one obvious example of someone who is crankier, more cynical and way more negative than I am.
And there aren't many people like that out there.
GRACE UNDER FIRE: Speaking of Brinkley, he played into one of two very nice post-election moments in recent days.
The first came Friday night on the "Late Show with David Letterman." Defeated Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole put in an appearance - and he was relaxed, witty, self-deprecating and utterly charming.
Where exactly was that Bob Dole during the campaign? Even the guest that followed Dole on the "Late Show," Ted Koppel, commented that perhaps that Bob Dole could have beaten Bill Clinton last Tuesday.
As for the president, he showed a great deal of grace and good humor in keeping his appointment to be interviewed by Brinkley on Friday. (The interview was broadcast on Sunday's edition of "This Week.") Brinkley, of course, made some rude and impolitic comments about Clinton during ABC's election coverage last week.
The president quickly accepted Brinkley's apology, and he joked about how Vice President Al Gore was thrilled to hear his boss being called "a bore."
If only the entire 1996 presidential campaign could have been as civilized as those two TV appearances were.