Paul Lazarus Movies

Originally slated as a mid-season replacement, the NBC sitcom Kristin was held up for release until June 5, 2001. Tony-winning Broadway musical star Kristin Chenoweth starred in this semi-autobiographical effort as Kristin Yancey, a starry-eyed Oklahoma gal who heads to the big city in hopes of a showbiz career. After a series of desultory auditions, Kristin lands a job as personal assistant to go-getting real estate developer -- and notorious rogue -- Tommy Ballantine (Jon Tenney). Under a legal cloud because of past incidents of sexual harassment, Tommy has hired Kristin precisely because he finds her completely unappealing, and because she staunchly adheres to the sort of high moral values that he detests. In the prescribed sitcom fashion, Kristen is surrounded (practically engulfed) by wildly eccentric, ethnically stereotyped co-workers: no-nonsense Latina assistant Santa Clemente (Ana Ortiz), flippant black bike messenger Tyrique Kimbrough (Dale Godboldo), and Italian handyman Aldo Bonnadonna (Larry Romano, then pulling double duty as a regular on King of Queens). Kristin was packaged by the same people responsible for Frasier and The Cosby Show. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Frank (Peter Boyle) is delighted when one of his submissions is published in the "Amusing Anecdotes" column of Reader's Digest). Certain that he has a brilliant literary career ahead of him, Frank tries to convince Ray (Ray Romano) to get him his own newspaper column, tentatively titled "I Was Just Thinking." Unfortunately, Ray's editor is "just thinking" as well--thinking that Frank is the worst writer on the face of the earth. Basketball legend Karrem Abdul-Jabbar appears as himself. ~ Rovi

Debra (Patricia Heaton) can't help but notice that her newlywed friends are constantly showering one another with public displays of affection. Why, asks Debra, cannot her husband Ray (Ray Romano) even bring himself to say "I love you?" Perhaps reticent Ray needs a few subtle hints--and we all know just how "subtle" Debra can be. This episode marks the first series appearance of Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten as the Barones' twin sons Geoffrey and Michael. ~ Rovi

Ross (David Schwimmer) chooses to be the only one who doesn't know the gender of his unborn baby. After Paolo (Cosimo Fusco) gets fresh with Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) dumps him -- and Monica (Courteney Cox) gives him a sort of present. As for Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc), weren't they supposed to buy a kitchen table instead of what they ended up bringing home? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser) is taken aback when he sees an old friend and fellow film school graduate working as a token collector at a New York subway station. Thereafter, the traumatized Paul avoids subways like the plague. The estimable Steve Buscemi makes a guest appearance in this episode, which also offers a crash course in English and Japanese subtitles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi