By:KEITH GRANT
Oceanside High School graduate Diane Farr takes over the streets of New York and talks some sense into Denis Leary Wednesdays night. The actress co-stars with the wise-guy actor in a new ABC television series that has critics talking about the former local girl.
Everyone's been saying it's the best show of the midseason,Farr said of her new series.
The Job is the brainchild of Leary, the actor once known for his chain smoking and ranting commentary as a standup-comic. The show revolves around Leary's rather unbalanced life as a New York City detective, and features a strong cast of co-stars to fill out the squad room: Bill Nunn (Regarding Henry),Keith David (There's Something About Mary),Lenny Clarke (The John Laroquette Show),John Ortiz (Carlito's Way)and another former Long Islander, comedian Adam Ferrara, whom Farr has known for many years.
Farr, meanwhile, plays Det. Jan Fendrich, a 30-year-old single mom whom she describes as somewhat of a female Andy Sipowitz, referring to the NYPD Blue character.
She's sort of a mom at home and a mom in the squad room,Farr said. She mothers all of them, but she doesn't have a lot of time or a lot of patience.
Despite an all-star cast, Farr's tough-talking detective may emerge from the pack, based on early reviews. One critic, Brian Ford Sullivan of futoncritic.com, noted after viewing the first two installments that Farr's work here gives her the best shot at breakout status out of all the cast. Farr, he wrote, gets to really shine as McNeil's (Leary's) quasi-love interest Jan ... and gets the best lines and speeches out of any of the cast. She's the grounded one out of all the often crazy cops she works with.
Six episodes of The Job have been shot and will air over the next six Wednesday nights at 9:30, in place of Spin City. With strong early reviews, six more episodes have already been ordered by ABC for September.
In the meantime, Farr, a 1987 OHS graduate, continues to be one of the hardest-working women in Hollywood. She is continuing in her recurring role on the WB hit series Roswell,and wrote a book, The Girl Code,that was released last month by publisher Little Brown.
Although she gained fame for her two-year stint co-hosting MTV's Loveline,Farr has been working the small screen for almost a decade. Her television debut came in a 1992 episode of Silk Stalkings,and she has since appeared on shows ranging from the HBO series Arli$$ to Pamela Anderson's V.I.P. In 1999, she had a memorable three-part stay on The Drew Carey Show as the love interest of all three main male characters.
Recently she had a shot at a one-hour CBS show of her own, but Farr settled on the Leary project because she saw in it a show and a script she could be proud of.
It's a real character-driven comedy, like Sports Night,she said, referring to the critically-acclaimed ABC series that never quite found an audience and was canceled. Like that show, The Job is shot without a studio audience or a laugh track, something networks are often leery of when it comes to half-hour comedies. As Farr learned in her audition, the show is pushing the envelope in many ways.
I came to New York and read with Leary,she said. After a few takes, they told me just to improv, say whatever I wanted. So Denis starts and immediately says the F' word 10 times in the first sentence! The consummate New Yorker, Farr responded in kind.
We cursed at each other for 10 minutes straight. We were in tears. Finally I got ready to do it again, and they said No, that's perfect. And that's the [audition] tape they sent to ABC.
Although optimistic about the show's potential, Farr says that if it ultimately follows the fate of Sports Night,she won't have any regrets.
I'd rather go down with a show that I'm proud of than stay on with one that I'm not.
