letterten 2003-04 fall preview

debuts Friday, Sep 26, 9:00pm

premise from	When Faith, a soap opera diva, is killed off her show, she flees the tabloids by moving to the suburbs with her sister Hope's family. [ABC link]
stars	Faith Ford ("Murphy Brown"), Kelly Ripa ("Live with Regis and Kelly," "All My Children"), Ted McGinley ("Happy Days," "Married...With Children"), Macey Cruthird, Jansen Panettiere
producers	Joanna Johnson, Guymon Casady, Emile Levisetti, Michael Edelstein
studio	Touchstone Television

opinions
	Big stars, but how will viewers like Faith Ford playing opposite a character named Faith. It's bound to confuse some people. Kelly Ripa brings a HUGE following and this is going to be sampled heavily. Are Kelly's morning viewers the same ones home on a Friday? Smacks a little bit like a female version of "The Odd Couple" with families.
	We're predicting much confusion over the fact that Faith Ford plays the character named Hope, and Kelly Ripa is Faith. That said, it's good to see Ford back on TV; she seems at ease with the role and doesn't overplay too much. That's not the case with Ripa, but that's to be expected, as her character embodies most traits of an out-of-touch diva. On the down side, it's not apparent that the other characters have anything to do, and the laff-riot centerpiece of the pilot is a food fight between the sisters.

my thoughts on "Hope & Faith"

Full season. It marks Faith Ford's return to sitcoms and Kelly Ripa is so tied to Touchstone (via "Live") that it would not be a great idea for ABC to kill this. I don't expect the firing squad, but if the lead-in doesn't pull viewers in -- it does have competition, but everything in the slot is very different. If it doesn't draw viewers here and "Threat Matrix" fails, 8:30 Thursday would be an interesting slot. (If production is halted on "8 Simple Rules...," I believe this would be the show to move to Tuesday.)