Help Me Help You

There are more contrived titles that could have been burgled from Jerry Maguire—although "Shoplift the Pootie" just isn't apropos for a therapy-based sitcom. Ted Danson (if that's really you under all that makeup) stars as an abrasive shrink only a stethoscope removed from his previous character in Becker. Suffering from his own midlife crisis, Danson captains a counseling round table whose members are suffering from flaws that are a mental equivalent of the dependably funny football to the groin. Help relies on cartoonish edits catered toward youthful writing intended to make an older audience feel young again. A fall season thin on new sitcoms leaves the door ajar for pedestrian efforts to linger like Danson's post-Cheers reputation.