TV Review: Head Case

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Head Case (2007)–**1/2

After his therapy session with Dr. Goode (Alexandra Wentworth) in the first episode of Head Case, Jason Priestly, dressed in women’s tank and wig, exits into the waiting room. There he runs into sportscaster Rick Eisen who asks Priestly if it’s his first time with Dr. Goode. It is, but Eisen ensures, “It gets better.”

The pushy, judgmental Dr. Goode has a slew of celebrity patients who go to her out of an apparent emotional masochism. The first three episodes feature appearances by Andy Dick, Ione Skye and Shelby Lyne, in addition to Priestly and Eisen. Later episodes feature Tom Sizemore, Jason Silverman and the karate kid himself Ralph Macchio.

It’s not the celebrity A-list the similarly-themed animated show Dr. Katz could claim, but it’s not bad for a therapist who can force an unwilling Priestly to think hard about his sexuality just because he’s pretty.

Yes, Head Case is a funny, if slightly conventional move by Starz! cable network into the world of original programming. Wentworth’s sketch comedy background shows, but the deadpan delivery and self-deprecating humor from her celebrity guests…err…patients are enjoyable.

In a world with The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm, enjoyable alone doesn’t cut it. When you have to subscribe to Starz! to watch the show, it means it should be fresher. In the third episode, for example, Andy Dick’s standard temper tantrums aren’t as funny as they used to be. A few years ago the single-camera, no laugh track approach would have been equally novel, but today, even Comedy Central would have passed on Head Case.

Still, the 15-minute runtime is a nod to the success of YouTube, iFilm and the other user-generated content sites. Head Case isn’t long enough, even after three episodes, to let us fully appreciate the characters’ quirks (the gossiping receptionist and the patient-less Freudian psychologist), but it makes it so the funny moments come in quickly and the unfunny moments go away fast. I don’t plan on subscribing to Starz! for this one, but when it leaks onto the Internet, you can count me in.

Head Case airs as part of Starz! Comedy Hour every Wednesday at 11 p.m.