The Norm Show

By Joel Stein

Maybe Don Ohlmeyer was right. Even though Norm Macdonald was funny on Saturday Night Live and is great when guesting on Howard Stern or David Letterman, it turns out the guy isn't always so entertaining. After Ohlmeyer, NBC's West Coast president, fired him from the anchor desk at SNL's "Weekend Update" last year, Macdonald made the disastrous film Dirty Work. And now this.

On The Norm Show (Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. E.T., ABC), Macdonald, in the least likely scenario since Manimal, plays an ex-hockey player who is avoiding jail by paying off a community-service sentence as a social worker. While Macdonald is often amusing, the sitcom never rises above mediocrity. The problem, besides the premise, is that Macdonald's sharp sarcasm may be a bit much over half an hour.

Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) plays Norm's former social worker who now has to work side by side with this incorrigible slacker. She does well enough, but is stuck with little more to do than yell, "Oh, Norm!" at the appropriate times. The two, no doubt, will learn a valuable lesson from each other every week.

If Macdonald finds the right vehicle, he can still prove Ohlmeyer wrong. This just isn't it.

--J.S.