The buzz from Hollywood ACCESS HOLLYWOOD Dish of Salt by Laura Saltman - Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton team up in this conventional sitcom. Kelsey plays a popular LA news anchor whose character falls victim to a You Tube scandal after a video of him screaming obscenities is leaked. He is promptly fired and must return to the town where he got his start as an anchor. Patricia Heaton is his former co-anchor and the two must team up again hence the title. I hate the title because it sounds very cheesy TV movie. I did however like the show. I think Kelsey and Patricia have excellent chemistry together. Plus, it's set in Pittsburgh, my hometown, so it's got that going for it. When I spoke to Kelsey and Patricia, I taught them a phrase that all Pittsburgh locals must know, "Yins Guys." Look for this somewhere in an episode. Maybe I can come on as a consultant. Of course, they won't be shooting there but the city will be its backdrop. My only concern for this show is that it doesn't feel like a Fox property. Considering Kelsey's long association with NBC from Cheers and Frasier and Patricia's CBS connection from Everybody Loves Raymond, I would think one of these networks would have snapped it up. It would have made a great NBC show had the network actually had any conventional sitcoms. They don't. Their only comedies are Thursday night's lineup that is all single camera shows. I hope it doesn't get lost on FOX because I think it could be a hit. (MAY 18) PREMIUM HOLLYWOOD Will Harris - Nice work, FOX. You had me with Kelsey Grammer, won my confidence with Patricia Heaton, and by adding Fred Willard to the mix, you've got me sitting in front of the TV, waiting for the premiere. (MAY 17) THE TV ADDICT Thanks to the comedic chops of Kelsey Grammer, and a fantastic supporting cast, Back To You is definitely worth twenty-two minutes of your time. (JUNE 14) E! NEWS Gina Serpe - Meanwhile, one of the biggest-profile fall comebacks will be Kelsey Grammer, who will team up with another Emmy-winning sitcom alum, Everybody Loves Raymond's Patricia Heaton, for Back to You. The comedy series, which based on star power alone has already generated considerable buzz among advertisers, features Grammer as a TV anchorman who is fired from his glitzy Los Angeles gig and is forced to return to his old Pittsburgh station, where former coanchor and onetime love interest, Heaton, remains. Veteran funnyman Fred Willard also costars. Back to You has been paired with 'Til Death, the only freshman series, comedy or drama, to be renewed by FOX for a sophomore season. In addition to forming a Wednesday night comedy block, the prime-time pairing will reunite, if only in terms of programming proximity, Heaton with fellow Raymond vet Brad Garrett. (MAY 17)
			The TV critics weigh in SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS Charlie McCollum - Just one comedy - FOX's Back to You with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as contentious local news anchors - has the scent of being a ratings winner. (MAY 27) TV GUIDE EDITOR BLOG Stephen Battaglio - While ABC and NBC have abandoned the multicamera sitcom, FOX is embracing the form with Back to You on Wednesday at 8 pm. It's conventional, but really funny. With Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer as stars, the worst that can happen for FOX is viewers stop to watch it thinking it's an Everybody Loves Raymond or Frasier episode they haven't seen. (MAY 17) TV GUIDE ROUSH DISPATCH Matt Roush - As expected, 'Til Death was renewed and paired with a new and much-anticipated lead-in: the promising Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton TV-newsroom comedy Back to You. Clips shown from the pilot, directed by grand master James Burrows, had a classic feel (the show looks more CBS or old-school NBC than FOX, to be honest), with physical comedy, spirited banter and a strong supporting cast including Fred Willard as a sportscaster. If anything or anyone is going to launch a new comedy night without benefit of an Idol lead-in, it may well be this show and these stars. (MAY 17) PROVIDENCE JOURNAL Rick Kushman - FOX's best move: Pairing Kelsey Grammer with Patricia Heaton in a can't-miss-sounding comedy called Back to You, and FOX dearly needs a legitimate comedy. (JUNE 17) POST GAZETTE Rob Owen - With few traditional, multicamera sitcoms ordered by any of the networks for fall, Back to You may be television's next best hope for a revival of the comedy genre. (MAY 18)
			Bloggers have their say TELEVISIONARY Jace - Back To You, a hysterical and entertaining comedy that I already plan to add to my TiVo Season Pass. (APRIL 11) CULTURAL LEARNINGS Myles McNutt - Rates Back To You as one of the 5 most promising pilots of the 2007/2008 upfront presentations. I feel like I need to include a single sitcom on this list, I really do. And, it is with some apprehension that I include this single-camera/multi-camera hybrid on the list. From the clips that FOX has shown it is certainly looking just like every other sitcom you've ever imagined. And yet, I'm placing it here because it has an enormous amount of pedigree behind it, and if anything is going to overcome sitcom constructs it's likely to be Back To You. I can't argue against Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. They're sitcom legends, each with years of experience, and each with a sense of comic timing that could develop well over time. Kelsey Grammer gets to play a complete asshole, something which is kind of nice to see from him, while Heaton gets to play someone who is unstable at this particular point in her life. The clips from the pilot are meant to be overly confrontational, over-the-top, because it needs to establish things quickly. I believe that over time these two actors will easily find the subtlety which could raise the show to another level. Combine this with a great supporting player in Fred Willard. Fred Willard is kind of fantastic. I don't really need to even say why, he just is. The show, therefore, is coming to the table with a strong backing of established comic actors, a premise which I don't immediately hate, and a sense that this is really going to be given a chance by FOX. I don't get that feeling about any of the other sitcoms: most of them really feel like their networks are just grasping at straws. With Back To You, I think that FOX has found enough "sure things" to overcome its other issues to be the sitcom with the most potential in the upcoming season. (MAY 20)