TV Reviews : Wooden ‘Dummy’ Is Short on Laughs

KTTV Channel 11 begins airing a new syndicated series Sunday. It’s called “What a Dummy.”

And how.

Premiering at 6:30 p.m., “What a Dummy” refers to a red-mopped ventriloquist’s dummy named Buzz, who turns up in an old trunk that a deceased vaudevillian has bequeathed to the Brannigan family of New Jersey. The high jinks really hit the fan when Buzz talks on his own: “So, tell me, kid, where the hell am I?”

Shock, disbelief, then suspense: Will the parents (David Doty and Annabel Armour) tell Buzz (the voice of Loren Freeman) to buzz off? “Can he stay, Mom?” the youngest son begs. “Can he live with us?”

Mom is in a quandary: “I don’t know.” Oh, please. They’re going to send a wisecracking dummy to the YMCA?

You’d think they’d hit the talk shows with Buzz and make a fortune. But noooooo. This is one of those series, like “ALF,” in which part of the humor is supposed to come from the family’s attempts to hide the existence of the weird visitor.

More high jinks: A next door neighbor (Kaye Ballard) is terrorized by wisecracking Buzz. And in next week’s second episode, Buzz continues wisecracking while the two Brannigan sons (Stephen Dorff and Joshua Rudoy) clash over a girl.

The test: See if you can watch this series without moving your lips.--H.R.