Starz Starts Improv Comedy Series

By FRAZIER MOORE of The Associated Press

On the new comedy “Head Case,” Dr. Elizabeth Goode has a thriving practice as therapist-to-the-stars. She’s also pushy, neurotic, oblivious and overwhelmed by problems of her own.

Even so, her days are filled with celebrity clients who, within the not-so-safe safe haven of the therapist’s office, are clearly gluttons for psychic punishment, at a hefty fee.

For instance, Goode is immediately suspicious of her new client, actor-musician Ahmet Zappa. He’s L.A.-born, the son of legendary rocker Frank Zappa, but his first name makes her think he might have ties to foreign terrorists.

“You get stopped a lot in airports?” she asks. “What sort of camps did you go to as a kid? Did you ever talk to anyone about cells?”

“I also water ski,” he says, exasperated. “Not a lot of water skiing with the Taliban members.”

Comedian/talk-show-host Alexandra Wentworth stars as Dr. Goode in this half-hour improvised series which she also co-created and co- produces.

The very funny “Head Case” heads to the Starz premium channel, starting 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Other shows to look out for:

— Nickelodeon’s “mockumentary” series about a world-famous kids’rock band returns for its second season.

Starring real-life brothers Nat and Alex Wolff, and inspired by their preschool-era musical group, “The Naked Brothers Band” is a blend of “The Monkees,”"This is Spinal Tap” and “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Also featured are the Wolff boys’real-life pals and bandmates from preschool days: cellist Thomas (Thomas Batuello) and keyboard player David (David Levi), along with guitarist Qaasim (Qaasim Middleton) and bassist Rosalina (Allie DiMeco).

Created by the Wolff lads’mom, Polly Draper (“thirtysomething”), “Naked” this season will welcome guest stars including champ skateboarder Tony Hawk, comedian George Lopez and veteran rocker Phil Collins.

It returns with a special one-hour season premiere 7 p.m. Monday. The half-hour series airs regularly Saturday nights at 7:30.

— What would happen if humans were to suddenly vanish? Would ecosystems thrive? What remnants of the industrialized world would survive and which would crumble fastest?

These are some of the questions explored in a new documentary, “Life After People.” The film travels to remote islands off the coast of Maine to search for traces of abandoned towns, goes beneath New York streets to see how subway tunnels might become watery canals, plunges into Montana wilderness to imagine the destiny of bears and wolves.

The film predicts that, in the absence of humans, most records of their existence would fade quickly – including, presumably, any trace of this film.

Better watch it while you can. It premieres 8 p.m. Monday on the History Channel.

— In the early decades of the past century, Freudian psychoanalysis and “talk” therapy was gaining prominence as potential cures for mental illness. But an ambitious young neurologist named Walter Freeman advocated a more radical approach: brain surgery to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms.

Despite mixed results, by the early 1940s, some 50 state asylums were performing lobotomies. It was hailed as a miracle cure and Freeman as a visionary. But only a decade later, Freeman would be decried as a moral monster, the lobotomy as one of the most barbaric mistakes ever perpetrated by mainstream medicine.

“The Lobotomist” examines one of the darkest chapters in psychiatric history, and the man who championed it. This “American Experience” film airs 9 p.m. Monday on PBS (check local listings).

(c) 2008 Telegraph – Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.