Lisa Ann Walter on Finally Striking Gold With ‘Abbott Elementary’ — And Why It Was Worth the Wait
variety.comMichael Schneider Variety Editor at Large When I arrived in Los Angeles and first started covering television, it was summer 1996.
I was a young 22-year-old kid suddenly thrust into reporting at events like the Television Critics Association press tour, where nearly everyone else around me was a crusty newspaper journo twice my age. (And lying to network execs by telling them I was 25 — apparently, I thought that made me sound seasoned?) That first TCA was a boot camp in learning how new TV shows are launched, and I still vividly remember that freshman crop of fall 1996 series.
In those hopeful months before September premieres, anyone has the chance to break out and go the distance. One of those sitcoms was ABC’s “Life’s Work,” starring a promising, brash, hysterical comic named, you guessed it, Lisa Ann Walter.
She had already starred in a short-lived comedy for Fox, a midseason entry that didn’t get much attention. But this was the one that was going to be a hit, inspired heavily by her own routine as the working mother aiming to “have it all.” ABC promoted the hell out of “Life’s Work,” comparing Walter to its established roster of superstar comedians fronting their own half-hours, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres, Brett Butler and Tim Allen.
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