Herman's Head

Sometimes you wonder how these things get past the drawing-board stage. Herman’s Head is a new sitcom about an ordinary Joe named Herman (William Ragsdale) and four aspects of his personality: Animal (Ken Hudson Campbell), who represents lust and general John Belushi-like behavior; Genius (Peter Mackenzie), who is Herman’s intellect; Angel (Molly Hagan), who stands for compassion; and Wimp (Rick Lawless), who personifies anxiety. They all stroll around in what is supposed to be the inside of — you got it — Herman’s head.

You can guess every obvious joke in this series debut. Upon meeting an attractive woman, Animal urges Herman to jump her bones, Wimp leads him to think she hates him, Angel wants him to consider the woman’s feelings, and Genius is ashamed to be having carnal thoughts in the first place.

The show is a claustrophobic disaster. Because they are confined to the inside of Herman’s head, the actors stalk around their little set as if trapped in a nightmare play that crosses Our Town with Waiting for Godot. And because he is essentially just a vessel for a quartet of wildly conflicting reactions, Ragsdale’s Herman is little more than a quivering lump of indecision. What a bad idea for a show. D-