Fringe: Just in Time: The Judy Holliday Story

Judy Holliday was a beautiful woman, a gifted comedienne, and a genius with a knack for invention. In Bob Sloan's Just in Time: The Judy Holliday Story (also directed by Sloan), Marina Squerciati's excellent performance as Holliday almost makes up for the show's weaknesses. Just in Time relies heavily on self-satisfied shtick, including having Holliday's mother omnipresent; awkwardly combining What's My Line and Holliday's Senate testimony about whether she was a communist; and having Holliday fall back on her dumb-blonde persona in personal interactions. The show's presentation of Holliday's life is sloppy; for example, Holliday's son is used as a device with little attention paid to how he came to exist. While this is definitely a crowd-pleaser (the crowd I saw it with was certainly pleased), the brilliant Holliday deserves better.