“Being mayor consists of photo ops and speaking at animal funerals.”

— Mayor Neil

SERIES INFO

“Mr. Mayor”

Comedy

A wealthy businessman becomes the mayor of Los Angeles.

Time: 8 p.m.
Weekday: Thursdays
Network: NBC
Creators: Robert Carlock, Tina Fey
Stars: Ted Danson, Holly Hunter, Vella Lovell

Bouncing from “Cheers” to “The Good Place,” good, old, reliable comedy actor Ted Danson has landed once again in a good, old, reliable, albeit weak, sitcom on good, old, reliable NBC.

Good or bad, Danson’s show comes through the door just as we needed it. He can take the weakest material handed him, and this sadly is one of them, and still rake in the love and ratings.

This time out, writer/producers Robert Carlock and Tina Fey, yes, that Tina Fey, who carries diplomas from “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” have given Ted a straight out politically naive character to work with.

This will be Neil Bremer, the just elected mayor of Los Angeles. He takes on a deputy mayor in the shape of flaky hippie Arpi Meskimen (the solid, gold, old, reliable Holly Hunter) who bounces in and out of city hall in fading ’60s jackets and a backpack of outlandish ideas.

Listen to this one. She has put together a manual titled in capital letters PPPORN FOR THE KIDS.

In smaller letters we learn it’s Private Plane Pads Over Residential Neighborhoods.

As a fan of the brilliant Holly Hunter who has a golden resume, I suspect Holly, clearly here to keep her SAG insurance, is going to fight through this with her fingers crossed behind her backpack.

Mayor Neil etching a bumbling rich guy with a heart of gold, hires Holly as his deputy, a device designed to provoke as many comedy conflicts as they can jam into this.

Here he’s the semi retired billboard billionaire in cool J. Crew slacks and pastel sweaters, trying to keep his private school political activist daughter’s (an earnest and capable Kyla Kenedy) love and admiration.

He’s probably the only politician who ran because he was bored and wanted to impress his daughter, who is complicating his shaky position by running for office in her pricy private school.

Her platform? She’s against legalizing marijuana, because it hurts the “poor, surfers and DJs burdened with DJ school debt.”

His? Banning straws statewide and promoting the local marijuana shops.

As he cuts the ribbon on a new shop, he proclaims “OK, lets buy drugs.” Ouch.

After which he is offered a bag of “gummies” which me munches all day.

Somehow Kyla makes her dumb idea work, with her straight faced sincerity.

We don’t see the race for the seat, just Neil’s arrival on the scene, as a sweet, funny, white guy who just won the biggest job in a Latino strong city.

Just in case any blemishes appear on the bright work of this endeavor, Carlock and Fey have padded the mayor’s entourage with his gorgeous chief of staff Vella Lovell (“Crazy Ex Girlfriend”) and a very serious and wary Mike Cabellon (“Orange is the New Black”).

And to make this reviewer happy, the delightful comic master Bobby Moynihan, who famously created, among other characters, “Drunk Uncle” on “Saturday Night Live” is here. I’m hoping he didn’t exit that soft job just for this.

I would not pay my rent money that “Mr Mayor” has a shelf life longer than warm milk, but I confess to laughing … often.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.

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