New shows tonight makes Fox a 7-night-a-week operation
January 19, 1993
Tom Dorsey
TV-Radio Critic

"Key West" is a "Northern Exposure" wannabe but a closer cousin to ABC's "Going to Extremes," which is on its way out. It's hard to say where this show is going, but it may be too cool to have broad appeal. Still, people who like "North Exposure" should give it a look, even though the premiere doesn't live up to that show's quirky quality.

It centers on Seamus O'Neill (Fisher Stevens), a young New Jersey factory worker who wins a lottery and moves to Key West. He wants to become a writer and follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, his idol who once lived there.

What he runs into is a kooky cast of characters, from a bleeding-heart-liberal mayor to his boozing, sexy opponent who is politically to the right of conservative columnist Pat Buchanan. Seamus also acquires a voodoo-invoking guide and falls for a go-go dancer at a bar where the owner threatens to feed lusty customers to an on-site alligator.