This article orginally appeared as a free-lance piece in the San Antonio Express-News in '97. I include it for your edification about the then highest-rated show on MTV. Oddly the pinheads cancelled it. Love it or hate it, "Austin Stories" deserved better. After you've read this, please make a comment to MTV (follow the link to "You Tell Us") about the cancellation.--ed.

Howard Kremer, a star of MTV's new sitcom "Austin Stories," should patent his method for dealing with long days of filming in the broiling Texas sun. The director yells "cut," and Kremer shrugs his shoulders slightly, letting his jacket slip off his shoulders and hang low at his waist. A few semi-cooling moments later, Kremer smiles and, with a gentle tug, the coat is in place for another take.
 

Kremer and fellow stand-up comics Laura House and Brad "Chip" Pope soon could be even hotter if "Austin Stories" succeeds in enlightening the television masses to the laid-back Capital City lifestyle that Richard Linklater celebrated on the big screen in "Slacker."
 

But the show might best be defined as "HomiSeinfeld," House said, because it combines "Seinfeld"-like slice-of-life stories with jerky, hand-held cameras a la "Homicide." The three main characters essentially play themselves and there is no laugh track.
 

"It's a great show," said House, who was a junior high journalism teacher when cast in the show. "It's different and it's funny. Every movie or TV show you see is in New York or L.A. This comes across as a world you haven't seen before."
 

Kremer's and Pope's characters are chronically unemployed, while House portrays a reporter at an alternative weekly newspaper.
 

"My character is the goofy guy," said Pope, who like House is a University of Texas graduate. "I'm the middle ground without the confidence of Howard or the sarcasticness of Laura."
 

The stars, who were picked during an MTV talent search three years ago, aren't letting this unique shot at television success go to their heads.
 

"It's amazing, the best experience of my life," Pope said. "But right now I have to get my car fixed. It wouldn't start this morning."
 

Kremer is the resident ladies' man, who each episode has a new love interest, dubbed a "McBubbly" on the set. Julianna Sheffield, former lead singer of Austin band 8 1/2 Souvenirs, is the designated McBubbly in the premiere episode.
 

On a humid Friday night in early August, Sheffield, in a shimmery blue miniskirt, joined Kremer, House and Pope outside a fake nightclub as they tried to talk their way past a hipper-than-thou doorman and a hulking bouncer with a mohawk of hair partially covering the tattoos on his skull.
 

A crowd of extras in leopard-print miniskirts, '70s-style disco shirts and even a few business suits tried not to let the sweat stains show as they pantomimed conversations in the background.
 

The nightclub door actually was the back alley entrance to a former health club on East Riverside Drive in an area known as home to large quantities of University of Texas students. Inside the building are the show's main sets, rooms that sit like enclosed boxing rings in the middle of piles of sawdust and electric cables. There is a cafe, House's newspaper office, an apartment, and Laura's home, which is a replica of Kremer's actual Austin residence.
 

"It's a lot nicer that the inside of my real house," Kremer said.
 

"Austin Stories" is only guaranteed 13 episodes on MTV, but cast and crew are optimistic it will be picked up for a full season and more.
 

Indeed, shelves in the outer offices were piled high with enough fluorescent multicolor paper to last years. The mohawked doorman sat, staring down at his boots and their metal taps with human-skull carvings. He suddenly reached
 

in his pocket, pulled out a cellular telephone and talked animatedly. Across the room, above a copy machine, a sign read "Courtesy Is Contagious." Welcome to the world of make believe, MTV Austin-style.
 

While the sets stand at the ready, much of "Austin Stories" is filmed on location around Austin, with the crew expert at packing up and moving a few times a day. Regular Austin visitors may recognize local landmarks such as hip
music store Sound Exchange near the UT campus, the Capitol, or funky thrift stores along South Congress Avenue.
 

In late August, a used car dealership in South Austin was transformed into Big Harry's -- where customers were assured "A Big Harry Deal" from the father of another of Kremer's McBubblies.
 

Extras portraying car salesmen and customers almost outnumbered the crew of about 30. At the back of the showroom real employees watched and steered actual customers away from bright camera lights.
 

Kremer grabbed a hand-held, battery-operated fan and let his jacket fall. If he has his wish, the show will be running for years to come. He won't even argue against another summer spent on the set.
 

"All it takes is lots of water, lots of shade, trying not to let the makeup melt all over your face, and trying not to throw any tantrums," he said with a laugh.