The latest, greatest hope to lead CBS out of its ratings wilderness is "The George Wendt Show" (7 p.m., Ch. 5).
But both CBS and Wendt, who spent 11 seasons as "Cheers" barfly Norm Peterson, are going to be crying in their beer before this is over. The new show hasn't got much hope.Not that Wendt isn't still a lik-able guy. After all, any actor who can take an alcoholic, do-nothing loser and make him a fan favorite can almost work miracles.
And Wendt will have to work more than his share to rescue his self-titled show.
Actually, up until a few weeks ago this was called "Under the Hood" - a much better title.
Loosely based on the public radio broadcast "Car Talk," this sitcom features Wendt as George Coleman, the elder of two brothers who run a repair garage and host a radio call-in show about car repair.
But, strangely, tonight's pilot has almost nothing to do with cars at all. Instead, it's about how George and his brother, Dan (Pat Finn) are called upon to help out at the local Catholic Church's charity casino night. But Dan, who harbors a deep grudge against the priest and the church, goes and wins all the money - depriving the kids of their trip to summer camp.
It's all fairly predictable - except for the volume and vehemence of the anti-Catholic jokes. That's unexpected, and many of the jokes concerning children being physically abused by nuns and priests hardly seem funny.
Wendt and Finn have a nice chemistry, and there are a few genuinely funny lines.
But the supporting cast is almost nonexistent - with the exception of an annoying turn by Brian Doyle-Murray as an obnoxious old coot - and there isn't enough humor to hold up for even the first half hour.
Overall, there just isn't much to "The George Wendt Show." Certainly not enough to keep viewers coming back week after week.
This is a show that NBC developed and then passed on. It's that kind of thinking that has brought such a resurgence in the Peacock's creative and ratings fortunes.
And this is one more step that the vision guys at CBS are still lagging far behind.
MORE CBS CHANGES: If you seem to recall your local television editor telling you a few weeks ago that "George Wendt" would air at 8 p.m., you're right.
But the network changed its plans and moved the show up to 7 p.m.
And that's not the only change the struggling Big Eye has made.
"Wendt" will be followed by "Double Rush" at 7:30 p.m. and "The CBS Wednesday Night Movie" at 8 p.m., beginning next week.
That movie had been "The CBS Tuesday Night Movie" since 1990. (David Letterman made a crack recently about this particular change being the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic.)
As previously announced, the new family drama "Under One Roof" will air Tuesdays at 7 p.m. beginning March 21. "Rescue 911," which was supposed to go on hiatus, will instead move to 8 p.m. on that night. And it will be followed by the return of "Burke's Law."
And on Friday, March 31, the legal drama "The Wright Verdicts" will air Fridays at 8 p.m.
As to the shows that are being displaced by these moves, "Under Suspicion" is off the air (and not particularly likely to return); "Northern Exposure" will return sometime in May with new episodes (but may not return in the fall); ditto for "Love & War"; "Women of the House" will have a brief run on Mondays later this spring (and its future is doubtful after that); and it appears that "Hearts Afire" may finally be canceled.
MORE LOCAL WAC BASKETBALL: Broadcasts of Utah and BYU basketball games have caused more than a little stink this season - particularly the Utes' games on KUTV that have wiped out broadcasts of "Seinfeld" and "ER."
Well, KUTV-Ch. 2 and KSL-Ch. 5 will be carrying the Utes and the Cougars, respectively, on Thursday - and possibly Friday - but with a minimum of disruption.
The Utes' quarterfinal game is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The network programming the game will take out is a new episode of "Mad About You," the debut of the very funny new sitcom "Hope & Gloria" (too bad!), and a 3-year-old repeat of "Seinfeld."
An overtime game might get in the way of a new episode of "Friends" 8:30 p.m., but there's little chance that the new "ER" at 9 p.m. will be affected.
If the Utes win, they play Friday at 9 p.m. That will pre-empt a repeat of "Homicide: Life on the Streets," but the news and the "Tonight Show" will be delayed.
BYU's quarterfinal is Thursday at 3 p.m., so all KSL-Ch. 5 viewers will miss are a couple of hours of syndicated sitcoms and reality shows. If the Cougars win, they play Friday at 6:30 p.m., which would take out a repeat of "Diagnosis Murder" and a new episode of "Under Suspicion." (And the latter show has apparently been canceled by CBS anyway.)
Saturday's final is already set for ESPN (7:30 p.m.), so if the Utes and/or the Cougars make it, neither Ch. 2 nor Ch. 5 will be able to show the game.