Sometimes, the origin of a TV series seems infinitely appropriate. Just ask Ron Leavitt how he came up with the new WB sitcom "The Help" (Friday, 8:30 p.m., Ch. 30).
"I don't know about you, but if my dog (poops) on the floor and I know the maid is coming, I'm not going to pick it up," said the show's executive producer. "And you just pretend that they discover it. You leave the room. And I had to believe that other people are like that."
Lest you think Leavitt is shallow, he does wonder about how his servants feel about him. "I just kind of think that maybe they hate us."
So that's the origin of "The Help." Dog poop.
Which is also an apt description of the show. Dog poop.
To call "The Help" low-brow would be elevating it. This is, after all, a show from the creator of "Married . . . With Children."
"The Help" is sort of "Upstairs, Downstairs" for idiots. Maria (Camille Guaty) is the most sympathetic character — the 22-year-old, newly hired maid whose mother previously held the job. And Maggie the cook (Mindy Cohn of "Facts of Life") isn't particularly awful, although she does tend to spit in the food a lot.
But then there's the self-absorbed trainer (Antonio Sabato Jr.); the apparently psychotic dogwalker, Molly (Tori Spelling of "90210"); two nannies — the senile Doris (Esther Scott) and the nubile Anna (Marika Dominczyk) — and the chauffeur, Ollie (Al Santos), who spends most of his time having sex with his employers' 19-year-old daughter, Veronica.
As bad as these people are, the Ridgeway family they work for is worse. Matriarch Marlene (Brenda Strong) is obliviously mean. (Her husband is always away on business). Son Adam (David Faustino of "Married") is a mono-syllabic drunk, Veronica (Keri Lynn Pratt) is a has-been teen pop star, Cassandra (Megan Fox) is a teen plastic-surgery queen, Doug (Graham Murdoch) is overweight and sex-obsessed and Grandpa Eddie (Jack Axelrod) is a doddering fool.
Altogether, these are unpleasant people doing boorish things and spouting crude lines.
Dog poop indeed.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com