HOLLYWOOD — The new Fox comedy "Cracking Up" (8:30 p.m., Ch. 13) features one of the more dysfunctional families on TV — a truly whacked-out bunch of people with issues you've got to see to believe.
The creation of executive producer Mike White (best known for the movies "School of Rock," "Chuck & Buck," "Orange County" and "The Good Girl"), these characters are the result of a difficult experience earlier in his TV-writing career.
"The first show I ever worked on was a show called 'Dawson's Creek,' " White said. "It was the wish-fulfillment fantasy of what you'd like to be. And I think I'm still working out the trauma of trying to write those characters.
"I'm trying to write characters that are a little bit more, you know, just totally screwed up. That's just much easier for me to imagine."
Not everyone in "Cracking Up" is cracked. The comedy centers on psychology grad student Ben Baxter (Jason Schwartzman), who moves in with the extremely well-to-do Shackletons, ostensibly to work with troubled 9-year-old Tanner (Bret Loehr). Baxter soon discovers that the reason Tanner doesn't fit in is because he's the only normal one in the house — everybody else is nuts.
Ted (Christopher McDonald) is a philanderer whose business dealings are also shady. His wife, Lesley (Molly Shannon), is an alcoholic who lives in a bit of a fantasy world. Teenage son Preston (Jake Sandvig) is so full of phobias and repressions it's hard to know where to begin. Teenage daughter Chloe (Caitlin Wachs) has similar problems, which she hides behind her cheerleader persona.
While the family looks All-American from the outside, inside it's a nuthouse. And Ben has to to deal with it.
Be warned, a lot of the Shackletons' problems are of a sexual nature. And sex is a major focus of the story, particularly in the second episode (which airs Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. in the show's regular time slot).
"Cracking Up" is a bit like "Malcolm in the Middle" or "Arrested Development" — a single-camera sitcom without a studio audience or a laugh track that focuses on an oddball family. Like "Arrested," it's going to be an acquired taste, and it's highly doubtful a large audience will acquire it, even though Fox is airing it after "American Idol" tonight and tomorrow.
THE SHIELD (11 p.m., FX) is not the kind of show I generally like. It's a violent, gritty cop show. And its explicit language and sexuality often make "NYPD Blue" look tame.
But it's one of the few shows I look forward to with a sense of anticipation. This is not procedural drama — this is a show about characters so vivid they leap off the screen.
At the center of "The Shield" is Det. Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), one of the most complicated characters you're ever going to see in any show. This is a guy who's completely loyal to his friends and fellow cops, who can be relentless in his pursuit of justice — but who is, at the same time, involved in plenty of illegal and immoral activity of his own.
Tonight's third-season premiere finds Mackey and his team dealing with the aftermath of their big score at the end of season two — when they got away with millions of dollars they stole from Armenian gangsters' "money train." The Armenians don't know that cops got the cash and are leaving a trail of bodies — bodies with their feet hacked off — as they try to recover their loot.
Det. Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder) gets a new job, although not the one she was expecting. She's double-crossed by Capt. Aceveda (Benito Martinez), who won his city-council primary but isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And Claudette is soon on the trail of the money train.
Always-quirky Det. Dutch Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) tackles a case that doesn't turn out the way he'd hoped and viewers would expect. And soon everybody is working (through different means) to prevent a potentially Armageddon-like gang war.
Keep in mind, however, "The Shield" looks more like something you'd see on HBO than on ABC, CBS, NBC or even Fox. It contains horrific violence, nudity, sexual situations and scenes that are often tough to take.
It's great drama, but it's certainly not for everyone.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com