The WB's "Related" has such a terrific pedigree, you'd be crazy not to welcome it into your home. And you may very well do that, once it stops jumping all over the furniture and chewing on your shoes.
Created by "Sex and the City" writer Liz Tuccillo and executive produced by "Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman, "Related" stars four immensely attractive actresses as four sisters attempting to live, love and learn on the photogenic streets of New York City.
Like the Sorelli sisters themselves, "Related" is funny, smart and lovely to look at. And it is so hyperactive and high-maintenance, you'll want to send it off to a spa so both of you can get some rest.
Jennifer Esposito ("Spin City") leads the ensemble cast as Ginnie Sorelli, an ambitious corporate attorney (as opposed to all those slacker corporate attorneys) with an adorable British husband (Callum Blue, "Dead Like Me") and big corner-office plans.
The other Sorelli sisters are – in descending birth order – Ann (Kiele Sanchez, "Married to the Kellys"), a therapist specializing in counseling transvestites; Marjee (Lizzy Caplan, "Mean Girls"), a crisis-prone event planner; and Rose (newbie Laura Breckenridge), a college student with a pronounced youngest-sibling complex.
When we meet the Sorellis, they are up to their pretty eyes in problems. Ginnie is pregnant, but hiding it from everybody. Ann's boyfriend ("Judging Amy" 's quietly appealing Dan Futterman) is making breaking-up noises. Marjee has to move back home after being evicted, and sweet, dutiful Rose has changed her major from pre-med to experimental theater. Only she hasn't told Dad yet.
TV REVIEW
"Related"
9 tonight, KSWB/Channel 69
 ½
|
All of this drama comes to a screwball-comedy head during a congratulatory dinner for Papa Sorelli (Tom Irwin from "My So-Called Life"), who has added to the angst quotient by deciding to marry Renee (Tony-winner Christine Ebersole), the "pathologically chipper" girlfriend whose favorite adjective appears to be "super."
But everything is resolved in the end, with time for a big-hug moment and – thanks goodness – an air-clearing gag involving a smelly baby blanket.
If the über-clever "Gilmore Girls" makes you crazy, this show will send you around the bend, too. But if you love the Gilmore's arch quipping, or you miss your "Sex and the City" gal pals something fierce, "Related" is your kind of show. And it might get on your nerves anyway.
Between the zippy cha-cha music and the girls'-night vibe, "Related" feels like a "Sex and the City" episode, except that it's twice as long and therefore, half as effective. One hour of motor-mouthed patter is a lot for an audience to absorb, and judging by the actresses' breakneck line readings and over-caffeinated energy (Esposito sounds perpetually winded), it's not so easy on the stars, either.
If you can handle the frenzy, there is escapist fun to be had here. Except for Rose's by-the-book college adventures – which seem tacked on to keep the young WB crowd from tuning out – Tuccillo's script for the first episode is a diverting whirlwind of sisterly conflict, relationship trauma and growing pains, all delivered with charm and intelligence by a tremendously appealing cast. All the "Related" team needs to do now is take a deep cleansing breath and let this breezy show sell itself.
Karla Peterson: karla.peterson@uniontrib.com; (619) 293-1275.
