The Sandspur

Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

There was a time, not so long ago, when prolific producer David E. Kelley reigned as television's King Midas. Everything he touched turned to 24-karat brilliance. Remember when "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice" were Emmy champs in the same year?
It doesn't get much better than that.

Lately, however, Kelley has cranked out more dross than gloss, with the dreadful "Girls
Club" and "Snoops" serving as ego-crushing low points and "Boston Legal" achieving only
marginal success. In this business, past success clearly guarantees nada. Just ask Aaron Sorkin.

Still, when Kelley breaks out a new show, it tends to get your curiosity percolating.

After all, you always want to see what this undeniably gifted writer has up his sleeve.

Unfortunately, "The Wedding Bells," a series Kelley dreamed up with Jason Katims ("Roswell"), doesn't exactly have us swooning
upon first glance. What sounds like a frothily fun concept _ a romantic comedy tethered to a family-owned wedding-planning
business _ is only sporadically fresh and amusing in its disjointed pilot episode. Our guess is that viewers won't be in a rush to get hitched to this show.

The Bell sisters _ Annie (Ka-Dee Strickland), Jane (Teri Polo) and Sammy (Sarah Jones) _ took over the Wedding Palace after their parents divorced. Now they find themselves wrangling on a daily basis with out-of-control Bridezillas, wedding-day jitters and the usual logistical nightmares as they attempt to send the betrothed off into matrimonial bliss.

We'd love to tell you all about these new Kelley girls, but Wednesday's pilot does a poor job of fleshing them out. As far as we
can tell, Annie had a relationship with the wedding photographer (Michael Landes) and she's still not quite over him.

Jane is married to an uptight bean-counter (Benjamin King), but their union lacks passion and you're left wondering how long
she'll be able to fend off the advances of their head chef. As for Sammy, she's a sexually aggressive gal who is not above getting her carnal jollies with the studs in
the bridal party.

Generally speaking, you want your lead characters to make strong first impressions. But "The Wedding Bells" script allows guest
stars Missi Pyle (a snooty bride-to-be) and Delta Burke (her overbearing mother) to overshadow the others in hammy roles. While
that might stand as a compliment to the comic abilities of Pyle and Burke, it also underscores the fact that the main stars don't exactly command our attention. (Pyle has since been added to the regular cast.)

Continued...

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