Saunders: A spring fling for 'Brian'

Published April 13, 2006 at midnight

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According to my Network Television Gardening Book, the final spring planting is scheduled for Sunday.

ABC's What About Brian, a romantic drama geared for young adults, uproots the popular Grey's Anatomy.

Don't fret, Anatomy fans.

What About Brian will be transplanted to a 9 p.m. Monday time period the next night for a six-week run, while Anatomy returns to its Sunday slot April 23.

Since one of Brian's executive producers is J.J. Abrams of Lost, Alias and Felicity fame, the series should stir at least some passing interest.

And for the most part, it's worthy of such interest, mainly from the coveted 18-34 viewing crowd the network wants to reach.

Brian is more Felicity, the former WB drama (1998-2002), than either Lost or Alias. Set in Los Angeles, Brian stars Barry Watson in the title role as a 34-year-old bachelor who's had a bad run when it comes to matters of the heart.

His friends (three couples) have paired off in a variety of relationships, leaving Brian as the last bachelor standing.

He's been involved in a series of unsatisfactory affairs, like in the premiere when he hooks up with a woman named Karen, who has a mattress fetish. (Brian calls her Car Girl because they met when his faulty driving caused an accident).

The main plot device centers on Brian's unrequited love for Marjorie (Sarah Lancaster), who becomes engaged to his best friend Adam (Matthew Davis).

Fortunately, this triangle is twisted out of predictable story line shape during the premiere.

And while Brian is attempting to solve his romantic woes, viewers will peek into the lives of two other couples, who also are traveling down a rocky romantic road.

While What About Brian is anything but precedent-shattering television, the premiere is several cuts above the young adult scenarios that pop up regularly on Fox and the WB.

The writing and the acting have a sense of reality - at least television's version of young adult reality.

And tucked in between all the romantic angst are welcome segments of subtle humor.

What About Brian is the last major spring tryout series - a system that allows the networks to look for potential shows for the fall schedule. Unfortunately, the majority of these spring plantings are uprooted before they can claim solid audience roots.

For example, NBC's much ballyhooed Heist, which premiered three weeks ago for an announced 13-week run, already is on network's cancellation list.

Grey's Anatomy has been a standout exception in the spring planting category.

Premiering last April, the series quickly gained a solid audience.

What About Brian premieres without a question mark in its title. But there's definitely a question about its future.

PRESIDENTIAL RUN: ABC's Commander in Chief returns at 9 tonight (Denver's 7) for the first time since late January.

To say the freshman series is in a tough time period is like noting that Fox's American Idol is a major hit. Commander in Chief is competing against NBC's ER and CBS' Without a Trace - two popular dramas whose combined ratings this season among 18-49 adults is an 11.4. By comparison, Primetime, formerly in this slot, has averaged a 2.5.

Starring Geena Davis as the first woman president, Commander in Chief shows up with a load of faulty production baggage.

Rob Luire the creator, was removed as executive producer in October because of excessive production delays, even though the series started strongly in audience ratings at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue), came aboard, bringing new characters and story lines which often changed the focus from subtle plots to save-the-world confrontations.

Bochco is gone and the series is now in the hands of producer Dee Johnson, who worked with Lurie. However, tonight's episode was produced during the Bochco regime.

The feeling of many in the network world is that ABC is merely playing out the string.

Only a surprisingly-high audience response would bring Commander in Chief back for a second term in the fall.

JOB SECURITY: Maybe Matt Lauer won't really miss Katie Couric.

The Today co-anchor has signed a new NBC contract that will keep him as co-host until the spring of 2000. His annual paycheck: A reported $13 million.

NBC obviously wanted to ensure that it would not lose both morning stars. Lauer's old contract was through the spring of 2008.

TODAY'S NOSTALGIA: On April 13, 1958, CBS' Alfred Hitchcock Presents aired a mystery in which Barbara Bel Geddes played a woman who clubbed her husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb and then cooked and served the murder weapon to investigating police officers.

What About Brian

•Premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday on Denver's 7.

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5137

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