Showtime Strains for Edgy Humor With ‘Linc’s’ and ‘Rude Awakening’

Showtime unveils two new comedy series tonight, one dealing with politics, the other focusing on an alcoholic. Neither will drive you to drink, but they won’t make you double over with laughter either.

First comes “Linc’s,” an hour co-created by Tim Reid (“Frank’s Place,” “WKRP in Cincinnati”) and set at a Washington bar owned by Russell Lincoln (“The X-Files” alum Steven Williams), a blunt, Republican widower.

Instead of trivial, crazy conversations from the likes of Cliff, Norm and Carla, we get timely discourse about the right, left, tobacco bills, gays in the military and school lunches for kids.

Linc’s regulars include Eleanor (“Jackie Brown’s” Pam Grier), a children’s activist with a distant husband; Johnnie (Georg Stanford Brown), a smug lobbyist; and Harlan (Joe Inscoe), a Southerner who assists a Republican senator. He also serves as the show’s token white guy.

Once we get past the introductions, the plot of this premiere kicks in. It concerns the eagerly awaited return of Linc’s daughter Rosalee (Tisha Campbell), a strong-willed Army lieutenant with a secret.

While bonding and addressing the possibility of parenthood, Rosalee tells Linc she is ambivalent about her sexual orientation, which understandably shakes up--and subsequently angers--her conservative father.

The opener is at its most interesting when exploring the relationship between loving father and daughter, with Williams and Campbell playing well off each other in their emotional scenes.

At this early stage, however, the show’s chief flaw is its zeal to make pointed observations about our state of the union at the expense of good humor. Topical it may be, but funny it is not. And the supporting characters, who include a brash waitress (Golden Brooks), a seasoned prostitute (Daphne Maxwell Reid) and a know-it-all cabby (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who supplies the inside word from Capitol Hill, are not particularly appealing.

Clearly, Reid and fellow creator Susan Fales-Hill are striving for an edgy, issue-oriented mix of character-driven ensemble comedy and pathos, but they only get it partially right in the debut.

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For levity of a darker hue, welcome to “Rude Awakening,” a crude and coarse comedy starring “Twin Peaks” siren Sherilyn Fenn as a loose woman with a drinking problem.

Fenn displays an unexpected knack for knockabout physical farce as Billie, a former TV teen star who in high school was voted most likely to vomit.

Billie takes a belt in the morning and sleeps around at night, waking up to a guy between the sheets and blaming her bod for the one-night fling with the stern admonition, “Bad genitals! Bad! Bad!”

An aspiring writer who doesn’t write, Billie’s bleary world is populated by a superficial, self-centered mother (Lynn Redgrave); a Christian sister-in-law (Corinne Bohrer) whose naughty nickname can’t be printed in a family newspaper; and a neurotic boss (Richard Lewis) who produces tacky movies.

The premiere finds Billie skirting an intervention, dallying with her boss’ sleazy investor and landing in jail after hitting a fire hydrant in a drunken stupor. That accident leads to her court-ordered entry in Addictions Anonymous, whose members include her handsome neighbor and recovering alcoholic (Jonathan Penner).

A second episode involves a unique combination of puke, lesbians and oral sex that no doubt ranks as a first for cable or broadcast TV.

Created by Claudia Lonow, an actress who played Diana Fairgate on the long-running soap “Knots Landing,” this “Awakening” never puts one to sleep. But its crass dialogue often falls flat, arch and witty as it may have sounded on the printed page.

Fenn is up to the challenge of portraying this unflinchingly cruel and abrasive woman, but be warned, you may be looking for a can of Lysol to clear the air in your living room once the show is over.

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* “Linc’s” premieres at 10 tonight, followed by “Rude Awakening” at 11 on Showtime. The network has rated both programs TV-MA (may not be suitable for children under the age of 17).