‘Life’ Is Good; Otherwise, Parental Avoidance Suggested

Parents, is this you?

Viewers get polar extremes of parenting skills in this week’s early batch of new fall series, ranging from the grieving widower of Treat Williams in the WB drama “Everwood,” to John Ritter’s boob dad in ABC’s “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.”

As for mothers, Bonnie Hunt is again chaotic, only this time as a zoned-out, minor-celebrity parent of four in ABC’s “Life With Bonnie.” Based on its pilot episode, it may be the funniest of this season’ new comedies.

Not much fun at all, though, is the ABC drama “Push, Nevada,” which is not about parenting. But ... uh ... what is it about?

“Everwood” is about life in a small town nestled picturesquely in the showy Colorado Rockies. That’s where New York neurosurgeon Andrew Brown (Williams) has relocated with his two kids, after abruptly uprooting them from Manhattan following the death of his wife in a car accident. With his new beard, jeans and wardrobe of plaid shirts, he’s now a walking ad for Lands’ End while starting a general practice in an abandoned train depot that looks as if it was whipped into woodsy chic by Martha Stewart.

The vicarious appeal here should be obvious: a new start and simpler life in a gorgeous spot where, if you’ve got big bucks like Brown, you can live off your wealth and not bother to charge patients.

But oh-oh. Everwood already has a doctor. He’s Harold Abbott (Tom Amandes), who does charge for his services. Which means he’s furious at Brown for even showing up, to say nothing of starting a free clinic.

Brown’s 15-year-old son, Ephram (Gregory Smith), is even angrier at his dad, blaming him for his mother’s death while failing to adapt to his new environment as well as his 9-year-old sister, Delia (Vivien Cardone), whose Colorado Rockies cap symbolizes her acceptance.

“Everwood” at times overcomes its urban-to-boonies stock TV premise. Unlike much of prime-time drama, it pauses to mourn death with sensitivity, and even has Brown regularly engage in hallucinatory chats with his dead wife as he continues to feel the ache of grief. And there’s an explosive argument here between Andrew and resentful Ephram (easily the show’s most arresting character) that is memorable for its searing, raw emotion.

Yet otherwise, “Everwood” has much going against it, most notably an absence of subtlety that undermines Brown and others. He is so arrogant and smug (with a bedside manner bordering on the smarmy) that he’s likable only compared with his conveniently snotty and mean-spirited rival. It’s a stretch, by the way, that Abbott would be the only doctor in this rather cosmopolitan hamlet of 9,000 prior to Brown’s arrival.

Also a stretch is how kids here repeatedly speak mature lines inconsistent with their tender ages. “It’s a big step for me,” little Delia tells her dad when starting school in Everwood.

Big Stretches are the soul of ABC’s routine new sitcom starring Ritter, an actor whose skills at comedy surpass his taste in material.

Ritter’s obsessive-compulsive father in “8 Simple Rules ... “ is as grating as Andrew Brown in “Everwood.” Just as the doctor’s former career track severed him from parenting, so has Paul Hennessy’s travels as a sports writer kept him from his kids. But now he’s writing a sports column from home, allowing him to laser-in protectively on his voluptuous 16-year-old daughter, Bridget (Kaley Cuoco). Meanwhile, his wife, Cate (Katey Sagal), is off being a hospital nurse, and their bookish 15-year-old daughter, Kerry (Amy Davidson), focuses on school, and 13-year-old son Rory (Martin Spanjers) revels in boyish mischief.

So ... Hennessey plays the strict parent, buffoonishly smothering with attention his thong-wearing older daughter whom a sports colleague calls “hot,” while coming down repressively on her new boyfriend. “If you make her cry,” he warns the kid when he arrives for Bridget, “I will make you cry.”

Even for empathizing parents, this should be enough already.

“Simple Rules” has some nice moments, notably Kerry’s caustic wisecracks. And in a future episode, when Hennessey opens the front door from the inside to discover Bridget kissing a boy on the porch, she protests: “Daddy, don’t you knock?”

For the most part, however, this is one of those broadly played comedies that needs reining in and writing sharper than having Ritter play super dad in what, essentially, is a single-parent comedy. When “8 Simple Rules” turns maudlin and syrupy regarding parent and child--as family comedies so often do when trying to show they aren’t entirely frivolous--then you’re the one crying.

From pain.

So thank goodness for Hunt, whose new ABC comedy features her signature running patter, much of it laugh-out-loud funny as she plays the host of “Morning Chicago,” one of those decadent local TV shows that welcomes guests passing through town and feature cooking segments in which food becomes almost an afterthought.

Host Bonnie Molloy to a pair of chefs cooking with vino: “That wine is so strong ... you’re both getting better looking.”

Hunt is still trying to become an overnight TV sensation after all these years. While doing well in other venues, success in sitcomdom has eluded her, and her 1995 comedy for CBS earned more critical plaudits than viewers.

In addition to starring, Hunt writes, directs and produces “Life With Bonnie.” Its quasi-improv environment is perfectly tailored to her volcanic energy that gushes effortlessly Tuesday night, whether she’s on the home front or the talk-show set with gifted David Alan Grier as her director.

The episode opens with Bonnie in a witty frenzy--trying to leave the house with her husband but getting nowhere--and ends self-effacingly with her not getting the celebrity treatment she expects while dining out.

Although pilots can be deceptive, this one plays extremely well.

The premiere of “Push, Nevada” doesn’t.

Reading about its advertised plot tics and glittery guest list is more fun than watching it. Billed as both a game show and a drama, it tries for off-center “Twin Peaks”-ian humor and murkiness, shooting its subjects in extreme close-up from odd angles. Instead it’s David Lynch lite, for “Push, Nevada” initially lacks the seductive screwball quality and dark irony that he and Mark Frost gave their TV experiment of the early 1990s. And even “Twin Peaks” attracted few viewers.

This series is worth some looks just to see what’s what. But watching the premiere--written by movie star Ben Affleck and his partner, Sean Bailey, who are executive producers--demands patience. “If you’re going to stay in Push, Nev.,” IRS Agent Jim Prufrock (Derek Cecil) is advised when arriving in this dusty burg to investigate a financial scam, “take your time.” I’ll say. This is a languid slow dance (no wonder there’s a slow-dance bar in Push) whose smoky dialogue makes it all the more deadly as Prufrock searches for a casino boss named Silas Bodnick (Jon Polito).

Deployed throughout the series are clues that supposedly tip viewers on the whereabouts of a pile of missing money, and being first to guess the location can earn you perhaps $1 million. That may keep you awake, but not much else will.

“Everwood” will air Mondays at 8 p.m. on the WB. The network has rated it TV-PGDL (may be unsuitable for young children due to coarse or suggestive dialogue).

“8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter” will air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC. The network has rated it TV-PGDL (may be unsuitable for young children due to coarse or suggestive dialogue).

“Life With Bonnie” will air at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on ABC. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).

“Push, Nevada” will premiere at 9 p.m. Tuesday, then run regularly at 9 p.m. Thursdays on ABC. The network has rated it TV-14LV (may be unsuitable for children under 14, due to language and violence); Tuesday’s premiere has been rated TV-14SV (may be unsuitable for children under 14, due to images of sex and violence).

Howard Rosenberg’s column appears Mondays and Fridays. He can be contacted at howard.rosenberg @latimes.com.