WB's 'Related' is totally unrelatable

At first glance, "Related" (Wednesday, 8 p.m., Ch. 30) looks like the perfect show for the WB — an ensemble comedy/drama about four sisters. And it's got a great TV pedigree — one of the creators of "Friends" (Marta Kauffman) is an executive producer, and the writer of the premiere (Liz Tuccillo) was a writer on "Sex and the City."

So it's somewhat mystifying that "Related" is so darn dull. I almost thought I'd dozed off while watching it, but I was just wishing I would.

It's not even a particularly original idea. It's a rehash of "Sisters," only these siblings are younger than those who populated that 1991-96 series.

There are four Sorelli sisters and they're all sort of messed up. The oldest, Ginnie (Jennifer Esposito), is a lawyer on the career track who's taken aback when she finds out she's pregnant. Ann (Kiele Sanchez) is a therapist who needs therapy as she's on the verge of breaking up with her live-in boyfriend.

Marjee (Lizzy Caplan) is a 23-year-old event planner whose life and career are both disasters. And Rose (Laura Beckenridge) is college sophomore who's switching majors from pre-med to experimental theater.

If their own lives aren't enough to keep them occupied — and they're mostly occupied with each other's lives — their father has just announced he's going to get remarried.

The biggest problem is that these characters just don't seem like real people. Good writing makes you believe in the characters even when you don't believe in the situation — and all scripted TV is, at best, "heightened reality" (as they like to say in the TV biz).

But it's hard to care what happens to anyone on this show. And the last thing you want to leave viewers thinking is, "Who cares?"

The WB went so far as to send out the second and third episodes of "Related" so that critics would be won over. And, while it's true that if you sit through three hours of this there are a few moments that are amusing, even endearing, there are very few. Far too few to make sitting through three hours of this worth your time.

Unless, of course, you're suffering from insomnia.

The WB has become like a real network in many ways, not all of them good. Chief programmer David Janollari and his minions have fallen into the trap so many network executives have fallen into before — they buy a show because of the pedigree of its producers, hoping that lightning will strike again.

(Note to Janollari: Viewers watch shows, not producers.)

And I'm guessing that Kauffman, who came aboard after the original "Related" pilot failed (it was never shown to critics), has made this a better show than it was originally. But not good enough.