From Deseret News archives:

CW experiment begins

Published: Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008 12:53 a.m. MDT
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The CW's latest grand experiment is about to launch. The struggling network has sublet real estate to Media Rights Capital, which debuts four shows Sunday.

Two weren't available for review, which is never a good sign. The other two both have possibilities but appear to be drowning in problems.

4Real (Sunday, 4 and 4:30 p.m., Ch. 30) is a reality/celebrity do-gooder show.

In the first episode, Cameron Diaz travels to Peru to meet a medicine man who opened a youth center. In the second, poet/hip hop artist K'naan travels to Kenya to meet with an activist.

Again, this was not available for review.

In Harm's Way (Sunday, 5 and 6 p.m., Ch. 30) is a reality show about dangerous jobs.

Not a reality/competition show like NBC's boring "America's Toughest Jobs," but a show that shows us what real people who have tough jobs go through.

Again, it wasn't previewed for critics. But the first couple of episodes are about members of the Coast Guard and professional bull riders.

Valentine (Sunday, 7 p.m., Ch. 30) is sort of a new version of "The Love Boat." Only without the boat. And with Greek gods. Really.

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Set in present-day Los Angeles, Jaime Murray ("Dexter") stars as Grace Valentine, the immortal also known as Aphrodite/Venus. This being the 21st century, she and her cohorts run sort of a dating service to help people hook up with their One True Love.

The team/family includes Phoebe (Autumn Reeser, "The O.C."), the goddess of the Oracle at Delphi, whose magic pool provides inside information; Leo (Robert Baker), aka Hercules, who provides the muscle; and Grace's lothario son, Danny (Kristoffer Polaha), aka Eros/Cupid, who runs around shooting people with his magic love/lust gun.

I am not making this up.

And when the family business is threatened with collapse — and the gods are threatened with becoming mortal — Grace enlists the aid of romance novelist Kate Providence (Christine Lakin) to help them be more contemporary.

"Valentine" is sort of sweet in spots, but surprisingly adult in others. Danny is a dog, and Grace is cheating on her current husband, god of war Ares/Mars (who shows up in Episode 2), with her ex-husband, Hephaestus/Vulcan (Patrick Fabian, "Veronica Mars") — the god of fire. He's now sort of her handyman.

C'mon, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

In tonight's premiere, you've got drunken sex between an engaged woman and a guy who's not her fiance. And a really tacky scene that recalls Meg Ryan in the restaurant in "When Harry Met Sally."

If you watch "Valentine" with kids, you're going to have some explaining to do.

Recent comments

Your report that 4REAL was not available for review is inaccurate. I...

4REAL | Oct. 4, 2008 at 12:11 p.m.

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