ABC TUESDAY NIGHT

Earlier this evening ABC premiered one new show, Commander In Chief, and the first night of a returning show, Boston Legal.

Although it presents our first female President, and is mildly interesting, CiC was not so different from West Wing, except that the kinds of personal problems the CiC faced were the first ones one might guess a female President would face in a TV show. (EG. Her husband was asked what menus the White House chef should prepare, and her daughter refused -- for about three lines of dialog -- to attend the swearing in, because there were mother-daughter issues -- Mom is not conservative enough.) Similarly, the first international crisis the President was asked to deal with concerned a woman -- with a baby not her husband's -- being threatened with death by stoning in Nigeria. More serious than the choice of predictable plot-problems was that the writing and direction had no great innovative flair or excitement.

The contrast to the writing in Boston Legal could not be sharper. The dialog and acting here were very sharp and witty. The situations were a little goofy, but it held together with amusing surprises and the confidence of both characters and actors.

Both shows, unfortunately, were seriously marred by so many commercials, that popped up so often, and went on so long, that it was hard to get any momentum going, and it was irritating in the extreme.