TV: Kevin Hill

I liked the premiere of Kevin Hill even more than I thought I would. The premise itself didn't sound that thrilling to me -- self-obsessed lothario lawyer gets his priorities shaken up after inheriting his cousin's 10-month-old baby girl -- but the show had a lot of buzz surrounding it, and I like Taye Diggs. So I gave it a shot, and like I said, it worked for me even better than I had any reason to expect it to.

I don't identify with any aspect of Kevin's life -- the opulent lifestyle, the sudden parenthood -- but Taye Diggs has such immense charisma, that's not even an issue. You instantly like Kevin because you instantly like Diggs, even when the character is at his most shallow and manipulative.

Kevin's new baby-wrangling duties force him to quit his high-pressure, high-prestige law firm, and the only other job he can find is at a small, all-woman firm, which just happens to be going up against his old firm in court. Conflict! But the new job and co-workers have promise as actual characters, not just cardboard feminist targets for Kevin to shoot down, or who will take down Kevin just because he's a man. Michael Michele as his new boss is especially promising.

And the scenes with the baby are adorable as all get-out. Kevin genuinely wants to do what's best for her, despite the sacrifices he'll have to make, and that's sweet. But whoever's letting the baby wear those earrings should be smacked. Earrings on a baby! I don't care if they're the non-pierced kind (and I couldn't tell if they were or not). Who the hell does that? Why not give her a tattoo while you're at it?

I'm worried the show might become a little too similar to Ally McBeal, on which Diggs previously played a lawyer. There are similar courtroom stunts, similar outlandish, writer's wish-fulfillment scenarios (Kevin blows off a first date with a gorgeous movie star -- and she comes to his front door to see what the matter is, because she's intrigued by his turning her down. Yeah, I bet Cameron Diaz does that all the time), and the exact same breaks in between scenes -- when you see the sweeping, helicopter shot of the city at night, with the soul song playing on the soundtrack, you will swear you are watching a repeat of Ally.

And I wasn't wild about all the gay jokes. Kevin hires a gay nanny, then keeps asking all these stupidly inappropriate questions; Kevin and his buddies trade gay-themed insults back and forth. Now, guys really do talk like that, and maybe Kevin has never interacted with a gay person before, so his questions are innocently ignorant. But still -- the jokes are too easy, and too plentiful, and play way down to the audience. Patrick Breen as the nanny is a standout among the cast, and I'd hate to see his character reduced to a gay joke with good baby advice.

The show's not especially deep or original, but it's sweet and pleasant and entertaining. Which sounds like I'm ripping on it, but I'm not -- I felt good after watching it, and immediately looked forward to the next episode. Diggs has star-power to spare, the rest of the cast works well, the writing (despite my complaints above) is generally funny and engaging and real, and the whole concept feels genuine, rather than the gimmick it could have felt like. I've been let down by a couple shows this season after great pilots (Jack & Bobby chief among them), but I think Kevin Hill, despite the fact that it's on UPN, the place where non-Star Trek dramas go to die, has a chance at long-term success.