Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray column: Ellen Gray: CBS takes a break from crime-busters for 'Ex List'

Oct 02, 2008 (Philadelphia Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- DIS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- THE EX LIST. 9 p.m. Friday, Channel 3.

VALENTINE. 8 p.m. Sunday, Channel 57.

EASY MONEY. 9 p.m. Sunday, Channel 57.

CRIME-BUSTING'S been very, very good to CBS, but that doesn't mean the law-enforcement network wouldn't like to break the rules now and then.

It's tried just that with shows like "Moonlight" and "Viva Laughlin," with "Swingtown" and "Jericho."

These shows got buzz -- some good, some bad -- but none drew the kind of audience even buzz-free "NCIS" attracts against some of TV's toughest competition.

Which could be why CBS chooses to put some of its daring efforts on Fridays.

That's the home of "The Ex List" (9 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 3), a sassy, slightly raunchy comedy about a serial dater who's told by a fortune teller that if she marries, it will be within a year -- to a guy she's already met.

Fans of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" will recognize "The Ex List's" Elizabeth Reaser as the gorgeous amnesiac Ava/Rebecca from last season.

CBS brought Diane Ruggiero ("That's Life," "Veronica Mars") to grow "Ex" and its heroine, a flower-shop owner happily named Bella Bloom (Reaser), from an Israeli show called "Mythological X."

Ruggiero is one of my favorite writers, and I loved tomorrow's pilot, one of six she wrote or oversaw before quitting the show last month, telling the Newark Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall that CBS executives were pushing her to hew too closely to the Israeli original.

I haven't seen enough yet to say who's right here, but since it was the writing, not the concept, that sold me, I'm concerned.

On the plus side, Reaser is enormously appealing as Bella, a thirtysomething woman who's reconsidering her choices.

It doesn't hurt, either, that the show's San Diego setting is sunny and presumably corpse-free.

Fans of the gauzy "Ghost Whisperer" may be taken aback by a "Sex and the City"-like discussion of waxing, but I was happy to hear someone on CBS talking about a body part that was still attached to a living person.

Love & money on CW

Eyebrows were raised when the CW decided to farm out its low-rated Sundays to an outfit called Media Rights Capital, which reportedly planned to consult advertisers in developing the lineup that launches Sunday.

Turns out I've seen worse.

Oh, there's nothing groundbreaking in the romantic comedy "Valentine," a frothy fantasy that has the Greek goddess of love (Jaime Murray) and her sharpshooting son (Kristoffer Polaha) living not on Mount Olympus, but in one of those mansions we're used to seeing on "The Bachelor."

The difference? Their matchmaking's meant to last.

Fans of "Cupid" -- which ABC once canceled and now is remaking -- might get a kick out of the concept, which is pleasantly executed, and I can see why advertisers might like it, too.

But who'd have thought modern-day "Mad Men" (and women) would go for "Easy Money," an edgy, entertaining -- and brilliantly timed -- dramedy from "Sopranos" veterans Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider about a family that runs a high-interest loan business?

"Roseanne's" Laurie Metcalf appears to be having a blast as Bobbette Buffkin, who, along with her family, runs Prestige Payday Loans. One son, Morgan (Jeff Hephner), seems a little brighter than the average Buffkin, and there may be a reason for that, though one that's probably not as fascinating as daily life at Prestige.

Like the gods of "Valentine," the Buffkins live in a mansion, this one paid for by people who can't get lines of credit and platinum cards but still don't want to stop stimulating the economy.

You have to wonder if advertisers who depend on some of those very people even had a clue what they were buying.

Readers weigh in

In showing CBS' "The Ex List" and the CW's "Valentine" to Daily News Reader Reviewers, I was conscious this year's group skewed slightly female.

So the respectable 7 out of 10 that the two romantic comedies averaged wasn't a surprise.

Who loved them most was.

"Very good and funny," declared Frank Stipa, of Cherry Hill, of "The Ex List," which he awarded a perfect 10.

"Very funny script, with definite language of sexuality," wrote Anthony Tann Jr., of West Philadelphia, who gave it a 9.

Carl Skowronek, who gave "Ex" an 8, gave "Valentine" one, too, "because I believe in love."

Awwww.

Though Alycia Sheppard, of Northern Liberties, liked "The Ex List" more than promos had led her to expect, giving it a 7, she found it "a little risque for network TV, particularly CBS," while Gwen Harris, of South Philadelphia, who also rated it a 7, said it was for those "over 21."

Havertown's Karen Lawler and her daughter Sandy gave "Valentine" a 9 and an 8, respectively, Karen calling it "good family entertainment," Sandy "a great campy comedy."

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.

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