“Whoopi,” NBC, Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Telltale quote: “You don’t like her because she’s white?”
“I don’t like her because she’s 12!”

    Overview: Whoopi Goldberg is best known as a stand-up comic, actress and both a recipient and host of the Academy Awards – a formidable career to say the least. Yet her forays into television have proven to be the stumbling block in an otherwise remarkable list of projects and awards. Her last show, “Bagdad Café” (1990), received a lukewarm reception and was soon canceled.
     This time, she’s back on the small screen as Mavis Rae, a Grammy-nominated one-hit wonder who has spent the past 15 years running a small boutique hotel in Manhattan (incidentally, her character on "Bagdad Café” also ran a hotel).
    Now Mavis wants to open a lounge at the hotel to reignite interest in her short-lived singing career. She is joined by her conservative younger brother, his juvenile white girlfriend and the hotel’s Iranian handyman-turned-concierge, Nasim. Instead of generating fresh new comedy, these clashing lifestyles threaten to sour the whole Tuesday lineup.

    Verdict: After slipping from No. 1 to No. 3 in adults 18-49 on Tuesdays last season (behind Fox and ABC), NBC is desperate for any help it can get.
    But with “Whoopi’s” exaggerated stereotypes and a script that tries unsuccessfully to be controversial, audiences at 8 p.m. are more likely to find better liberal-minded social commentary from “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell.


“Happy Family,” NBC, Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.

Telltale quote: “Please explain why your new girlfriend is the woman you used to call the spooky old lady next door.”

    Overview: John Larroquette and Christine Baranski play a happily married couple with three grown children. While audiences struggle to understand how “Night Court’s” litigious ladies’ man and “Cybill’s” high-strung mom have found marital bliss, the real plot of the show revolves around the couple’s dysfunctional children. Todd, the oldest, is engaged to a great girl but dating another. Tim, the youngest, drops out of junior college and moves in with the family’s much older next-door neighbor. And Sara, the only girl, can’t translate her overachieving career success into any relationship potential.

    Verdict: Many successful sitcoms feature a stable couple and their well-intentioned children (“Growing Pains,” “Family Ties,” “The Cosby Show”), but few have found recent success combining the separate neuroses of adult siblings.
     Besides the unconvincing portrayal of a happy couple by Larroquette and Baranski, the show suffers from a lack of direction. None of the children’s individual issues are given much air time or explanation; as a result, viewers are left with little regard for any of them.