A suggestion for the programming whizzes over at NBC: Every once in a while flip your remote to Tom Brokaw. Glance at a few headlines on MSNBC.com. Keeping up with current events might eliminate the embarrassingly un-timely shows that dot this fall’s schedule.

   Presumably we would have been spared a show about animated animals yucking it up with Siegfried and Roy, what with Roy’s recent tiger mauling.

   We might also have been spared “LAX,” a cheeseball drama set in a major international airport that premieres tonight at 10 p.m. Among its other failings, and there are others, the show appears to have been created in complete ignorance of how different life has become in our security-heightened post-9/11 world.
   “LAX” is a “Las Vegas” knockoff that takes place in an airport instead of a casino. Stuck in development limbo for three years, the show once known as “HUB” didn’t take off until Heather Locklear got attached last year. By that point 9/11 had come and gone, and airports were considerably less glamorous, even to those lucky Americans who do not fly.  
   But rather than address this reality, producers merely incorporated some homeland security references into the show. 

   If only “LAX” were set in, say, a restaurant rather than an airport, it could be tolerable and perhaps even fun. How could it not be with a main character named Harley Random?

   Harley (Locklear) and her arch-nemesis/ex-lover Roger (a yummy Blair Underwood) are battling for a promotion to head LAX airport after their superior commits suicide by stepping in front of a landing plane, an odd opening twist that’s never really explained.

   During one hectic but typical day, Harley and Roger both try to show why they deserve the promotion. Amidst their attempts to sabotage each other and keep the planes running on time, we’re introduced to the other airport regulars: Aussie airline passenger coordinator hunk Tony, naïve immigrations officer Nick and by-the-book officer Wendy.

   The show's pilot has its hits and misses, among them Roger’s attempt to disarm a possible bomb. In a show that plays everything for “O.C.”-style wry drama, the bomb scene doesn’t belong. It’s a reminder that this stuff really is happening every day, and it's for exactly that reason that we don't want to see it when we sit down to watch what's clearly intended as escapist television. 
 

Quality of show (on a scale of 10): 5

   Locklear has perfected the tough bitch act on shows from “Melrose Place” to “Spin City.” The only difference is the costumes. At age 40 she has started wearing skintight pants instead of bun-skimming miniskirts. She and Underwood, who usually plays the sweet singleton but is surprisingly likeable as a smarmy married guy, have decent chemistry that should grow as the show progresses.

   The writing on this show, while not as witty as “West Wing” seasons 1-2, is much better than on any other new NBC drama. When the governor’s handlers threaten to divert his incoming plane to a different airport because of the bomb threat, Locklear tells her staff not to let them “divert No. 1 or we’ll look like No. 2.”
   The subplotting is uneven. A storyline about a mail-order Filipino bride who plays on newby Nick’s sympathies takes up a lot of time and puts too light a touch on the serious issue of immigration fraud in so many airports these days.

    Another incident, involving a group of drunken Serbian pilots who basically hijack a plane, seems to exist for no other reason than to make foreigners look bad, and that's not particularly entertaining in post-9/11 America.

   There's a scene where one pilot deadpans to the flight attendant standing in his way “Move or I’ll kill you.”  It’s not so funny. These days that’s possible.

Positioning (on a scale of 10): 6

   The perfect complement to last year’s surprise hit “Las Vegas,” “LAX” airs Mondays at 10 p.m. But that’s also the same time period as CBS’s rising “CSI: Miami,” which had a great season two and was the third-most-watched show on broadcast television this past summer.

   NBC seemed on the rise with “Fear Factor” and “Vegas” last season, but disappointing ratings for the “Fear” premiere two weeks ago indicate that CBS will continue to win Mondays among 18-49s. If audiences return, they may enjoy “Vegas’” similarly fast-paced lead-out.

   But if they don’t, or if the launch of “LAX” comes too close after the anniversary of 9/11 and all the memories it conjures, the airport drama could stumble.

Cachet, or the “Arrested Development” factor (on a scale of 10): 4

   NBC has been trying to land Locklear for two years. She’s seen as a show-saver, brought on in later years a la “Place” and “City” to boost ratings.  But she hasn’t proved she can launch a show by herself.

   Underwood, who began his career on “LA Law,” is hot after last season’s stint on “Sex and the City.” But reviews for the show have been lukewarm, with many saying the setting is too off-putting to enjoy the show. 

Overall (on a scale of 30): 15.
   Too bad NBC stinker “Hawaii” can’t switch locations with “LAX.” Put Locklear and Underwood in a Honolulu police station and their banter and these absurd, exaggerated storylines would be soapy good fun. Keep them directing traffic at “LAX,” on the other hand, and the discomfort factor’s just too high.  

Read past fall show reviews:

WB's "Blue Collar TV"

NBC's "Father of the Pride"

NBC's "Hawaii"

NBC's "Joey"

NBC's "Medical Investigation"