'Grown Ups': Weak sitcom
bodes tough season for UPN

 Humor is not as sharp as on 'Friends'

 By Andrew Wallenstein

        Leading off UPN’s early-premiere strategy is the dull sitcom "Grown Ups" (premieres tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET, moves to Monday, 9 p.m., time slot beginning Aug. 30). If the network thinks unveiling their new series in August instead of October will reverse their sagging fortunes, think again: The early launch will probably succeed only in whetting viewer appetites for the other networks.
     "Grown Ups" begins what is sure to be a long, hard season for UPN. Maybe not as horrifying as 1998-99, where viewership plummeted a staggering 40 percent in November and six of seven pilots were canceled, but struggling nonetheless. The network picked an unimpressive crop of pilots for the fall, and "Grown Ups" is no exception.
     The sitcom stars Jaleel White, the former child actor best remembered as the nerdy Urkel from the long-running ABC sitcom "Family Matters." He sheds the geek persona for his role as a sensitive twentysomething aspiring to that suspended-immaturity stage of life that seems a lot funnier on NBC’s "Friends." Executive producers Matthew Miller and Jonathan Prince are clearly modeling their series on that top-rated sitcom, but the humor isn’t nearly as sharp.
    White is a good casting move despite the fact that he nor his supporting players are remotely engaging. Although "Grown Ups" is consistently lame, viewers may sample the pilot for no other reason than to see what Urkel looks like as an adult. The novelty will also undoubtedly attract some media attention.
     Will "Grown Ups" be retired early like UPN early-exit predecessors "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" and "DiResta"?
       Not necessarily. The sitcom should benefit from being tucked into UPN’s solid ethnic-programming block, which was moved from Tuesday along with returning anchor "Moesha" at 8 p.m. Unless the new "Moesha" spin-off "The Parkers" at 8:30 p.m. is singularly awful, "Grown Ups" could draw enough of an urban audience to stay afloat. "Malcolm & Eddie" rounds out the evening at 9:30 p.m.
     Still, if there’s one brick in the night’s programming block susceptible to crumble, it’s "Grown Ups." Monday at 9 p.m. is a ferociously competitive time slot, with ABC’s "Monday Night Football," CBS’s "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Fox's "Ally McBeal" checking in. UPN at least had enough sense not to schedule anything good there. Premiering the sitcom a half-hour earlier in the wake of "Moesha" helps, too.

-Andrew Wallenstein is a New York writer.