In ABC’s new comedy-drama program Men in Trees, kooky blonde actress Anne Heche plays a famous “relationship coach” and authoress of women’s romantic self-help books who is temporarily stranded in Alaska after discovering that her fiancé has been cheating on her.

In this simple, natural, and untamed environment she predictably realizes that she really knows nothing about men and romantic relationships. Naturally, she decides to stay there, get some wisdom, and write a truly informed book about men and love.

Presumably, new illusions will be shattered in funny-serious ways each week.

What the great screenwriter-director Preston Sturges called Topic A is of course at the center of things, and it seems likely to remain there, given the concept of the show.

The program is likeable because Heche has an amiably goofy presence and her character’s growing awareness of her personal weaknesses and her willingness to change them are quite laudable.