Hank is the first of two family-oriented comedies ABC is running back-to-back on Wednesday nights beginning at 8 p.m., with each show featuring a big former sitcom star.

Most TV sitcoms, and that goes double for ABC, are largely about what the great filmmaker and satirist Preston Sturges referred to as Topic A. That is because Americans presumably have nothing else on their minds–other than being murdered or having to go to the hospital, the subject matter of most TV dramas.

Hank bucks that restriction, attempting to mine humor from family relationships, romantic love, and social conditions–which used to be the central subjects of Anglo-American comedy before society discovered sex. The concept of the show is this: fired CEO Hank Pryor–played by Kelsey Grammer– moves his family out of their now-unaffordable Manhattan apartment and goes back to his hometown, River City, to start over.

Without money and servants to bail them out, the family members have to live like actual human beings, and without a job at which to hide out, Hank has to deal with his family. Those are reasonable ideas on which to build a comedy. Unfortunately the pilot episode is rather weak on really amusing jokes.

On the plus side, however, the show does afford some insights into the characters and their situation, in particular the title character. Hank’s attempt to connect with his family, as he has never done before, rightly suggests that overcoming one’s selfish impulses is essential if one is to have a truly satisfying life.

A scene in which Hank awkwardly tries to connect with his son is both funny and touching in the odd way the best TV sitcoms often manage such scenes, and thus it shows the series has the potential to be effective.

In this fish-out-of-water scenario, Grammer’s Hank becomes the type of clueless, would-be Autocrat of the Breakfast Table character made famous by William Powell (Life with Father) and Clifton Webb (Cheaper by the Dozen, etc.) and reiterated by countless sitcom actors since then.

Like those predecessors, Hank also has a wholesomely attractive, smart wife who keeps the household running, and a pair of intelligent, quirky children who continually point out his personal shortcomings.

The show ultimately supports bourgeois, middle-American values, which is rather unusual for both ABC and contemporary TV sitcoms. As such is it rather refreshing. Hank doesn’t try to break any new ground, and there aren’t many memorable jokes in the pilot episode. However, the characters are largely likable, and with Grammer leading the way, the show might survive if ABC gives it time.

But that’s a big if.

–S. T. Karnick