Ellen Gray | 'Viva': Lifeless, even with the music

VIVA LAUGHLIN. 10 tonight, Channel 3. Moves to 8 p.m. Sundays this weekend.

THE FIVE PEOPLE - excluding TV critics - who saw the rollicking "Viva Blackpool" when it debuted on BBC America two years ago should probably expect to be disappointed with "Viva Laughlin," in which CBS transplants a musical mystery about a would-be casino owner from the English seaside to the Nevada desert.

The rest will probably only be confused.

Since there's nothing more annoying than someone telling you "the British version was better" (something that in the case of "The Office," is proving less and less true), I'll stop now.

Particularly since "Blackpool's" not yet available through Netflix.

Still, coming fresh to "Viva Laughlin," CBS' latest attempt to prove that the C doesn't just stand for "CSI," has its own problems.

There's the singing and dancing, for one thing.

You're meant to either love it or hate it. But there exists a far worse possibility - that you'll just shrug and keep surfing.

Those for whom the name Hugh Jackman means something more than "The X-Men's" Wolverine will probably enjoy the "Viva" executive producer strutting his stuff in the pilot as casino magnate Nicky Fontana.

But even if Nicky were going to be dropping by every week - doubtful - we'd still have to contend with the colorless Lloyd Owen ("Monarch of the Glen") as the meant-to-be-colorful Ripley Holden, a guy who here comes off as more Ken doll than Tony Soprano.

Let's just say that David Morrissey, who starred in that show I've promised to stop talking about, was a far more disturbing - and charismatic - presence.

As I mentioned in yesterday's piece about undercover Brits, Owen, like Morrissey, isn't from around here, or from anywhere near Nevada, either, something that's pretty clear just about every time he opens his mouth.

And just as Owen can't seem to commit to an accent, "Viva Laughlin" seems, at least in its pilot, to be having trouble committing to the whole musical concept, so that it's not always clear whether Owen's just singing along to the radio or, you know, singing.

On the plus side, Madchen Amick proves to be an inspired bit of casting as Ripley's long-suffering wife, who's about to be offered some romantic options.

Melanie Griffith as Ripley's would-be girlfriend, Bunny Baxter?

Not so much.

Bunny's just sad, Griffith maybe even sadder, sucking whatever energy exists in "Laughlin" out of any scene she's in.

But perhaps the saddest thing about "Viva Laughlin" is that should it fail - and the odds of success are not good for most new shows in this or any season - it'll be blamed on the music.

Inevitably, the show will be compared to Steven Bochco's late, unlamented "Cop Rock" (which in my then-amateur TV-watching days, I remember kind of liking) and the other, supposedly cooler networks will make fun of CBS for daring to take a chance.

But the problem with "Viva" isn't that the network made a bad gamble.

It's that it didn't have the guts to risk everything.

The theme of outsiders revolutionizing government has always been popular in Hollywood, which, long before Ronald Reagan - and "Dave" - gave us Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

But it turns out Americans aren't the only ones who can get romantic about politics.

PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" launches its 37th season this weekend with "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" (9 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 18, Channel 12), a miniseries about a supermarket manager (Jane Horrocks) who gets herself elected prime minister of Great Britain.

Even in Britain, which has had more experience than the United States in being led by a woman (more than one if you count the queen), Ros Pritchard's rapid rise to power plays like a bit of a fairy tale.

But that's more than half the fun of "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," whose first exhilarating episode is followed by a few reality checks, both political and personal.

By the end, you might feel as if you're watching a different series altogether.

If you want to know how the British entertainment industry really feels about the United States and the war in Iraq - and about those in their country that have supported both - you've only to turn to Hugh Grant's portrayal of a Yank-resistant British PM in "Love Actually."

Or to Ros Pritchard, whose down-to-earth approach to politics doesn't rule out some George Bush-bashing along the way. *

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com or join me at noon today at philly.com as Inquirer TV critic Jonathan Storm and I host our weekly chat with readers.