It sounds like the concept for a romantic comedy. A pair of divorced actors, both of them long in the tooth and carrying a few extra pounds, each get a comeback on separate shows on a youth-oriented network, opposite much younger actors. They’re so close, yet so far, separated only by their time slots. Then one day, they see each other across a crowded room at a network publicity event, their eyes lock, and the strains of Peaches and Herb rise up. "Reunited / And it feels so good…"
I might watch that show. The actual WB series that Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson landed on — not so much. Twins (8:30 p.m. E.T. tonight) stars Griffith as the daffy matriarch of a lingerie-company family now run by two twentysomething daughters: one sexy and dumb, one brilliant and plain. Suffice it to say that it’s even worse than it sounds. Johnson’s Just Legal (9 p.m. E.T., Monday) is more promising but disappointing. He plays a down-at-the-heels, low-rent defense attorney who becomes the boss and mentor to a 19-year-old legal prodigy (Jay Baruchel). Baruchel (Undeclared) is nerdily charming, but Johnson chews too much scenery to go with the whiskeys the script has him knocking back, and both attorneys are saddled with such cornily dramatic closing-arguments speeches that you will end up rooting for the jury to send an innocent man to jail, just to spite them.
Johnson and Griffith each have appealing young co-stars (for Griffith, Roseanne‘s Sara Gilbert). Let’s hope their proteges have better options someday when its their turn to play the fogeys on the kids’ network.