With "Bells" on...

Producer David E. Kelley does workplace dramas. That's basically his MO. But there's always that not so subtle subplot to his shows -- sprinkled with a signature oddness -- that makes them sort of unique from a lot of other TV guys. Fox's new series The Wedding Bells (which premiered Wednesday after Idol) does the same.

While Kelley may have taken on family before (I'm not up on Picket Fences, but I think that may have been the focus there) and has certainly taken on relationships (Ally McBeal -- which did what it did years before Sex and the City ripped it off), he's found a way to conglomerate it all together with the Bells' family business -- The Wedding Palace. You get family (three sisters of divorced parents who've came home to take over the Palace after their parents split), relationships (of the three: one is married, one's a promiscuous young'un, and one's pretty hung up on her ex -- an employee), and a workplace (one that hasn't really been explored in network TV fiction).

That workplace is, of course, complete with some of the character types that Kelley loves and has used before in one way or another -- the oversexed foreign cook, the underachieving wedding singer, the constantly annoyed black woman ("Smell that shoe!"). Also there are the signature Kelley guest spots, who usually throw quirk into a whole new gear -- Missy Pyle, who has since been added to the show as a regular, was the focal guest of the pilot. But Delta Burke, an acquired taste, stole the show as Pyle's mom.

(Incidentally, I wish someone would let Missy Pyle actually play a person instead of a caricature. She should never have become as pigeonholed as she has.)

It is, in general, an endearing show that has a lot of potential. The opening episode was slow, but what pilot isn't? It did serve to seamlessly get you acquainted with the characters and definitely left the door open for viewers to show up again next week.

(Side note No. 2: I was wondering what it would be like to have family members snapping at each other like Principal Steven Harper and Vice Principal Scott Guber (Chi McBride and Anthony Heald) on Boston Public, it fits perfectly with the Bell sisters.)

It's nice to see Kelley step away from the law office and courtroom. While I've only recently picked up on the genius of Boston Legal, I recognize that its politics are enough to scare away a lot of the audience it could have. Boston Public, the best, in my opinion, of the Kelley shows I've seen, also had to work with politics, though not to the extent of James Spader and William Shatner.

Public was more successful in its endearing, make-the-world-a-better-place way. That's what made it special. Ally won with its attempt to make light of the absolute insanity of single professional life. Legal is more a flat out farcical comedy.

In that respect, Bells, if it's successful, will be a success in its adult look at family -- a family that you can never quite get away from without seeking out a whole new career.