Even as narcissistic and self-serving as So Notorious is, that doesn't mean that it can't occasionally be funny, and at least Spelling has a moderately talented team behind the scenes who take what must certainly be difficult restrictions to work with (Spelling's dog, for example, co-stars as itself) and often turn them into decent comedy.
Spelling isn't the only Hollywood has-been in the cast; Loni Anderson co-stars as her mother—in a fairly brutal portrayal that explains Spelling's actual mother's anger—and Farrah Fawcett plays herself as Spelling's neighbor. There's nothing like the sight of the worn, nearly incoherent former Charlie's Angels star to make Spelling look like a paragon of beauty and composure in comparison.
Your enjoyment of So Notorious may come down to two things: how nostalgic you are for Spelling's years as Donna Martin on Beverly Hills 90210, and how high your tolerance is for self-referential pop-culture snark. Given the success of VH1's recent programming, it's a safe bet that their target audience is made up almost exclusively of snarky pop-culture obsessives who are nostalgic for the early '90s, so Spelling may have a hit on her hands. She does not, however, have a particularly good sitcom.
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This fall's merger of the WB and UPN into a new network, CW, makes the launch of the two networks' midseason shows this month seem especially futile. With barely enough room on CW's slate for all of the WB and UPN's current successful shows, what are the chances of a midseason show with a run of only a few weeks getting picked up for fall? That hasn't stopped the WB from debuting a number of what might as well be pre-cancelled new shows. In the case of college drama The Bedford Diaries (Wednesdays, 9 p.m.), pre-cancellation might be a mercy, as this sex-obsessed show is awkward and predictable and rings completely false. The pilot generated a little controversy after the WB trimmed some of its steamier scenes, but the show's fixation on sex quickly becomes tiresome, and its characters are so bland that it's hard to get worked up over which one is sleeping with which other one in any given week. It's far sadder to think that the quirky, endearing Pepper Dennis (Tuesdays, 9 p.m.) won't get a fair shake, because beneath its surface appearance as yet another Sex and the City clone about a high-powered urban career woman (a TV reporter, played by Rebecca Romijn) and her search for love lies a funny and offbeat show with a healthy appreciation for the absurd. Characters have archaic names like Chick and Garfield, frequently speak in His Girl Friday-style banter and often find themselves in surreal circumstances. There are still too many straight-ahead clichés for the show to achieve real brilliance, but it deserves a chance from the WB (or CW) to get there.