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'Life's Work'

Without the requisite cute kiddies in its cast, "Life's Work" would be even more of a chore to watch than it is. The new ABC sitcom about an overburdened working mom and her family, premiering tonight at 8:30 on Channel 7, pushes very few funny buttons and is heavy-handed when it does.

The star, Lisa Ann Walter, certainly is bold and brassy, and you can feel her desire to succeed, but she's pushing too hard. A stand-up comic, Walter does know how to make the punch lines connect, as when she finds herself upset by conditions at preschool and barks, "What is this, the 'Lord of the Flies' day care center?"

Less amusing are her attempts to assert herself at the office as a newly named assistant state's attorney. To boss Jerome Nash (Larry Miller, deadpan par excellence) she says, "Mr. Nash, I can assure you, I will not be weighed down by my ovaries." Ahem. There's also a reference later in the show to her having had sex in a van in the '60s. She tries to one-up the fellow who remarked about it by saying, "The owner of that van? William Jefferson Clinton."

Ahem, ahem, ahem!

Michael O'Keefe plays the rather wimpy husband rather wimpily. Maybe it's touching to see him coaching basketball with a baby strapped to his back, or maybe it's just a tad too cutesy. The producers get a laugh earlier by having him dangle the tot upside down and swing it like a pendulum. TV sitcoms should not be encouraging parents to try foolhardy stunts like that.

If you love Walter -- as ABC audiences seem to love the likes of Brett Butler and Ellen DeGeneres -- then you'll probably overlook all the vulgarities and misfires. But for the rest of us, "Life's Work" is too much work and not enough play.