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'Relativity': Love at First Sight

"Relativity" begins with the simplest premise of all -- boy meets girl, and vice versa -- and shows all the resonances and ripples such an elemental moment can generate. It's another smart, sensitive drama about closely watched humans from the producing team that did "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life," and it definitely bears watching.

To call it the best drama series of the new season may be accurate but it's not terribly complimentary, since the season is hardly bursting with good dramas. And besides, the best new drama series of last season was "Murder One," also on ABC, and that went slack rather quickly.

One suspects, though, that if "Relativity" finds a large enough audience, it will be a loyal audience, because one is drawn into the fates of the lovers almost immediately in tonight's premiere, at 10 on Channel 7. Though not really a serial, the series will follow the progress of the relationship, including the inevitable setbacks, over the course of the 22-week season.

Attractively cast, "Relativity" stars Kimberly Williams, the bride in the "Father of the Bride" remakes, as Isabel Lukens, who when we first meet her tonight is in Italy trying to sort things out. No, she's not so rich she can hop off to Europe whenever she's moody; her parents had planned to make the trip to celebrate their anniversary but couldn't go at the last minute.

Sobbing in the way that people do when all other options seem like too much trouble, she catches the eye of fellow American Leo Roth (David Conrad), a house painter and photographer. Soon they're having coffee. Soon he's taking her picture. Soon they're exchanging anxious glances. Is she looking at him just the way he's looking at her? Apparently, because all of a sudden they're plunged into Deep Kiss.

When they come home, certain complications must be faced, the most certain being that Isabel is already virtually engaged to a nice young man named Everett, played by Randall Batinkoff. To the credit of executive producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, and writer-producer Jason Katims, Everett hasn't been made a chump or a goat. He's just a little too safe, a little too sanitized. Whereas when Isabel is describing Leo to a friend, she recalls, "Oh, he was just so touchable."

The drama is subtle but strong, the characters inviting, attractive and believably quirky, even at this early stage in the proceedings. Williams is a delight, a charismatic combination of maturity and youthfulness. Conrad seems not quite worthy of her, but he tries. In shot after shot he bears a striking resemblance to the comedian Richard Lewis if Richard Lewis had turned out, well, better -- more handsome, less berserk.

Cliff DeYoung and Jane Adams as Isabel's parents, who like the comfortable feeling they get when they think about Isabel spending her life with Everett, are extremely credible in the roles, and this really seems like a family. Isabel's sister, Jennifer, (Poppy Montgomery -- what a great name) goes through various emotional responses to her sister's predicament. In a future episode, to air Oct. 19, Jennifer learns what many of us already know: that people in love can be great big pains in the neck.

Leo has a family too, of course, or at least part of one, including an underachieving businessman father (Robert Katims) who prattles on and on about his trip to "Frisco" and a 17-year-old Deeply Troubled Brother (Devon Gummersall, the smart boy on "My So-Called Life") who is locked in mourning for their mother.

Isabel tries to simplify her life by ignoring Leo and concentrating on Everett. Essentially, she's following the advice in a great old Sammy Cahn song: "Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight it with all of your might." To a friend, she insists, "It's totally over and everything's completely extremely normal."

But as Sammy himself wrote, "Chances are, some heavenly star-spangled
night . . ."

An intoxicating combination of romanticism and realism, "Relativity" has more potential to be habit-forming than probably any other new show. ABC won't make that easy, however. The show is airing tonight in the "NYPD Blue" time slot, though the second episode airs at "Relativity's" regular time, Saturday at 10 p.m. Then that episode will air again next Tuesday.

Don't try to figure it out. Just try to make the acquaintance of Isabel and Leo as early in their relationship as possible. You may adore them, you may abhor them, but you'll probably be intrigued. "Relativity" is bright and charming and oh, so touchable.