TV REVIEW : ‘ADDERLY’ MOVES INTO PRIME TIME

Hmmm. This could be serious. A loony Middle Eastern dictator (affectionately known as Col. Wacko) is on TV, threatening to blow up various parts of the world with a new remote-control nuclear delivery system.

And guess who’s conveniently invented the one-of-a-kind, high-tech part that can set off the bomb? A baby-faced physics wiz who’s unveiling his project at a local science fair--and is being stalked by one of Col. Wacko’s seamy secret agents.

This is a case for James Bond, George Smiley, Napoleon Solo . . . anyone but V. H. Adderly (Winston Rekert), the singularly dreary and unappealing government agent who plays the title character in “Adderly,” a late-night CBS series that makes its prime-time premiere tonight at 10 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8.

Designed as a tongue-in-cheek, “Get Smart”-style super-sleuth series, “Adderly” manages to get the formula half-right--it’s totally implausible, but not even remotely funny. In fact, with its forced laughs, ill-timed gags and riotously bad acting, it bears a striking resemblance to the kind of show you normally see after midnight on cable TV’s public-access channel.

There’s no need to waste any time attempting to decipher the plot. Let’s just say that Adderly performs his covert duties with the same bumbling elan of the legendary CIA agent who tried to smuggle an exploding cigar into Fidel Castro’s humidor. The script is particularly shoddy, loaded with windy plot exposition--whenever a character rushes out a door, he unfailingly screeches to a halt, turns to the camera and explains what’s going on, as if worried that we’d been out having a sandwich.

As Adderly, Rekert has none of Don Adams’ deadpan charm. Adams was a playful clod; Rekert is just an earnest clod (with an incredibly bad dyed-hair job to boot).

Frankly, the show’s only saving grace is the performance of the actor (Hrant Alianak) playing Col. Wacko, who--alas--we only see on TV. Even though his Sahara Desert-style English accent is a bit off, it’s hard to knock someone who plays a wild-eyed, terrorist dictator as if he were auditioning for a Crazy Eddie commercial.