Television Reviews : No Black Clouds on ‘Blue Skies’ Horizon

The unique thing about problems depicted in most television series is that, unlike those in real life, they rarely leave a residue. No muss. No mess. No footprints. No waxy yellow buildup.

Take “Blue Skies,” the pleasant-but-undistinguished CBS series starting a summer run at 8 tonight on Channels 2 and 8.

We have Zoe (Kim Hauser), the brash 12-year-old daughter of sophisticated New York divorcee Annie Cobb (Season Hubley), awkwardly adjusting to small-town Oregon life with her mother’s new husband, Frank Cobb (Tom Wopat), and his kids, Sarah (Alyson Croft) and Charley (Danny Gerard). The Cobbs are themselves recent San Francisco transplants.

Sensitive 12-year-old Sarah resents the intrusion of Zoe and Annie and also resents that 10-year-old Charley likes the new family arrangement. After Annie accidentally breaks a gift that Sarah’s late mother gave Sarah, and Zoe wears a hat that Sarah’s mother used to wear, Sarah throws a tantrum, runs away to her “special place” and reads a book.

Meanwhile, Frank’s father, Henry (Pat Hingle) is furious that his son has given up a lucrative advertising career and returned to his hometown so he can reacquire Henry’s old mill and work with his hands. And Frank is deeply hurt that Henry isn’t nice to him. Much worse, Sarah never finishes her book.

These are huge problems.

How long do they last? Oh, about an hour, which, coincidentally, is the exact length of tonight’s premiere. Now “Blue Skies” can move on to next Monday and a new set of short-term huge problems.

There are far worse ways to spend an hour than with “Blue Skies.” Written by Nigel and Carol Evan McKeand (“Family”) and nicely performed, it’s another of those sweet, gentle and appealingly small-townish family dramas that have their roots in that old CBS series “The Waltons.”

It’s also pat and predictable, unfortunately, and less rewarding than “Our House,” its spiritual cousin on NBC. Nor does “Blue Skies” even begin to stack up against another of this season’s family dramas, NBC’s great-but-cancelled “A Year in the Life,” whose rich and complex characters will be deeply missed next season.