TV REVIEW : May ‘Nearly Departed’ Rest in Peace

“Nearly Departed” is a zero.

A mishmash of “Topper” and “Beetlejuice,” the NBC comedy is worse than bad in its premiere at 8:30 tonight on Channels 4, 36 and 39, making such worthy comic actors as Monty Python’s Eric Idle and Stuart Pankin (“Not Necessarily the News”) look worse than bad in the process.

Dopey? It’s like this: After being killed in a car accident, sniffy English professor Grant Pritchard (Idle) and his wife, Clair (Caroline McWilliams), continue a ghostly presence in their former home, which to Grant’s dismay is now inhabited by blue collar-minded plumbing contractor Mike Dooley (Pankin) and his wife, Liz (Wendy Schaal), and their son, Derek (Jay Lambert). In another complication, Liz’s father, Grampa Garrett (Henderson Forsythe), moves in after losing his job and apartment.

Ready for the fun? Hold your sides: Grant can’t stand any of these people. And he ridicules them.

Is this about as much high jinks as you can stand or what?

And here is the zaniest part: The Dooleys can’t see or hear the Pritchards. But Grampa Garrett can. Why is he special? Because the script says so.

Grant and Mike are the broadest characters here. The opening episode finds each, in his own way, doing his best to get Grampa Garrett to move out. But Grampa Garrett is determined to hang around. As you can imagine, it’s all too funny for words.

Grant to Clair: “We’re dead.” Exactly.