TV Reviews : ‘Sydney’ Heavy on Energy but Light on the Laughs

The new CBS comedy “Sydney” needs a Valium.

It premieres at 8:30 tonight on Channels 2 and 8, introducing a tightly wound private eye named Sydney Kells who is played as so gratingly frantic and neurotic by Valerie Bertinelli that instead of laughing, you’re grinding your teeth. Enough already!

To its credit, “Sydney” presents a comedy protagonist who is unorthodox not only because she’s nerve-racking, but also because she’s an aggressive, sexually active woman with the capacity and mental toughness to flourish in a traditionally male environment despite being continually harassed.

She has just returned to Los Angeles, where she is having a difficult time finding anyone who will take her seriously as a private eye. Maybe it’s the twitching.

This employment problem gets resolved by the end of the first episode, with Sydney getting hired permanently by attorney Matt Keating (Craig Bierko), one of many supporting ensemble players. The others are her rookie policeman brother (Matthew Perry), her dingy best friend (Rebeccah Bush) and the proprietor, table-hopping romeo and weasely snitch at the “Cheers”-style neighborhood bar that is Sydney’s unofficial office. The bar should work, but doesn’t.

In the second episode, Sydney welcomes back an old flame and finds herself in possession of a mysterious videotape cassette that is in hot demand. Like the first episode, this one is light on laughs and heavy on energy (the way Dustin Hoffman had energy in “Rain Man”).

Although some of the supporting characters are poorly rendered, co-executive producer Bertinelli is so convincing as that tremor of raw nerves Sydney that you can hardly tolerate her and she gives you a headache.

Comedies are supposed to give you laughs, not headaches.