TV Reviews : ‘Working Girl’ Title Is Employed, Plot Is Not

In name, at least, that nice little movie “Working Girl” now continues life as an NBC sitcom.

“Working Girl” the series premieres at 8:30 tonight on Channels 4, 36 and 39, starting a six-episode trial and starring Sandra Bullock in the Tess McGill role that boosted Melanie Griffith into the national spotlight.

Aside from the title and familiar theme, not a lot survives from the Oscar-nominated movie about an underestimated secretary who outsmarts her selfish and insecure boss to advance in the business world. That part of the story is capsulized in the premiere, although in somewhat different circumstances. Meanwhile, ensuing episodes will contrast Tess at the office with Tess at home.

Although this first program is nothing you’d want to build a night around, it’s pleasant enough, with Bullock doing a nice job as Tess (an improvement over Nancy McKeon, who played the role in an unaired earlier pilot). Tess remains bright and ambitious while, in this version, having to cope now with a set of parents and the advances of a playboy who lives in her apartment building.

The premiere is at its best when involving George Newbern as Tess’ amusingly preppy and sniveling colleague and especially Nan Visitor as Tess’ high-powered-but-insecure boss Bryn Newhouse, who must undergo an illogical lapse in nastiness so that Tess can attain her goal of becoming a junior executive. More often than not, however, most of the laughs are junior too.