TV Reviews : New Lavin Vehicle in ‘Room for Two’

Linda Lavin goes dowdy--but, naturally, wiseacre dowdy--in “Room for Two,” a sitcom getting a tryout tonight in the coveted post-”Roseanne” slot (9:30 p.m. on ABC, Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).

Not only that, but she gets a dandy doppelganger in the form of daughter Patricia Heaton, a strong foil for Mom’s slightly adversarial affection. Lavin is the recently widowed suburban matron trying to reconnect with her urbanized daughter, with Heaton the single career woman scrupulously trying to avoid her mother’s “button-pushing,” in scenes that almost play like fleshed-out panels of the cartoon “Cathy.”

It’s a nice duet; though Heaton has the hep generational edge, the sharp casting and acting make it easy to see how the tart tongues got passed down in the family.

To this test of wills, add the show’s New York TV station milieu, which is where it really risks veering into overly trod territory. Hosting her mom’s supposedly quick Manhattan visit, Heaton--as a morning talk-show producer--is horrified when Lavin gets called out of the studio audience to offer disparaging commentary on a fashion designer’s ludicrous new line. Naturally, Lavin’s Midwestern common sense is a huge hit among viewers, and she gets offered a regular slot on the show, much to her daughter’s incredulity.

The idea that Lavin’s homespun wisdom and Abigail Van Buren-like presence would go over like gangbusters in the New York daily TV market may require a bigger suspension of disbelief than the series can maintain. And placing a plethora of vain egos in a TV studio setting doesn’t exactly break new satirical ground, though the supporting cast turn in vivid comic characterizations in their brief introductory moments.

Where “Room for Two” looks to leave the most room for appealing little truths is in its core duo scenes--such as the premiere’s niftily staged cooking sequence (well-penned by creators Rick Kellard and Wendy Goldman), in which the thirtysomething daughter can scarcely hide her anxiety at the thought of her widowed mother as a sexual being (“Mr. Scardino? Next door? Mindy’s dad? “) and they both face inevitable post-empty-nest familial questions (“Which one of us is you?”).