TV Reviews : ‘Covington Cross’: Pleasing, Though Plodding

“A coach, Master Cedric.”

Such dialogue probably hasn’t been spoken on a prime-time television series since the likes of “When Things Were Rotten,” Mel Brooks’ short-lived 1975 satire on Robin Hood and His Merry Men that was often very funny but just as often over the top and very awful.

There’s none of that Brooksian bent wit in “Covington Cross,” the ABC adventure series that tonight gets the first of two previews before settling into its regular time slot of 8 p.m. Saturdays on Sept. 19. (It airs at 10 tonight on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42; the same episode also will be broadcast Sept. 4 at 9 p.m.) None of the comic sharpness, either.

At the very least, however, this pleasing, though occasionally plodding costume drama brings a droll, self-mocking sense of humor to its Middle Ages saga about a good and decent British nobleman, Sir Thomas Gray (Nigel Terry), who shares his castle with his squabbling family.

The clan initially consists of his rebellious, archer daughter, Eleanor (Ione Skye); his skirt-chasing son, Cedric (Glenn Quinn), and his misbehaving older sons, Richard (Jonathan Firth) and William (Ben Porter). However, in a novel way of writing an actor out of a series, next month’s second episode will find William having ridden off to the Crusades and replaced on the home front by a fourth son, Armus (Tim Killick), who is just back from the Crusades.

Tonight, Sir Thomas is forced into arranging a marriage between Eleanor and the detestable Henry of Gault (Greg Wise), son of the even more detestable Sir John Mullens (James Faulkner). Meanwhile, hooded horsemen are raiding and pillaging villages on Sir Thomas’ lands.

The story is at times as ponderous as the broadswords swung by some of the show’s warring characters, and the performances are uneven. But any series whose villains either snarl demonically or wear steel helmets with those funny little things over their noses can’t be all bad. “Covington Cross” is appealing in part because there’s nothing else on TV quite like it. Plus, filming in the United Kingdom gives it a nice visual texture. And even more important, here is an hour that should please the Bush-Quayle ticket.

Just when things are looking especially grim, Sir Thomas’ kids stop their bickering long enough to rally around the old man. At last, a series promoting family values.