TV REVIEW : ‘Thea’: An Amiable Way to Spend Time

There’s a familiarity about “Thea,” as in . . . you’ve seen it all before: Heroic single mom struggles to rear her four kids, but somehow gets it done, yadda yadda yadda, roll credits.

Yet tonight’s premiere of this ABC comedy (at 9:30 on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42) yields enough smiles and presents a likable enough protagonist in Thea Turrell (Thea Vidale) to warrant another look. (The series will be seen Wednesdays at 8 p.m. beginning Sept. 22.)

This is what you’d call an amiable half hour, with Thea managing to keep her kids in line despite working in a supermarket and doing hair on the side. Tonight, it’s the video arcade adventures of 14-year-old Jerome (Jason Weaver) that draws Thea’s ire and also causes problems for 16-year-old Jarvis Jr. (Adam Jeffries). Meanwhile, Thea’s protective nature surfaces when 12-year-old Danesha (Brandy Norwood) makes a library date with a boy.

“Thea” is refreshingly free of the kind of snotty adolescents that pollute so many other sitcoms about families. Thea’s kids are troublesome but not too troublesome, nor are they shrewd enough, it seems, to outwit their wise mama, who knows best.

No big laughs here, but it’s all harmless enough, and Vidale gives the premiere of “Thea” at least a moderate dose of wisecracking energy.