TV REVIEW : Dennehy Powers the Drama in ‘Birdland’

It’s hardly news when a TV series emphasizes character over plot. It is unusual when that character is someone with whom you welcome spending an hour.

Such is the case with Brian Dennehy’s maverick shrink in “Birdland,” which premieres at 10 tonight on ABC (Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).

Constantly exasperated, psychiatrist Brian McKenzie grouses about the bureaucracy at the Oakland hospital where he works, devising creative ways to circumvent it. His activities are nothing if not varied. He spends his coffee breaks at the racetrack, many of his evenings in bed with a fellow doctor (Lindsay Frost) and much of his work time being a sort of healer-detective.

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The premiere’s mystery centers on a disturbed 16-year-old boy’s possible involvement in the death of a teen-age girl. In a curious way, the divorced McKenzie finds communication with his patient easier than with his own son, a street musician.

More arresting than the story is Dennehy’s good work as this life-scarred protagonist, an interesting man who appears more adept at mending others than himself. Dennehy, who in the past has earned plaudits for playing characters ranging from tough to homicidal, is very persuasive here as someone consisting of equal parts strength and vulnerability. It’s clear that he could use some time on the couch himself.

Meantime, “Birdland” lightens his load with humor. This includes an obsessive patient who sits transfixed in front of a TV set watching “Regis & Kathie Lee,” all the while feeding the bubbly co-host questions for her guests as if he were in the studio with her.

The big question is whether he was previously psychotic or got this way from watching “Regis & Kathie Lee.”