TV Reviews : ‘Extreme’ Flexes Its Muscle, Not Its Mind

ABC apparently thinks that anything’ll look pretty interesting after this year’s Super Bowl, which brings us to the new series “Extreme.”

Think “Cliffhanger” performed by “Melrose Place” wanna-bes. The unstoppable James Brolin stars as Reese, commander/father figure for a ski town’s rescue unit, whose interchangeable twenty-something squad members are seemingly selected more for their physical proximity to Calvin Klein models than for their common sense.

This is the type of show in which a character who chokes during one rescue will do something insanely heroic by episode’s end (and yes, it’s the “new kid”--how’d you guess?). This is the type of show in which, after a character makes a disparaging remark about his girlfriend’s line of work and then hops in a plane, said airplane will require rescuing by said girlfriend.

Dialogue is klutz-ily expository, even for a pilot episode (sample line: “You turn your back on what you love and you throw your life away!”). Critics said that if there had been no dialogue in “Cliffhanger,” it might’ve been a classic; if “Extreme” was dialogue-free, it might be almost tolerable.

Stunts are splashy and frequent, but also the source of many continuity errors or flat-out mistakes. For example: Reese proclaims that the unit’s helicopter won’t be able to get to an accident site because of a bad snowstorm; when they do arrive, it’s completely clear.

Future episodes promise to complicate the love lives of all involved--the premiere, alas, merely offers a scene in which the two female rescuers assess the series’ male populace while cavorting in spandex. A future episode boasts a scene in which one woman pays the “new kid” an uninvited visit--in his shower--while another shows up at his front door seconds later. Remember, kid--you turn your back on what you love. . . .

* “Extreme” premieres after the Super Bowl on Sunday, at approximately 7:15 p.m. on ABC (Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).