Blue-Collar ‘That’s Life’ Lacks Starch

ABC’s new “That’s Life” hasn’t Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows or any spark of genius or creativity. Otherwise, it’s a ringer for “The Honeymooners.”

Some of the crowd that brought you ABC’s late, often great “Roseanne”--but excluding you know who--are behind this gray comedy about a blue-collar couple in Queens. With Gerry Red Wilson as its ever-thwarted gruff guy of a husband, having to put up tonight with the invasion of his hoity-toity sister-in-law, you automatically think of Gleason boiling over as Ralph Kramden.

But “That’s Life” generates no such heat. Nor has it the character and texture of “Roseanne,” which at its best was a rare comedy that caught the tone of working-class America without resorting to the level of stereotypes you meet in this new series.

As for humor, you’ve a dandy of a Geiger counter if you can detect any here. “That’s Life” opens with Mike (Wilson) celebrating his promotion to head of a supermarket meat department with his wife, Patty (Kellie Overbey), then becoming infuriated and ultimately deflated after learning that Patty’s snooty sister, Catherine (Nadia Dajani), is moving into the upstairs apartment of his duplex that he had dreamed of turning into “Guy Town,” a beer-and-football-watching refuge for himself and his buddies.

Other than their repulsiveness, that big palooka Mike and Manhattanite Catherine have only narrow-mindedness in common. Not only do they constantly clash, but he also is forced to tolerate her snotty son.

However, the conflicts here have no payoff, no inkling of a har-de-har-de-har-har. You know where Jackie would send this comedy. POW--right to the moon!

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* “That’s Life” premieres at 9:30 tonight on ABC (Channel 7). The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children, with an advisory for coarse language).