‘Brutally Normal’ Is Cut From Same Class as Ferris, Parker Lewis

The WB’s new “Brutally Normal” is largely another TV rendering of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the 1986 movie with Matthew Broderick as likable teenager flimflamming his way through high school.

NBC’s “Ferris Bueller” and Fox’s “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” preceded “Brutally Normal” by nearly a decade and were funnier too, with “Parker Lewis” in particular backing up its quirky visual and audio special effects with clever writing.

“Brutally Normal,” too, is heavy on style, with lots of whooshing sounds, whiz-bang camera work and tight shots that have the show’s five sophomores and the school’s officials virtually pressing their noses against the lens as they torment one another.

Coming closest to Ferris is Eddie Kaye Thomas as Russell Wise, who meets every challenge with an angle and smooth talk. In tonight’s premiere, that means coming on to a ravishing woman in her 20s at an art exhibit and having her respond in a way (inexplicably) that leads him to believe that his future includes a Mrs. Robinson, as in “The Graduate.” He’s not discouraged even when she shows up at school the next day as a substitute teacher in one of his classes. But when she sternly resists his romancing, he plots drastic action.

Thomas doesn’t play this with much flair, and the only one here you’d care to see a lot of is Lea Moreno as Russell’s earnest friend, Anna. There’s lots of music and diversionary movement, as well as calculated hamminess, in the first two episodes but not much to laugh about. Which, come to think about it, captures high school pretty accurately.

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* “Brutally Normal” premieres with a special one-hour episode tonight at 9 on the WB. The network has rated it TV-PG-D (may be unsuitable for young children with special advisories for suggestive dialogue).