‘Trouble With Normal’ Is One Joke, Over and Over

Paranoia is funny from a distance. But not often enough in “The Trouble With Normal” to boost this appealingly bent ABC comedy quite over the hump.

Watching early episodes, you admire the offbeat characters and the daring feeling that something terrific is struggling to break out. It never does with any consistency, though.

The premise--dueling neuroses--is especially relevant in this media age of snooping for dollars when gratuitous hidden camera footage can lead a newscast.

In one apartment lives Bob (David Krumholtz). Next door lives Zack (Jon Cryer). Each suspects his neighbor of spying and eavesdropping on him. Each is right, we soon learn. Each has an ear to the wall separating them.

To make things worse, Bob’s friend, Max (Brad Raider), and Zack’s friend, Stansfield (Larry Joe Campbell), are just as fearful. And uh oh, Max works at a surveillance store offering a variety of electronic goodies.

The cast is good, and occasionally the writers nail it. “I can’t believe this,” says Claire (Paget Brewster), a therapist who operates a weekly support group for paranoiacs. “Two paranoid people living right next door to each other. What are the odds of that?”

Bob: “In New York, I’d say about 50-50.”

Next week brings a round of dating with women who are as cracked as the guys, and some disclosures about Claire’s own deficiencies as Bob, Max, Zack and Stansfield increasingly rely on her.

Now and then you hear yourself laughing out loud. More often, though, this plays like a one-joke series that keeps repeating the same punch line.

* “The Trouble With Normal” premieres tonight at 8:30 on ABC. The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children with special advisories for coarse language).