A New Face, but the Usual ‘Shoot’

It happens to nearly every show that’s been on the air for a substantial amount of time: that nagging feeling that there’s something, someone, more exciting out there. Call it the Seven-Season Itch.

So, with a new time slot and a new regular character, “Just Shoot Me” begins its seventh season tonight at 8:30 on NBC with hopes that viewers will remain passionate about watching. The strategy might as well be summarized in a cover line for Blush, the fictitious fashion magazine that is the series’ setting: “How to Keep Your Relationship Hot, Hot, Hot.”

Chances are, if such an article was to be written, the advice would be stuff we’ve heard 100 times before, just as the introduction of new characters to spice up TV series is stuff we’ve seen 100 times before. (Perhaps the epitome of this was the addition of Robbie Rist as Cousin Oliver on “The Brady Bunch,” a move that lasted just six episodes before the series ended for good.) Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it doesn’t.

The new face on “Just Shoot Me” belongs to Vicki Costa (Rena Sofer, formerly of “General Hospital” and “Ed”), a hairstylist who is your typical brash, opinionated Brooklynite. She bumps into publisher Jack Gallo (George Segal), and Jack soon decides that she can help him turn around the flagging fortunes of his magazine by simply pointing out what she dislikes. (If only publishing were so easy.)

Not surprisingly, this causes much friction with the established journalists who’ve spent so many years working, or sleeping, their way to their current assignments. Indeed, Vicki’s arrival is the perfect excuse for Maya (Laura San Giacomo), Nina (Wendie Malick), Elliott (Enrico Colantoni) and Finch (David Spade) to deliver a whole new set of the nasty little barbs for which “Just Shoot Me” has become popular.

For those who never tire of watching such cattiness, this is good news. But if you were hoping a fresh face would mean growth for the series, judging from the season opener, you’d be sadly mistaken.