A snoozer, not a sleeper

Leaping from late-night cutting-edge comedy to weekly prime-time sitcom shtick is among TV’s most perilous extreme sports. Few maneuvers are so infernally engineered to challenge the health of a career as the hair-raising attempt to safely surmount the chasm separating these forms of humor.

Poised to take this jump is the “Saturday Night Live” alum title-billed in NBC’s “The Tracy Morgan Show,” which premieres tonight. And although he deserves solid marks for sheer chutzpah, comedy is the decided casualty in his series’ iffy initial airing. At points one almost experiences the hope something funny soon will enter the action, but the laughs never arrive.

The setup requires Morgan to appear as a family guy who works like heck to make ends meet. Along the way he is supposed to impart his worldview with smart, sharp wisdom, delivering dialogue meant to crackle with insight. In fact, this is anemic talk calibrated to fit some inexact idea of what such jawboning ought to be. Here TV imitates TV, and the resulting picture is tired and weak. Morgan is Tracy Mitchell, a father/husband/small businessman. And with wife Alicia (Tamala Jones) and their young sons, the earnest Derrick (Marc John Jefferies) and the precocious Jimmy (Bobb’e J. Thompson), they inhabit an apartment that screams modesty but radiates honesty. Work-wise, Mitchell spends his time tending to his automobile repair shop, where he oversees a bunch of sitcom-quirky mechanics -- Bernard (Heavy D) and Spoon (John Witherspoon). Also pressed into the enfeebled antics is an oddball from the ‘hood, a local flamboyant flimflammer named Freddie (Katt Williams).

The misguided pilot has to do with Mitchell helping Derrick snare his dream girl, though when he actually sees her, Mitchell seriously wonders if this seventh-grader is not too much for his son to handle. As Mitchell opines to Derrick, “A boy’s first girlfriend should be a fat chick with a dead tooth.” We are privy to similarly flat chat at the shop.

Ingenuity, invention, engagement and interest are just some of the elements missing from this prime-time exercise, as are fun, cleverness and spirit. By the time it expires, one almost detects a labored wheezing as it slogs out of view.

*

‘The Tracy Morgan Show’

Where: NBC

When: Tuesdays, 8-8:30 p.m. Premieres tonight.

Rating: The network has rated the comedy TV-PG (may not be suitable for young children).

Tracy Morgan...Tracy Mitchell

Tamala Jones...Alicia Mitchell

Marc John Jeffries...Derrick Mitchell

Bobb’e J. Thompson...Jimmy Mitchell

Heavy D...Bernard

John Witherspoon...Spoon

Katt Williams...Freddie

Creators David M. Israel, Jim O’Doherty. Executive producers Israel, O’Doherty, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, Caryn Mandabach, Lorne Michaels, Dave Becky, David Miner. Director (tonight’s episode) Gary Halvorson. Writer Anthony Carter.