‘Head Cases’ has grounds for success

In one of those Astonishing Coincidences so astonishingly common to television, “Head Cases,” which premieres tonight on Fox, is one of two odd-couple-storefront-lawyers-for-the-underdog-defense shows new this season. The other is the WB’s “Just Legal,” coming next week, and in many respects they are the same show, down to the characters’ WASP/ethnic, ego/id, strait-laced/unbuttoned dichotomies, the semi-comic tone, and a shared setting in Venice, Calif., apparently the neighborhood of choice for odd-couple lawyers for the underdogs.

Though such similarities might suggest industrial espionage, it really speaks to TV’s love of formula, of which this particular formula -- the contrary halves that make a whole -- is one of the most persistent and productive. (The yin and yang, the Abbott and Costello, the Felix and Oscar.) “Head Cases” is not its finest expression -- it’s too schematic by half, the banter rarely ascends to the level and wit, and it contains barely a believable moment -- but it is not without a certain energy and cast-based charm.

Chris O’Donnell, who was Robin in a couple of “Batman” films and has kept busy in the movies without ever quite becoming a movie star, is Half One. When we meet him he is a defender of corporate scum so caught up in self-advancement he can’t remember he has Krista Allen (“Unscripted”) waiting at home for him; he is a very distracted man indeed. A nervous breakdown puts him in a very pleasant sanitarium; as a felicitous condition of his “early release” he is ordered to buddy up with Half Two, fellow disturbed attorney Adam Goldberg (“Saving Private Ryan”). I am not sure that is how things work in the mental health profession, but never mind.

Goldberg’s character suffers from “explosive disorder,” which for purposes of the show means he hits people and says things he ought not. To keep him sympathetic, he is usually provoked, by smarmy opposing counsel or a patronizing judge -- people you’d want to hit yourself. (One might say he has a cute rather than an acute case of the affliction.)

Goldberg needs O’Donnell’s sense of order; O’Donnell, bounced into the street by his old firm, needs Goldberg’s survival instinct. Thus is born a partnership and, it is hoped, a TV series.

Creator Bill Chais was a story editor on David E. Kelley’s “The Practice,” and his series comes off as Kelley Lite, indulging in such bits of creaky cleverness as bringing in Dr. Ruth Westheimer (!) as an expert witness in a case involving nymphomania.

Still, it doesn’t seem beyond hope; the pieces are in place, they just need to be put into more inspired play. Richard Kind (“Spin City”) will be arriving soon, as a disbarred attorney turned paralegal, which is not bad news, and Rhea Seehorn (another late addition) does a lot with very little as O’Donnell’s assistant. Something could happen here.

*

‘Head Cases’

Where: Fox

When: 9 to 10 tonight

Ratings: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14 with strong advisories for dialogue, language, sex and violence)

Chris O’Donnell...Jason Payne

Adam Goldberg...Shultz

Krista Allen...Laurie Payne

Richard Kind...Lou Albertini

Executive producers: Barry Josephson, Bill Chais, Jeff Rake. Writer (pilot): Bill Chais. Director (pilot): Andy Fleming.