Big hair in Texas, sexual confusion in California

“Sordid Lives: The Series,” which premieres tonight on Logo, Viacom’s LGBT-directed cable network, is a prequel to “Sordid Lives” (the movie), which was in turn adapted from “Sordid Lives” (the play). All were written and directed by Del Shores (“Queer as Folk,” “Dharma & Greg”), whose range of accomplishment in diverse mediums makes him in a sense the Southern, white, gay Tyler Perry.

Shores, who comes from what his alter ego here describes as the “tiny Texas Republic Bible-thumpin’ ” town of Winters, specializes in regional humor with a twist. He is something of a phenomenon in L.A. local theater; his plays, including “Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got the Will)?” and “Southern Baptist Sissies,” tend to run long and mop up awards. Channeling the vernacular of Shores’ characters, this paper wrote of the original 1996 production, “ ‘Sordid Lives’ has more laughs than a hunting dog has ticks.”

Having seen neither the stage nor the big-screen versions of “Sordid,” I can’t say whether this latest incarnation will be a disappointment to people who loved what came before, a pleasant surprise to people who hated it, or will merely confirm everyone in their previous opinions. From where I sit, it is something of a mixed bag, but it works more than it doesn’t, and an impressive, semi-big-name cast helps keep it upright and lends the project an air of prestige -- especially in the context of its modest little network.

Bonnie Bedelia, Rue McClanahan, Caroline Rhea and Olivia Newton-John (looking great, singing better than ever, and there is no irony intended in those words) are the names that should need no introduction; Leslie Jordan’s is a slightly less familiar name but an immediately familiar face, even when he is made up as Tammy Wynette, which he is constantly. All but McClanahan and Rhea return from the film, as do the lesser known but superb Beth Grant, Ann Walker and Sarah Hunley, among others.

The series splits its attention between Hollywood, where Ty (Jason Dottley) is trying to find work as an actor, and central Texas, where his relations are running farcically amok. The stories are connected only by phone calls between Ty, his “beautiful, controlling” mother, Latrelle (Bedelia), and his flamboyant Aunt LaVonda (Walker). Possibly they will get no closer than that, these narratives, but will go their mostly separate, unequal ways.

The problem is that the California segments -- which are constructed more or less as coming-out romantic comedy -- are not nearly as good as those set in Texas. Ty is “confused about my sexuality,” he says. ( “Oh, trust me, honey, you are a big, old queer,” responds hostile therapist Margaret Cho). He has an obsessive ex-girlfriend (Sharron Alexis) and a potential first boyfriend (Ted Detwiler), who is anomalously normal. But Dottley, though he toured nationally in “Sordid Lives” (the play), is not a strong lead; he always sounds like he’s acting. His scenes list toward one side.

Also in Texas are Ty’s grandmother Peggy (McClanahan), great aunt Sissy (Grant) and uncle Earl (Jordan), known as Brother Boy, who is in a mental institution, where an icy psychologist (Rosemary Alexander) plans to “de-homosexualize” him and where the death of Tammy Wynette leaves him suicidally distraught -- until he is visited by her spirit, played by Wynette’s daughter, Georgette Jones, and told to carry on in her name. Jordan, who won an Emmy for “Will & Grace,” gives a performance of marvelous dignity, especially given that he’s a 4-foot-11, 53-year-old man dressed as Tammy Wynette. Rae is a neighbor with a gun in a kitchen jar, Newton-John a singing ex-con.

The comedy is sometimes limited by its own big-haired, twangy outrageousness, but the show is good-hearted, and there is always some delightful bit of business coming along (as when Sissy drops a cigarette ash into the iced tea she has poured for Latrelle and rather than bother pouring a new glass, surreptitiously stirs it in).

Shores clearly knows and loves his characters -- this is not “Mama’s Family” -- and he’s given his actors some stuff to work with.

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robert.lloyd@latimes.com

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‘Sordid Lives: The Series’

Where: Logo

When: 7 p.m.

Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for young children)