THE COUCH CRITIC

By Jeff Jarvis

On the Air
ABC, Saturdays, 9:30 P.M. (ET)

Watch out, world, TV´s bizarre genius, David Lynch, is back with a vengeance and with a new sitcom that makes Twin Peaks look plain and sane. On the Air is militantly, stubbornly weird. It´s a show about the making of a show in 1957. So it looks like the movie "My Favorite Year." But it also looks like a bad dream brought on by KGB pharmaceuticals.

Miguel Ferrer, a Twin Peaks find, leads the ensemble as president of Zoblotnick Broadcasting, producer of the improbably popular Lester Guy Show. Lester (Ian Buchanan) is forever becoming knocked unconscious by falling ducks and such. The sound-effects operator, Blinky, was blind in the pilot but now (apparently to render him inoffensive) he has a visual disorder that makes his eyesight resemble an MTV ad - so he hits all the wrong buttons, and guns bark. The show´s dog hates the sponsor´s dog food, so he is lashed to his bowl. And the director, Vladja Gochktch (Laverne & Shirley´s Squiggy, David Lander), speaks with an indeterminate and undecipherable accent: "Can oo scream?" he asks Marla Rubinoff, token dumb blonde. "Do you want me to leave?" she replies, hurt. The director´s English-to-English translator explains, "Mr. Gochktch is asking you if you´re able to scream." "Scram! Scram!" he screams and, finally, she does.

The pilot., about the launch of Lester Guy, is the best episode I saw; it was directed by Lyncbh and is marked with his endearing insanity. But the whole series is strange; its jokes are proud to be dumb and its slapstick belongs on Ren & Stimpy. Sometimes I´m not sure who´s supposed to laugh - us at the show or Lynch at us. But you´ll have to admit: it is different. And that´s why we´ll watch, espcially in the dry, dull summertime.

This happens to be TV´s best summer ever because, as TV GUIDE reported, we´ll be getting as many as 25 new series. Sure, some of it is shruggable stuff. But summertime can be filled with bold experiments, like 1968´s The Prisoner, another weird series that became a cult classic. I wouldn´t want to meet the cult that grows up around On the Air, but grow it will. In my office, Couch Potato World Headquarters, one group watched the pilot and sneered. My group watched and howled. But nobody shrugged. And that´s what makes On the Air a break from the ordinary, and a perfect summer series.