New Fox comedy series looks `Roc' solid: [NORTH SPORTS FINAL, CN Edition]

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But I laughed, quick and loud, at a line that came near the end of a new comedy series called "Roc," which premieres at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on Fox-Ch. 32 (its regular time will be 7:30 p.m. Sundays). The line was delivered by Charles Dutton, who plays the show's title character, a Baltimore garbageman who lives with wife Eleanor (Ella Joyce), father Andrew (Carl Gordon) and younger brother Joey (Rocky Carroll).

I always feel slightly silly when, all alone, I laugh out loud at a line from a sitcom. Not that it happens often. Most of what passes for network TV humor these days is at best able to produce a gentle smile and at worst produces sounds closer to groans than giggles.

But I laughed, quick and loud, at a line that came near the end of a new comedy series called "Roc," which premieres at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on Fox-Ch. 32 (its regular time will be 7:30 p.m. Sundays). The line was delivered by Charles Dutton, who plays the show's title character, a Baltimore garbageman who lives with wife Eleanor (Ella Joyce), father Andrew (Carl Gordon) and younger brother Joey (Rocky Carroll).

The line-which I won't divulge-so perfectly in context and delivered with randy energy, was a testament to the show's effective and fertile script. It was also a promise of potential: "Roc" is so solid that it rolls along for its half-hour with enough style and substance to make me believe (hope, actually) that this might be a sitcom to take seriously.

It is created by Stan Daniels, whose strong resume includes "Taxi" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." It is directed by James Burrows, the man who created "Cheers." It is the first series developed by HBO Independent Productions Inc. and has a glorious cast.

Dutton is familiar to Chicago theatergoers for his mesmerizing role in the Goodman Theatre's production of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." The others are also veterans of Wilson's majestic, poetic and human plays. They know what they're doing and will only get more comfortable doing it on TV.

The premiere does include some standard sitcom exchanges: the almost inevitable bodily-function joke arrives when Roc tells his brother that he's going to have his VCR fixed by his friend Wiz.

"They call him `Wiz' 'cause he's some electronic genius?" Joey asks.

"No," says Roc. "It's because he's got a bladder problem."

But you will not find in this premiere any of the strained scatology or cheap insults that afflict an increasing number of new sitcoms. The humor on "Roc" is mined from a richer vein.

"You swore to our mother on her death bed that you'd take care of me," says Joey.

"I got caught up in the moment," Roc replies.

The events surrounding Eleanor's birthday, the centerpiece of the premiere, lend themselves to surprisingly detailed character development.

We learn that the father does not hold whites in high regard: He has pictures of Malcolm X on every wall and even argues that Larry Bird is not white but actually a black named Abdul Mustafa. Joey is a con man with a horn, a jazz musician who has a taste for life's fine things but also for all forms of gambling. Eleanor's a nurse who works nights but remains, even though bone tired, lusty and loving.

Roc is richly textured, a proud man who, with his shaven head and bulky frame, is not to be trifled with. He has filled his current rowhouse with found items. The piano, the couch and the rugs on the floor are "things that other people threw out." Likewise the day-old papers Roc reads.

He cuts corners wherever he finds them in the hope of one day having a "semi-detached house," a wall to call his own. It's a small dream, hauntingly communicated in a lovely speech.

This premiere arrives with its characters wrapped in a finely detailed, believable environment. The dynamic is dynamite and without the cute and cloying kids that seem to be part of every new comedy.

As difficult as it is to assess a series on one installment, "Roc" has heart, soul and sass. Will big ratings result? I can't say, though it will be positioned between Fox's popular "In Living Color" and "Married . . . With Children."

Laughter is such a subjective response. One man's yuk is another's junk, but I do not want to meet the person unable to get at least one good laugh from "Roc."

"Roc"

A new half-hour Fox Broadcasting Co. comedy series. An HBO Independent Productions Inc. production. Created by Stan Daniels; executive producers are Brian Pollack, Mert Rich and Vic Kaplan; produced by Jeffrey Duteil. The premiere is directed by James Burrows. With Charles Dutton, Ella Joyce, Ricky Carroll and Carl Gordon. Airing at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, WFLD-Ch. 32.

`Waiting for the Wind'

9 p.m. Sunday, WPWR-Ch. 50

I'm not quite sure what Rhonda Fleming has been doing since she co-starred with Robert Mitchum in "Out of the Past" in 1947, but I am painfully aware of how Mitchum has been spending his time: wandering through a variety of TV projects as if trying to eradicate any memory one might have of him as a fine actor.

Paired with Fleming for the first time since their 1947 movie-about which I recall nothing-Mitchum plays a dying man who is able to restore his son's (Jameson Parker) faith in God and love.

It's a sermon with special effects, an inspirational fable with a message so strong that one might have expected to find it on a religious network. Fleming looks fit and is fine as Mitchum's wife.

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PHOTO: Ella Joyce as Eleanor Emerson and Charles Dutton as her husband, Roc, in Fox-TV's new half-hour comedy series "Roc."

CAPTION:

PHOTO: New Fox sitcom `Roc' has the makings of a hit. Charles Dutton (clockwise from front), Rocky Carroll, Carl Gordon and Ella Joyce star in "Roc," Fox-TV's new half-hour comedy series with heart, soul and sass. (Page 1.)

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