'Do Not Disturb,' premiering Wednesday on Fox

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - It's hard to imagine a network spending several million dollars on a TV show purely for the sake of vengeance, but I can't think of any other explanation for "Do Not Disturb." Last fall, Fox offered up "Back To You," a witty, character-driven sitcom with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, and nobody watched. So this fall, we get a smarmy, semi-literate sex comedy with lots of jokes about fat people doing it. All are punished.

Set in a hip New York celebrity hotel called The Inn, "Do Not Disturb" is apparently trying for an upstairs/downstairs feel, but it comes across more as above-the-waist/below-the-waist.

There is endless jocosity about who the staff is boinking (everyone) and where it's boinking them (every place). Laughs, not so many for anybody past sophomore year of high school. Aside from confirming your darkest suspicions about why it takes so long to get any service at South Beach hotels, there's not much going for "Do Not Disturb."

The cast of crudely drawn characters includes Niecy Nash of "Reno 911" as a personnel director futilely trying to keep the staffer in line ("While I realize that not EVERY workplace romance ends in murder-suicide ...") and Jerry O'Connell of "Crossing Jordan" as a horndog general manager trying to keep them prone.

But the only one who's much fun to watch is Molly Stanton as an airhead blond reduced to working The Inn's front desk as her modeling career is strangled by age and borderline anorexia. Her bright eyes and vacuous smile as she giddily announces a new modeling deal _ "You are looking at the new face of crystal meth addiction!" _ are likely to be the only memorable thing about a show that's already well on its way to checkout time.

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DO NOT DISTURB

9:30-10 p.m. EDT Wednesday

Fox

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© 2008, The Miami Herald.