Claire McCrae and Trevor Pierce, the stars of ABC’s new series Cupid (10 p.m., Tuesday), couldn’t be more different.
The former (played by Sarah Paulson of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”) is a pessimistic psychiatrist who has been burned by love and takes a practical, smart approach to relationships. The latter (Bobby Cannavale, “Third Watch”) is a happy-go-lucky mental patient who insists he’s Cupid, the Roman god of love.
“Love isn’t smart,” Trevor says. “Love is stupid. … Be bold.”
The pair meets when Trevor is involuntarily admitted to the hospital where Claire works and is placed under her charge. If the story sounds familiar, that’s because it is. This is actually a reworking of a 1998 show of the same name, which starred Paula Marshall and a pre-“Entourage” Jeremy Piven.
I never saw the original, but I like what I’ve seen so far of this version. The show doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but, after all was said and done, it still put a smile on my face.
In the first glimpse Claire gets of Trevor, he’s leading a group of fellow patients in The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.”
“I can’t hear you, schizophrenics,” he says gleefully before Claire interrupts their sing-along.
Claire remains skeptical of Trevor’s story — that, as a punishment, he’s been banished to Earth, where he must help 200 people find true love before he’s allowed back on Mount Olympus.
Deemed no danger to himself or others, Trevor is eventually released from the hospital and returns to his bartending job at a movie theater-turned-cantina, where he tries to match up lonely hearts (one way he does this is through mariachi band karaoke; believe me, you’ll wish an establishment near you would host one of these).
But Claire has to keep tabs on him and, to be honest, she really starts to become a drag.
I had to agree when Trevor, after being needled for the umpteenth time by Claire about his meddling, asks her what the big deal is: “It’s not like I’m telling my followers to send me their Social Security checks.”
The show is a lot more entertaining when Claire loosens up and lets herself be amused by Trevor’s behavior, instead of being annoyed by it.
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