A 'STARTER WIFE' LEARNS A WHOLE LOT ABOUT LIFE.

Byline: David Kronke

Television Critic

Early on in "The Starter Wife," a romantic comedy of manners set amid the swanky neighborhoods of Beverly Hills and Malibu, Molly (Debra Messing) watches as a former acquaintance is given the cold shoulder. Turns out she's a "starter wife," and -- just like a starter home in the hands of the privileged and affluent -- was merely a placeholder until something nicer and more elegant came along.

"I can't stand the stage where she can't understand that she's an amputated limb," she says of the hapless woman who has yet to realize she has been ostracized by her former friends.

Naturally Molly will soon become a starter wife, as well, but in this USA Network miniseries based on Gigi Levangie Grazer's best seller, it's hard to see this as much of a bad thing, given how wormy her husband is and how her friends eventually rally around her for support and some wacky misadventures.

When her soon-to-be ex, Kenny (Peter Jacobson), heartlessly trades her in for a new model -- or, rather, a young pop star (Trilby Glover) -- Molly understandably is a mess. But as she holes up at her pal Joan's (Judy Davis) place in the Malibu Colony, she learns that not being in constant thrall to a weasel is actually pretty nice.

Of course it'll take a while for that realization to set in. In the meantime, there are friends to bust out of rehab (though, oddly enough, not Britney Spears, who turned up in the novel), faked suicides to abet, hunky homeless beach bums to seduce and rescue from ad hominem murder charges, quips to zing and friends to carry through their own tough times. USA provided four of the production's six hours for review, and no sad ending seemed to be looming anywhere in sight.

Credit Messing, who makes the most of a role that allows her to convey every emotion known to man, and screenwriters Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon, who contribute breezy, witty dialogue. Tonight's two-hour installment is particularly clever, and if the miniseries gets a little more antic and silly as it progresses, it remains serviceable as the TV equivalent of a beach read.

Some of the supporting roles are played too broadly (say, Chris Diamantopoulos as Molly's gay pal Rodney) or with too little charisma (Stephen Moyer as homeless hunk Sam), and though Davis has a couple of exquisitely funny moments, she's sort of been playing the sardonic, bitchy sidekick a little too often at this point for her performance here to seem fresh. Most irritating is a musical underscore trying too insistently to sell every scene as archly zany (even when it's not).

Like a number of its characters, "The Starter Wife" is proudly superficial, but with enough of a tart edge to remain entertaining to hang out with.

David Kronke, [phone]

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STARTER WIFE - Three stars

What: Romantic comedy starring Debra Messing as a woman who must remake her life when her husband, an oily studio executive, dumps her for a younger woman.

Where: USA Network.

When: 9 p.m. Thursdays; through June 28.

In a nutshell: Messing gives an impressively versatile performance in a production with some sharp dialogue and goofy plotting.

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Photo:

Peter Jacobson's Hollywood player considers Debra Messing his "Starter Wife."