A lukewarm welcome

I very much wanted to like "Welcome to the Captain" -- the notion of a show exploring the odd and lovely personalities that collide among L.A. renters is so darn appealing. I would imagine that most people who ever lived in a great old apartment building in Los Angeles (or New York or Chicago) have, after five or six beers, looked around at the fascinating characters moving in and out of the charming but slightly dilapidated lobby/courtyard and thought, "This would really make a great TV show."

And so it has, with names as various as "Melrose Place," "Hot L Baltimore" and "Friends."

"Welcome to the Captain," however, is a particularly local breed, taking place in one of those fabulous residential landmarks that rise or sprawl, depending on the architecture, in various L.A. neighborhoods. (The El Royale on Rossmore Avenue seems to have been the model for the exterior and location.) Not surprising, the inhabitants of El Capitan are of the eccentrainment variety -- offbeat survivors of the Biz. And that goes, in some cases, for casting as well as characters, which is very promising.

Yet setting a comedy in Los Angeles is both tempting and perilous. There is so much to skewer here, but it's far too easy to swing at the easy shots. And swing writer John Hamburg (who gave us "Meet the Parents") does, with occasionally amusing but more often predictable and mildly dopey results.

Jeffrey Tambor, who helped define eccentric in "Arrested Development" and "The Larry Sanders Show," is Uncle Saul, former writer for "a little show called 'Three's Company" or "T. Co." Acting as den mother/gossip switchboard, with doorman Jesus (pronounced biblically and played by Al Madrigal) as his faithful, funny-faced sidekick, Uncle Saul is there to anchor the laughs. The requisite ditsy aspiring actress goes by the name of Astrid (Valerie Azlynn) while the other ingenue -- you know, the smart one -- is Hope (Joanna Garcia), an acupuncture student. (Hey, it could have been worse; she could work at a smoothie bar.) And yes, that is Raquel Welch, playing aging actress/class cougar Charlene with a Mrs. Robinson robe-drop and hair imported from "Falcon Crest."

If that were not a large enough compendium of Hollywood stereotypes -- er, I mean local characters -- we also have Marty (Chris Klein), accountant to the (B-list) stars, and guess what? He's girl crazy.