(CBS, Wednesday, 9,00)

Dirty, Sexy, Money--a ridiculous, ridiculous title, just so you know--turned out to be hilarious. Quite hilarious, indeed. And not in a "man, that show was so ridiculous I had to laugh" way, like the title may suggest, but in a genuinely funny way.

So, here's the scoop: Nick George (played by Peter Krause of Sports Night and Six Feet Under) is the son of Devlin George, who worked as the lawyer for the Darling family for many, many years. Because the Darlings are super, super rich and kind of screwed up (and because he was having an affair with the mother, Letitia, as we find out in the episode) Devlin sort of half-abandoned Nick on a regular basis, causing much angst. In the present day, Devlin has just died and Nick is offered his father's old position, despite being estranged from (and hated by some of) the family.

So, why does Nick take the job, despite having a family of his own he doesn't want to abandon? Well, the 10 million dollars a year for a private foundation in the name of his father in addition to his hourly certainly helped. As did Nick's secure knowledge that he's not his father and can appropriately balance his home and work, even though working as the Darling family lawyer is a bit of an omnibus position.

The first episode consists in Nick putting out fires all over the city as each Darling has problems. The oldest Darling child, attorney general of NY and about to become senator, has problems with his tranny lover. The next oldest is a girl that Nick deflowered and is still in love with him and is getting married to her fourth stupid, shitty husband, who she knows is stupid and shitty. The next oldest is an Episcopal priest who has illegitimate children and a mail-order Korean wife--and HATES Nick, just like he HATED Nick's father, and is a tremendous asshole. Next you've got Juliet, who's a generic Paris Hilton type but with a conscience. She hates that daddy buys her roles in plays and wants to make it on her own. And the youngest darling is a party-ridden trustafarian scoundrel, who provides some very good opportunities for hilarious rich-person problems: "Dad must hate me; I can't even win a yacht in a poker game without screwing up." Trust me, that's funny.

And the show's funny throughout. When Nick's leading this youngest darling out of the local police station, they're mobbed by cable news reporters, asking increasingly dumb questions, culminating in "Where you planning on harvesting their organs?" Now, I know I've not told you about the context, but why in the world would he be planning on harvesting their organs? And Nick, just like me, reacts in this way, turning to the cable-news reporter--as we've all wished to do on occasion--and saying, baffled: "That's a stupid question. Why in the world would you ask that? You know what? That's it, no more questions."

While I don't like Donald Sutherland (his scenery chewing was obscene in Commander in Cheif), and the Baldwin that plays the future-senator kind of creeps me out in how much he sounds like Alec, you've got to love Peter Krause (even though I dislike his current hair-cut). And though the show misfires when it tries to be more dramatic, there's more than enough good comedy to balance that out. I mean, how can you top a fancy lawyer chasing down and tackling an Episcopal priest and pulling on his ear in an effort to get him to take a statement back?

You can't, so don't try. Just watch Dirty, Sexy, Money, despite that terrible, terrible title.

Dirty, Sexy, Money: ABC, Wednesday, 9,00. A.