9:30-10 p.m., Wednesdays
ABC

Though I was nowhere near him, I still can imagine the pained expression on the face of Howard Morris when CBS premiered "The Class" last fall.

"The Class," one of the fall's better sitcoms, is about former classmates who reunite after not seeing each other for years. They've had varying degrees of success but never quite measured up to the promise of their school years. At the center of the group is a genuinely nice guy who's been dumped by his girl. Another classmate is on the verge of suicide.

Morris is the creator, writer and exec producer of "In Case of Emergency," which has enough similarities -- right down to the dumped guy and the near-suicide -- that it could be a response to the same classroom assignment. The similarity of the two premises makes comparison inevitable which is too bad because "Emergency," especially the pilot episode, is a solid sitcom with a strong cast and a lot of potential.

There's room for improvement, of course. Jonathan Silverman, who plays jilted greeting card writer and all-around nice guy Harry Kennison, needs to take his performance down a notch or two. Also, there's no clear need for Dr. Joanna, the character played by Lori Loughlin. She catches the eye of Jason Ventress (David Arquette) after she patches him up following the suicide scene but the relationship is forced and awkward, a speed bump in an otherwise smooth and well-paced show.

The others in the ensemble are Kelly Lee (Kelly Hu), the class valedictorian who ended up providing sensual Korean massages, and Sherman Yablonsky (Greg Germann), who shed his high school girth and became the author of a bestselling diet book. When Sherman's wife splits unexpectedly, the shock sends him back to binge eating.

The show operates at a frantic pace -- sometimes too frantic -- but it has its funny moments as well. Hu is adept at physical comedy and Germann makes his pathetic character oddly appealing. Morris mixes heart with humor and blends smart dialogue with visual gags so that you never have to wait long for the next laugh. You get the feeling that if this show is given enough time to find its strengths and understand its characters, it could be around for quite some time.

Wednesday night has been in desperate need of comedy. At the start of the season, the only two broadcast sitcoms were NBC's "Twenty Good Years" and "30 Rock." The former is gone and the latter has been moved to Thursday. That should create an opportunity for ABC's duo of "The Knights of Prosperity" and "Emergency."

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
ABC
Touchstone Television
Credits:
Executive producers: Howard Morris, Emile Levisetti
Producer: Michelle Deschamps
Creator/writer: Howard Morris
Director: Jon Favreau
Director of photography: Victor Hammer
Production designer: Richard Sherman
Editor: Daniel Lebental
Set decorator: Matthew Ferguson
Casting: Dava Waite Peaslee
Cast:
Harry Kennison: Jonathan Silverman
Kelly Lee: Kelly Hu
Jason Ventress: David Arquette
Sherman Yablonsky: Greg Germann
Dr. Joanna: Lori Loughlin
Dylan: Jackson Bond
Frank: Lee Reherman