'Patterson' needs self-improvement

'Bob Patterson' Airs: 8 p.m., ABC (Channel 9) Stars: Jason Alexander, Jennifer Aspen, Phil Buckman, James Guidice, Robert Klein, Chandra Wilson Most closely resembles: A Dabney Coleman "comedy" Aaron's advice: Forget it Bob Patterson, the promos tell us, is "the nation's No. 3 motivational speaker," and it gives you some idea of the show's own potential for growth that the promo is more clever than the first two episodes. Jason Alexander plays the empowering speaker who has a serious case of personal disempowerment: His pitch is getting stale, things at the office are out of control and he can't even keep his ex-wife out of his house. It's a potentially funny premise, but the life is beaten out of it midway through the pilot episode. Alexander is on the short end, literally and figuratively, of the show's oversized ensemble and undersized joke writing. If "Bob Patterson" is to survive the fall, it will need to take some of the self-improvement advice it's so intent on mocking. Aaron Barnhart's fall TV preview is online at www.kansascity.com @ART CAPTION:Jason Alexander stars in "Bob Patterson." @ART:Photo (color)