REVIEW: "Standoff"

I’m having a reverse case of Stockholm Syndrome with “Standoff”: The more time I spend with it, the less I like it.

On this show, debuting at 8 CT tonight following the return of “House” on Fox, Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt portray expert hostage negotiators who throw their careers into jeopardy when the higher-ups learn they are an item.

They make for an attractive pair, and their chemistry seems plausible enough. But the show doesn’t sell me convincingly on the idea that these two professionals can’t keep their sex life and their professions separate, so long as one’s not the other’s boss.

More troubling for “Standoff” were the howlers that disrupted the tension of the hostage takings in the pilot. Most distracting was the frat boy who is seen terrifying everyone with what might be the world’s worst impersonation of an al-Qaida terrorist.

Also, the pacing seems too slow. Dr. House can keep two or three cases going at once, but because “Standoff” is designed around Livingston’s and DeWitt’s characters, they’re stuck handling one crisis at a time.

•“Desire” and “Fashion House,” the first two shows of the new My Network TV, also debut tonight. These are nightly, 13-week soaps modeled on the Spanish-language telenovelas. “Desire,” at 7 p.m. on KSMO-62, is set at a tony Beverly Hills restaurant, while “Fashion House” at 8 revolves around a clothing empire.

I could scarcely stand to sit through the over-the-top dialogue and stories of either one.

In “Fashion House,” Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild are the veteran actors — say no more. These shows look a lot better than the soaps on Univision, though, and who knows, this time-tested formula from south of the border may produce just the kind of caliente television this network needs to get noticed.