"The Wedding Bells": Ring a ding ding

David E. Kelley, the man who brought us “Boston Legal” and “Boston Public,” has lately turned into Boston Chicken. Once TV's biggest producer -- he hogged the Emmys during the '90s with “Picket Fences,” “Chicago Hope,” “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice” -- Kelley hasn't changed his recipe in years. Now he seems content to churn out franchises.

  The latest is “The Wedding Bells,” which is sort of a “Six Feet Under” at a wedding chapel ... only with more sex. It debuts at 8 CT tonight on Fox, following “American Idol,” which means half of America is bound to sample at least the first five minutes. That's more than could be said of “Brotherhood of Poland, N.H.,” Kelley's last bomb.

The show is about a family called Bell who put on weddings. Get it? “The Wedding Bells” is a familiar mishmash of David Kelley formulaic elements: Extremely attractive people. A lot of yelling and other inappropriate behavior. People having sex. Out-of-control guest stars. And, straight out of the pages of “Ally McBeal,” a closing scene with dancing, singing and episode-wrapping-up conversation.

  The one innovation here is that Kelley somehow managed, in the age of so-called indecency police, to slip in a scene that includes a full-frontal shot of a naked beauty. (He should win an Emmy just for studio lighting.)

  It's possible that “The Wedding Bells” won't meet with the same crash-and-burn fate as Kelley's other recent efforts: the hideous “girls club,” the obnoxious “Brotherhood,” or that legal “Apprentice” knockoff “The Law Firm.” But then again … this show suffers from the same two core problems as those others: the lack of likeable characters and the lack of big-name TV talent to hold the ship together. “Boston Public” had Chi McBride, “Boston Legal” has Shatner and Spader and Bergen and Bowen. “The Wedding Bells” has Sarah Jones, KaDee Strickland and Teri Polo as the Bell sisters. Not only do they fail to fill up the screen, they seem to spend all their time fighting with each other and the men in their lives. Is that supposed to be an ironic comment on the state of American marriage? Maybe, but coming from the man who's married to Michelle Pfeiffer, it seems a little, oh, insincere at best.

  “The Wedding Bells” will play to a huge crowd tonight, thanks to “American Idol,” but when the next episode airs in its regular time period, 8 p.m. Friday, I think it's safe to say the honeymoon will be over.