"Army Wives": Have we seen this before?

I’m not really into earnest, feel-good dramas, so “Army Wives” is not a show I would normally check out.

But since Lifetime hyped it SO much, I figured I should give it a look.

And as far as earnest, feel-good dramas go, it wasn’t too bad. But I found it ironic that in a show called “Army Wives,” the best character is a guy…

The tagline of the show pretty much sums it up: “The army has its code. The wives have their own.” Think of it as “The Unit” without the Unit part.

Claudia Joy Holden (Kim Delaney) is the mother hen of the group putting on tea parties and trying to keep order among the wives. Her husband is passed over for a promotion to brigadier general because another wife started rumors that he’s a racist—which Claudia is more than happy to confront her about. But since that wife is married to the man who did get the promotion, you know there will be trouble ahead…

Denise Sherwood (Catherine Bell) is the mother with the troubled teenager, who hits her. Her husband, a colonel, is a hard-driving dad who pushed his son into West Point and has now left her alone with her son after he’s deployed for three months…

Pamela Moran (Brigid Branagh) is the wife trying to keep her cash-strapped family together. She is serving as a surrogate mother to make money, but she can’t tell anyone at the post because it will ruin her husband who is trying to become a member of the Delta Force…

Roxy LeBlanc (Sally Pressman) is the newlywed trying to figure out what she’s gotten herself into (Her husband proposed after only knowing her four days.). Roxy immediately has trouble fitting in and commits a major no-no when she takes a job at a bar where wives go to pick up guys while their husbands are away…

Roland Burton is the Army husband. His wife, Joan, a lieutenant colonel, has just returned from Afghanistan and is having a difficult time readjusting to normal life…

The show is based on the book “Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage” so I’m sure there’s a lot of truth to it. But for the most part, the characters come off a little clichéd—especially Roxy. She’s meant to add shock value to the show, but it feels like we’ve seen it all before.

The real gem of the show is Roland, who got all of the episode’s best lines. When he overhears the drama between Claudia, Denise and Roxy in the ladies’ room (He and Joan are getting reacquainted.), he says, “The men’s room is really boring.” And his scenes with Pamela in labor were laugh-out-loud funny. But since he has one of the more dramatic storylines of the show (dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome), I have a feeling he’s about to lose his spark…

Of course, as the episode ends, these women (and man) who start off with nothing in common bond together as they help Pamela through labor. But when Roxy says, “We all have our secrets, it’s Claudia who utters the phrase that will no doubt power the rest of the series: “Yes we do.”

As I’ve often said, a drama pilot is a tricky thing. It’s hard to sustain viewer interest and introduce all of the characters at the same time. Plus, “Wives” had the added challenge of having to introduce the military world to us civilians. So, I’ve got to believe that “Wives” will get stronger as it goes along—especially since it’s from Mark Gordon, an executive producer of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

If you like earnest, feel-good dramas with a familiar vibe then “Army Wives” is for you. Otherwise, about face and move it on out…

“Army Wives” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on Lifetime. You can watch the premiere online at www.lifetimetv.com/shows/armywives...