3 Lbs. (2006 - 2006)

In this new CBS medical drama, no one pauses to explain that 3 Lbs. is the weight of the human brain. That's about the only point of subtlety in the Nov. 14 pilot for this House wannabe, which stars Stanley Tucci as...hmmmm...a brilliant, troubled brain surgeon with no interpersonal skills and a haunted history. Ah, but here's how Dr. Doug Hanson is different from Dr. Gregory House: He's got pinup-style sex appeal! 3 Lbs. pummels viewers with assertions of Tucci's House-trumping hotness — women swoon; men glower; he spends one scene looking sculpted in his undershorts. Dr. Hanson, I accuse you of operating while studly! (I'm still a Hugh Laurie girl myself.)

Hanson, who's suffered some enigmatic, to-be-belabored tragedy — he endures repeated visions of a mournful little girl — is renowned for his chilly demeanor. His new young protégé (Mark Feuerstein) is naturally a meditative, sensitive type who believes in the mind-body connection. Feuerstein, who played Toni Collette's supercool boyfriend in last year's In Her Shoes, does ''earnest'' exceedingly well, but he's saddled with good-doctor groaners like ''I can't screw around in somebody's head and not know whose soul I'm bumping up against!'' The only real reason to tune in to the pilot is to catch the lovely Madeline Zima as a violinist stricken with a brain tumor. She played sweet-faced Grace Sheffield on The Nanny years ago; here she's a sad-eyed young woman who will make you weep...if you make it through the whole hour.

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