TV REVIEWS : ‘XXX’s and OOO’s’ Pure Country Corn

There’s a whole lotta lovin’, leavin’, lamentin’ and line-dancin’ in the TV movie “XXX’s and OOO’s,” set in Nashville amid the realm of new country’s new hunks. The romantic drama actually centers on a quartet of strong-willed Tennessee gals, three of whom are the hunks’ ex-wives, hence the title pun.

Directed by Allan Arkush, who deserves better, this telefilm is clearly intended less as a one-shot than as a pilot, with aspirations toward setting up a regular nighttime soap--a “Grand Ole Melrose,” or “Belle Meade 90210,” if you will.

This could make for good camp, and occasionally someone gets off a line that at least sounds like a halfway decent simile from a mediocre country weeper. But mostly everyone acts and speaks in such earnest and generic--albeit accented--tones that the setting might as well be Anytown U.S.A.

* “XXX’s and OOO’s” airs at 9 tonight on CBS (Channels 2 and 8).