Coarse work // Mediocre `Teacher' flunks as a comedy

Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher WGN-Channel 9, 7:30 to 8 tonight. (STAR)(STAR) With Steve Harvey already on board as a sitcom schoolteacher, whydoes the WB network need a Jim Carrey wannabe as a junior-highsubstitute? Stand-up comic Mitch Mullany got his first big television break as"White Mike" in "The Wayans Bros." on the WB network.

Now the jive-talkin', high-fivin', would-be homeboy brings hisso-so Jim Carrey imitations to the title role in WB's "Nick Freno:Licensed Teacher," a C-minus sitcom premiering at 7:30 tonight onChannel 9.

Mullany's series, set in an integrated junior high school, neverlifts its humor above juvenile level in the first two episodes. My9-year-old son, a fourth-grader who should know better, gives anA-minus to the "Ace Ventura" copycat.

The "Licensed Teacher" actor may lack the talent and timing tobe a rising sitcom star, but his Nick Freno character meets thenecessary requirements to qualify as a substitute English teacher inWB's fictional Gerald R. Ford Middle School. He passed "theemergency walk-in exam." He can breathe and cast a shadow. "Theyshould screen people like me!" Nick says.

An unemployed actor who was "every teacher's nightmare" as anadolescent in junior high, Nick has been out of work for six months.His girlfriend left him last week. That's why the self-described"free spirit" and "dream weaver" accepts a low-paying job as "awalking spitball target."

In tonight's "sneak peek," the "emotionally stunted child-man"quickly establishes himself as the class clown in first-periodhomeroom, winning giggles from his jaded pupils, humbling thespoiled-brat bully (Ross Malinger as Tyler) and aggravating blowhardgym teacher Kurt Fust (Stuart Pankin), Ford's overbearing dean ofdiscipline.

During his first day at Ford, Nick befriends a troubled student(Jonathan Hernandez as insecure Orlando) and catches the thief whohad been swiping school supplies from students and faculty. He alsoturns down a chance to play a comatose character in a TV soap opera.Channel 9 will rerun the "Freno" premiere at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 4.

In the second "Freno" episode, airing Sept. 11, Nick datesTyler's divorced mom (Susan Diol as Melanie Hale) and uses game-showtechniques to teach grammar. Sheryl Sutherland disappears as LisaThornhill, the divorced teacher who arouses Nick in tonight's "sneakpeek." Replacing Sutherland's character in Episode 2 is Portia deRossi as Elana Lewis, a younger blond.

In another change airing Sept. 11, Clinton Jackson takes thesupporting role of teacher Mezz Crosby, Nick's longtime buddy.Reggie Hayes plays Mezz tonight.

For pre-teen viewers, "Freno" could be mildly amusing. Forparents, there's no need to worry about raunchy jokes or badlanguage. For Mullany, "Licensed Teacher" could be a remedial classin sitcom acting, offering on-the-job training for an energetic andenthusiastic performer with a lot to learn.