A psychologist might be more appropriately called upon than a TV critic to consider Tom Arnold's new show.

Bad televison is one thing. A cry for help is another.

The Tom Show, premiering at 8 on ONTV, is interesting to watch once, at least in a forensic sort of way. After all, it's the first series to market its star's celebrity divorce as the central plot point.

Some wishful thinking has been woven in. The much more famous ex here is not Roseanne-like but rather a daytime talk show host played by Playboy perennial Shannon Tweed.

Publicly dumped, humiliated and dropped by a Hollywood circle who had befriended him to get to his wife, Tom returns to the hometown he'd publicly dismissed as two-bit and to the bottom of the TV business. The host of the Minnesota local morning show that he's hired to produce is played by Ed McMahon, perhaps part of a master plan to make Arnold's acting look okay by comparison. It doesn't work.

The florid-faced, speed-talking star's technique consists of yelling his lines towards the camera, giving off an air of cold sweat and desperation. He and his show are perfectly matched.


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